Paul Mescal says playing Gaelic football helped prepare him for "Gladiator II" role

"Gladiator II" is one of the year's most hotly-anticipated films and we've now finally got a handful of first look pictures from the production showing Paul Mescal in all his warrior glory.

The Irish actor is playing Lucius Verus, the son of Lucilla, in the "Gladiator" sequel which is due out later this year and has now said that he thinks his Gaelic football background helped him in the role.

Chatting with Variety about how he got the part, Paul and director Ridley Scott said they spoke over Zoom after Ridley was impressed with Paul's performance in "Normal People."

"We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes. I wanted to get a flavor from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that," Paul recalled.

He continued: "Then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football. Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body."

Ridley was full of praise for Paul, admitting that although Normal People is "not really my kind of TV show" he was struck by Paul and left thinking "Who’s this guy?"

He added that Paul was "a special find" and "absolutely perfect" for the "Gladiator II" role.

First Look: Paul Mescal is Lucius in 'Gladiator II.'

See more images from Ridley Scott's upcoming film: https://t.co/WWYVKnybYX pic.twitter.com/Y1WFNN0rWJ

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In the upcoming movie, Paul's character Lucius is living a peaceful life with his wife and child in Numidia before conquerors from his homeland try to take over.

The movie also stars Pedro Pascal as Roman general Marcus Acacius who trained under Russell Crowe's Maximus and Denzel Washington who plays Macrinus, an arms and commodity dealer.

Speaking about how he prepared physically for the role, Paul said: "I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when s**t hits the fan.

"I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior."

"Gladiator II" is set for release on November 15 and we can't wait to watch it!