In crafting his Emperor character within the upcoming legacy sequel “Gladiator II,” Joseph Quinn knew he had large footwear to fill. Within the first movie, Joaquin Phoenix’s efficiency because the power-hungry Emperor Commodus earned him an Academy Award nomination and helped propel the actor’s stardom. Whereas Quinn and his co-star Fred Hechinger have been cautious to maintain Phoenix’s efficiency in thoughts as they crafted their very own, in a latest interview with Empire, he shared how he additionally discovered inspiration elsewhere.
“It was something we had a reverence for, but we didn’t want to…. soil with some kind of poor rendition,” Quinn mentioned of Phoenix’s tackle Commodus.
As a substitute, he and Hechinger regarded to different villainous performances that have been typically higher than the heroes they’re dealing with off towards. One which stood out to the 2 was Philip Seymour Hoffman’s ruthless Davian in “Mission: Impossible III,” who’s dastardly acts embody placing an explosive cost in Ethan Hunt’s head. One other tracks a bit of additional again, however felt becoming for Quinn.
“Gary Oldman in ‘The Fifth Element!’” he mentioned to Empire. “He has this relish for being horrible.”
In “Gladiator II,” Quinn and Hechinger play real-life brothers, Gata and Caracalla, who dominated as Emperors collectively, however ultimately discovered themselves at odds. In considering on a comparability, director Ridley Scott referred to as upon a reference that ties into one other latest entry in considered one of his franchises.
“They are probably the equivalent of Romulus and Remus,” Scott mentioned. “You know, the two lunatics who formed Rome but were bred from the milk of a wolf? [Caracalla and Geta] came up a different way but were probably brain-damaged.”
In an interview with Video games Radar in July, Hechinger additionally shared one other non-actor associated affect he mentioned with Scott early on within the course of.
“We talked a lot about Sid Vicious,” mentioned Hechinger, referencing the late Intercourse Pistols frontman. “We talked a lot of influences that you might not expect in a world like that, but I found to be very inspiring, and liberating, and wild.”
The lead of “Gladiator II,” Paul Mescal, additionally spoke with Empire in a separate interview, sharing that it was the sheer heft of this epic sequel that drew him to the mission and helped focus how he ought to deal with his efficiency.
“I had always had a kind of latent ambition to do something that was more muscular and physical,” Mescal mentioned. “From a selfish side of things, I wanted to surprise an audience, because I knew that I have this kind of role within me. When this came up, I was like, ‘This is something that I don’t think anybody who’s seen the work that I’ve done previously will be expecting,’ and it’s Ridley Scott.”
“Gladiator II” will probably be launched by Paramount Footage, in theaters on November 22.
