How Paul Mescal Got Ripped for ‘Gladiator II,' and Then Lost It All

Paul Mescal revealed in a new interview with Variety how he got absolutely ripped for his starring role in Gladiator II.

Mescal wanted to gain 22 pounds for the role, realizing that he “needed to be big” to make his character’s gladiatorial prowess believable. He began training six months before shooting commenced, training six days a week in brief but rigorous sessions. 

“I don’t have a huge amount of patience,” Mescal admitted, “so it was hard and fast, then you recover and go again.” He ate four full meals every day to build bulk. “Lots of meat,” he said of the diet. “Mostly chicken.”

At the time, Mescal was performing in a London stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He crafted an almost monastic schedule for himself centered around working out and performing. “I’d get up and train in Soho at like 11 a.m., go to the theater and spend the day there, go home, go to bed,” he said.

As hard as it was getting jacked for Gladiator II, it was even more miserable losing the weight. Immediately after finishing work on Ridley Scott’s sequel, Mescal had to lose 26 pounds in eight weeks for his role in The History of Sound. “It was f---ing miserable,” he recalled. “And it wasn’t to get emaciated — it was just to lose the muscle. Just f---ing misery.”

But all of that misery paid off in Mescal’s Gladiator II performance, which finds him doing many of his own stunts. That includes a white-knuckle horseback chase for which Mescal “trained for f---ing months” to accomplish. Mescal admitted that he was “pestering” Scott “constantly” about doing his own stunts. “And then the day before, he goes, ‘OK, you can do the stunt, but if you come off, it’s two Bentleys,’” Mescal recalled. “No Bentleys were required, thank f--k,” the actor laughed.

Gladiator II hits theaters on Nov. 22. You can check out Mescal’s full Variety profile here.