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Join Telegram ChannelBefore the release of the trailer, the plot of the second part of Ridley Scott's cult epic is finally revealed.
While we wait for a trailer that the whole world is dying to see, a report from Vanity Fairinvited to go to the set of the highly anticipated Gladiator 2reveals the plot of the film by Ridley Scott which will be released in theaters next November.
Warning, spoilers! Key information is revealed by the actors of this new production.
The first installment, released with the arrival of the new millennium, followed the character of Maximus (Russell Crowe), a loyal supporter of Marcus Aurelius, when he was defeated by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who, at the same time as taking imperial power, reduces the general to the state of a gladiator. Between two fights, Maximus prepares a vengeance which is not long in falling on the usurper.
The plot of Gladiator II begins twenty years after Maximus' final fight in the arena of the Colosseum. This time, it is the young Lucius that we follow, to whom Paul Mescal lends his features. He is sent to grow up in Africa, beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, by his mother, for whom he harbors a certain resentment. However, Connie Nielsenwho already played Lucilla – Lucius' mother – in the first film, explains her character's motivations, revealing at the same time the political context in which this new story will take place:
“It’s a difficult choice, where there is no good solution. There is an authoritarian power that still pretends to carry the legacy of the Republic. In this game of deception, human beings find themselves caught up in the stratagems of power. This is what I find fascinating in Ridley Scott’s stories, he shows the effect of politics on lives, and what unfettered power produces.”
A reflection that also appealed to Paul Mescal. For the British actor, who plays the title role, the message of the film goes beyond the simple aestheticized fight:
“The subject is what humans are willing to do to survive, but also what they are willing to do to win, he explains to Vanity Fair. That’s what you see in the arena, but also in the political struggles that escape my character. You see other protagonists activating themselves, struggling to obtain more power. What space does that leave for humanity? And for love, family relationships? Are these values able to counteract the greed for power? These elements often oppose each other.”
Married and a father, his character leads a peaceful existence in North Africa, threatened by the landing of a Roman armada led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Ridley Scott specifies:
“[Lucius] settled in a coastal town in Numidia [un royaume berbère antique]. With his fair skin and blue eyes, he stands out among the local inhabitants. He is one of the last civilizations to resist the conquest of North Africa by the Romans, which is beginning.”
“The film opens with a Roman assault on Numidia, he also said. They come out of their ships and set the country on fire and blood. It's pretty intense.”
Pedro Pascal's character cut his teeth with Russell Crowe's Maximus. The actor describes him as “having learned his trade from the greatest” :
“In military art as in life, he respects a code of honor. But he is not simply a replica of Maximus, he is a new character. And that is why he has different reactions. […] It can go very quickly before he takes the time to question what he has just done, analyzes the actor. And once it is done, it is too late. He is an excellent general, and consequently, an excellent killer.”
“The identity of this film is shaped by the previous one. Anything less would be foolish.”he adds.
After the Roman assault, Lucius, a descendant of the imperial family, is taken prisoner by the Roman Empire, whose troops repatriate him to his home country, where he is condemned to become a gladiator and fight to survive. Ridley Scott agrees to talk about this part of the plot:
“In Rome, when you are a prisoner of war, if you are wounded, you are finished off. If you are still viable, you end up in servitude. Either as a slave or in the arena. The trick is that when he arrives in Rome as a prisoner, he lands in the arena and he sees his mother. It is a shock. He did not know if she was alive or not. How could he have known? There are no telephones, no newspapers in those days. And then he sees her. Twenty years have passed, but she looks fine, and she is standing next to the general he fought against in Numidia.”
Because Lucilla does not recognize her son who has grown up since she had him exiled. Connie Nielsen fills a little of the narrative gap between the two films, explaining the links that exist between her character and that of Pedro Pascal:
“She went through a huge trauma, and the character of Pedro Pascal was a huge opportunity for her. For me too it was a chance, playing with this guy, it’s such a pleasure! He’s perfect for the role. He’s one of the rare actors in whom heart goes hand in hand with an incredible talent for transformation.”
The characters of Mescal and Pascal will face each other again, in a fight where Lucius will be able to express resentment and frustration. For Pedro Pascal, “It’s a kind of film about an angry young man,” says Paul Mescal. “The collapse of Rome resonates with his personal history. Rome is all the abandonment he felt as a child. He finds himself propelled back into this world, in contact with everything he hates.”.
Beyond the main characters, we learn more about the characters played by Denzel WashingtonMacrinus, a wealthy merchant supplying the Roman armies installed in various European trading posts. At the same time, master “cruel”he collect the gladiators.
“He’s classy, he even drives a gold FerrariRidley Scott says ironically. I had him make a chariot covered with gold.”
At the height of cruelty, we find the emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who historically succeeded Emperor Commodus in 193, after the paltry reigns of Pertinax and Didius Julianus; and his twin brother, Geta, played by Joseph QuinnBoth of them, a sort of anti-Remus and Romulus, view Acacius' triumphs with suspicion, and threaten Lucilla to keep him on a leash.
In short, Ridley Scott has imagined a myriad of characters, each more complex than the last, whose full depth we will soon discover in a trailer that will surely shed light on the last gray areas.
Gladiator II will be released in theaters on November 13, 2024.
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