Gladiator II | Making Of An Epic (2024) – Ridley Scott, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington

It's been 25 years since Gladiator 1. There's an excitement coming back to the Roman Empire. The first Gladiator had a huge impact across the world. How does it feel? Epic. It's not lost on me what we as a cast of actors and Ridley are stepping into. The story they came up with, it was brilliant. It speaks to a deep human experience. Where you are, I am too. At the start of the film, Rome has been through 20 years of upheaval with the madness of power-hungry people who can buy the throne. There are victories yet still to come. Rome has so many subjects. She must feed them. They can eat war! The whole story is based on who, as a child, was sent away to protect him. Never let them find you. We see him dragged back into Rome, a prisoner. Whose head could I give you that would satisfy this fury? The entire Roman army. Everything that goes into creating this world is incomparable. This is the biggest film I've been on. It's huge. Cecil B. DeMille on steroids. This is about survival! Survive! All the things that you see in a film. Flooding the Colosseum. Wild animals. It's recorded that all of these things happen. This is real. There's nothing like having the real thing. Everywhere you turn, there's thousands of soldiers in beautiful costumes. To walk out in that arena for the second time was pretty amazing. It's grand in scope with sophisticated characters and storytelling. It's all the things that fill in the word epic. Strength and honor!