Gladiator II Australian premiere: Paul Mescal inspired by Russell Crowe’s Maximus

Almost 25 years after Russell Crowe’s Maximus died in the Colosseum, a new warrior played by Irish Oscar nominee Paul Mescal walked the sand-coloured carpet at the Australian premiere of Gladiator II in Sydney on Wednesday.

And Mescal didn’t need to quote Crowe’s famous line from Ridley Scott’s original sword-and-sandal epic - “Are you not entertained?” - because the wild reception he received from hundreds of fans and VIPs left little doubt.

Speaking to The West Australian, the actor revealed what he gleaned from Crowe’s Maximus.

“You take away what it means to lead, and what it means for people to look up to you and how you retain your own morals in the noise of battle,” Mescal said.

“But ultimately you have to carve your own lane.”

Mescal flew into Sydney just hours ahead of the premiere with cast members Fred Hechinger (White Lotus) and Danish actor Connie Nielsen, who starred opposite Crowe as Lucilla, the Emperor’s sister, in Scott’s Academy Award-winning film.

Lucilla’s son, Lucius, watched Maximus’ glorious death in the arena in that movie, and the sequel finds the kid all grown up and played by Mescal in his blockbuster debut.

Nielsen told The West Australian she “wouldn’t dare” compare the gladiatorial skills of Mescal and Crowe.

“You don’t really compare them, you just embrace them,” she said.

The first movie saw Joaquin Phoenix as the tyrannical emperor of Rome, but the sequel sees the ancient empire in the hands of twins, Geta and Caracalla, historical figures famed for their excesses.

Hechinger saw the evils of excess lampooned on White Lotus, but, as Emperor Caracalla, he puts even Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid to shame.

Hechinger told The West Australian Scott’s sequel truly was epic.

“There was not one moment, I thought this every day, that this movie was epic in every sense of the world,” he said.

The star-studded cast also includes Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, who did not make the trip Down Under.

With breathtaking special effects and visceral hand-to-hand combat, Scott’s new movie promises to be a spectacle to at least match the first film, which went on to earn over $700 million at the global box office.

It also won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, catapulting the adopted Aussie into the stratosphere of Hollywood stardom.

Mescal is already one of the hottest names in Tinseltown, after acclaimed turns in Normal People and All of Us Strangers, but the attention Gladiator II will bring is certain to make the Irishman a bona fide superstar.

Gladiator II will be in theatres on November 14.