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Ridley Scott, the director of Gladiator II, has revealed a stunning statement regarding placing Timothée Chalamet in the role of Lucius, which was later played by Paul Mescal.
The film's producer, Doug Wick, told The Hollywood Reporter, "Any studio would always prefer to have a known star."
"Having only starred in indie features like Aftersun and All of Us Strangers and despite awards consideration for both, Paul was not a known entity at the box office in the way Timothée was," noted the film's director.
According to IndieWire, Paramount co-presidents of Gladiator II Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland watched Paul as Stanley Kowalski in a West End version of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Doug stated that they both agreed that "no other actor came close".
Ridley also spoke with IndieWire about how he was inspired by Paul's performance in the movie Normal People.
"I need bedtime tales. Before going to bed, I always watch something. "I caught 'Normal People' almost by accident," said the filmmaker.
Ridley stated, "It was not my kind of thing, but I watched two and thought both the guy and the girl were fantastic." Then I binged for eight hours.
Interestingly, the director stated that he felt confident in casting Paul for Gladiator II.
