Paul Mescal Says It Was 'Fun' Getting Ripped for Gladiator II Even Though 'I Like to Drink, and I Like to Smoke'

Paul Mescal says it was “fun” to play Lucius, the former heir to the Roman Empire, in the upcoming historical epic, Gladiator II.

“I ate a lot of chicken and lifted heavy things,” joked Mescal, 28, during an Oct. 25 appearance at The Graham Norton Show.

While preparing to play a former royal forced into slavery, the Kildare, Ireland, native worked “with a trainer who surrounded me like a shark and said, ‘There’s a canvas to work with.’ ”

Mescal became so muscular that his colleague Pedro Pascal gave him a clever nickname. “I call him Brick Wall Paul… He got it so strong. “I would rather be thrown off the building than have to fight him again,” said Pascal (49). Vanity Fair in July.

Paul Mescal and Peter Mensah in “Gladiator II”.

Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

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Mescal told Norton that his coach “went into town and I saw him every day. It was fun.”

However, Normal People star admits he has some caveats when it comes to his fitness regimen. “I did everything he asked, but I like to drink and smoke, so I drew a line in the sand as far as that was concerned.”

Mescal showed off his abs — and then some — in the trailer for the film, where he battles a rhinoceros in, among other places, Rome’s famed Colosseum.

But another of Norton’s guests deeply disagreed with Mescal’s assessment that exercise is “fun”: Eddie Redmayne — who recently underwent his own physical transformation, was cast to play a hit man on Peacock Day of the Jackal.

(left) Paul Mescal; (right) Eddie Redmayne.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Mike Marsland/WireImage

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“I deeply disagree with Paul – it wasn’t fun, it was horrible,” Fantastic beasts alum, 42, said. “You read a scene in the script that says, ‘He’s topless, curvy and ripped,’ and you think, ‘Oh, f—, there’s a chicken kid.’ ”

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Saoirse Ronan and Denzel Washington — who also star Gladiator II — also appeared in the episode. Mescal admitted that he was afraid of meeting the legendary Washington (69).

“It was a big day in my life – it was amazing,” he recalled. “I spent the first day thinking, ‘I have to go introduce myself to him,’ and stood there for a few minutes before deciding, ‘Not today.’ The next day I decided to be a brave boy!”

The hotly anticipated sequel to Russell Crowe’s epic comes 24 years after the 2000 original. Gladiator film — which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Gladiator II opens in theaters on November 22.

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Source: HIS Education