Pedro Pascal says Gladiator II ‘was unlike anything he’d ever experienced’

Pedro Pascal has said making ‘Gladiator II’ “was unlike anything [he’d] ever experienced”.

The 49-year-old actor - who stars in the historical epic as the Roman general Marcus Acacius - was blown away by the dramatic Colosseum scene he filmed with Paul Mescal, 28, and has praised his co-star for “lighting up” the sequence.

During an interview with the UK radio station Heart FM where he was asked about his biggest stand-out moment of the movie was, Pascal said: “I think ships and the fireballs and the fortified wall and Paul Mescal – they help with lighting up the opening sequence! But it was an unbelievable thing.

“That was the first thing that I shot, and I think it was the first couple of days of actual shooting for the movie. We were in Morocco, and I've been on big sets, and I hadn't been on anything like this. I hadn't played anything like that from start to finish, which was just unbelievably bad.

“I'd start at the back of the ship in the General’s tower, and end with sprinting off of the drawbridge onto the wall in one shot.

“It was unbelievable! It's unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and it's unlike anything I'll ever experience again on the movie set.”

‘Gladiator II’ - which also stars Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Joseph Quinn - follows Lucius Verus (Mescal), the former heir to the Roman Empire who is forced into slavery and eventually pushed to fight in the Colosseum in an effort to restore glory to his home.

As well as his “unbelievable” experience, Pascal admitted he was exited to get to work with director Sir Ridley Scott on the blockbuster.

‘The Last of Us’ star gushed: “My initial reaction was, ‘I can’t wait to meet Ridley Scott.’ And the second was the honour of – and I’m sorry, but I am a genuine a** kisser. But I only kiss it when I mean it!”