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Filmmaker Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” opened late last year and did… not great.
The title landed $462.2 million worldwide gross from a $210 million net production budget (insiders suggest it was considerably higher), along with soft reviews that offered little praise beyond Denzel Washington’s performance.
There was a multitude of issues with the film, but a new report indicates that Scott has picked out a single one as its central flaw – its leading man, Paul Mescal.
Scott’s newest film “The Dog Stars” hit cinemas last week and bombed on arrival – drawing poor reviews and box-office. Mescal was originally slated to star in that film and abruptly pulled out right before shooting, leading to Jacob Elordi taking on the lead role at the last minute.
At the time, it was cited as a scheduling conflict with Sam Mendes’ four Beatles biopics in which Mescal plays Paul McCartney. In a new report, Puck’s Matt Belloni (via WoR) has gone into what happened and indicates there were other reasons.
According to sources, Scott was reportedly unhappy with Mescal following “Gladiator II” and felt the actor wasn’t ‘masculine enough’ for the role.
Others say Mendes was annoyed at Scott for revealing Mescal’s casting early and so he pressured the actor to forgo “The Dog Stars” to prep for the Beatles films.
Either way, Mescal is seen as having dodged a bullet by skipping “The Dog Stars” while Scott has had several bombs of late, leading to questions over how much longer he can demand high budgets.
The post Scott Blames Mescal For “Gladiator II” Fail? appeared first on Dark Horizons.
