Revelation of the “Normal People” mini-series and carried by his very remarkable performance in “Aftersun”, the young Irish actor Paul Mescal should succeed Russell Crowe in “Gladiator 2”, sequel to Ridley Scott’s monument released in 2000. Focus about an actor on the rise.
Paul Mescal, future great
As he celebrates his 27th birthday on February 2, Irish actor Paul Mescal is about to enter a new dimension. Indeed, the one who was born in 1996 in Maynooth, a small town west of Dublin, should play the main role in the film. Gladiator 2 by Ridley Scott. This sequel, made official in 2018, will follow the events of Gladiator, more than twenty years after the death of Maximus at the Colosseum. Its central character will be Lucius, son of Lucilla, played in the 2000 film by Spencer Treat Clark.
Sports, theatre…
Paul Mescal, that the Irish series Normal People revealed in the role of the athletic and popular student Connell Waldron, might have preferred the sports fields to the screens. He shone indeed as defender in the Kildare Gaelic football youth team (a team sport combining the rules of rugby and football), before a jaw injury and the call of the theater boards put him out of it for good. After a first experience from the age of 16 in The Phantom of the Opera, he was indeed admitted to the Lir Academy, a prestigious drama school in Dublin. From 2017 to hold leading roles in major plays such as Gatsby the magnificent, A Midsummer Night’s dreamor in 2020 The Lieutenant of Inishmoreplay written by Martin McDonagh.
… and cinema
In cinema and on television, the revelation is dazzling. While he only has a short film on his CV, Driftingand an appearance in an episode of the series bumphe takes all the light in the miniseries Normal People. A great success which earned him a nomination for Emmy Awards and a reward to BATA 2021 (equivalent to BAFTAs for television). He is also in 2020 on the poster of the series The Deceived. These performances propel him to the big screen, where in 2021 he admirably gives the reply to Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson in The Lost Daughter by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The year 2022, he is illustrated in three feature films: the Irish drama God’s Creaturesthe musical film Carmen of Benjamin Millepied, and especially the very beautiful and very noticed aftersun.
In the latter, his performance as a depressed young father was nominated and rewarded in many many festivals. We will soon see him in two new feature films: Foe by Garth Davis and strangers by Andrew Haigh. A very promising start to his career, which should thus become “spectacular“if, as announced, he does indeed become Lucius for Ridley Scott and Gladiator 2.
