Paul Mescal fights baboons in 'Gladiator 2'.
Sir Ridley Scott has been editing 90 minutes of footage for the sequel to the 2000 historical drama amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, and he teased a wild scene for the 'Normal People' actor's character Lucius.
A profile on Scott for the New Yorker read: “In the meantime, he’d been polishing the 90 minutes he had, including a scene in which the hero fights a pack of baboons; he’d been haunted, he said, by a video of baboons attacking tourists in Johannesburg: ‘Baboons are carnivores. Can you hang from that roof for two hours by your left leg? No! A baboon can.’”
The movie started filming this year and has already been plagued by troubles as six crew members were reportedly rushed to hospital after an on-set explosion. A big-budget special effects scene is said to have gone wrong during filming of the sequel in Morocco with reports suggesting a gas pipe on set may have ruptured.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "It was terrifying — a huge ball of fire flew up and caught several crew members in its path. “In years of filming I’ve never seen an accident so scary. "Six production staff had to be rushed to hospital for treatment. “Hopefully everyone will be OK, but it was a serious accident. "Everyone involved, from the lowliest runners to the star names, has been shaken up by this.”
Paul previously admitted he was feeling both "stressed" and "excited" about landing his biggest role to date in the sequel.
Speaking to Esquire magazine prior to the Hollywood actors strike, Paul explained: "I can’t tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular, because it’s definitely the biggest one I’ve done. I feel really excited, but, like, it’s difficult to get away from the legacy of the film a bit. I think it’s really well written and it pays homage to the first one, but it’s very much something that I think I can step into and make comfortably my own.”
When asked if he has spoken to Russell Crowe - the star of the first 'Gladiator' film - he said he hadn't and added: "I don’t know what we would talk about. Like, I’d love to hear his stories from filming, but the character is, like, totally separate."