Paul Mescal had to fight to get dramatic and dangerous horse riding scene in Gladiator II, trainer reveals

Paul Mescal was chomping at the bit to do a particularly dangerous equine stunt in “Gladiator II,” one which put him and director Sir Ridley Scott at odds. Mescal, 28, stars in Scott’s sequel to the Best Picture-winning swords-and-sandals epic “Gladiator,” out Friday.He takes on the leading man mantle from the first film’s star, Russell Crowe. Like Crowe, Mescal performed most of his own stunts in the action flick.

However, there was one stunt in particular that the “Normal People” star clashed with Scott over, as his personal trainer Tim Blakeley told The Post. “He loved the horse riding,” said Blakeley, owner of Media Physiques, a company that specializes in helping actors get their bodies camera-ready.“And he actually fought with Ridley [Scott] — he had to fight to get a scene in [the movie] with a horse where he had to jump on a horse that was moving.”According to Blakeley, “Ridley wanted to take it out because he was worried Paul was going to hurt himself.” Mescal proved undeniably persuasive, though. “Paul sort of won the argument and managed to get it in,” Blakeley recalled. Mescal’s fight was in line with his general attitude towards stunts in the film — that is, he wanted to do all of them.“He would do everything if he could,” Blakeley explained.“He just embraced all the physical aspects of the film.”It wasn’t just on horseback that Mescal excelled.

He slayed in the arena as well. “Paul was just so good at his fight scenes,” Blakeley said. And though Mescal had a stunt double, Zach Roberts — whose credits include “House of the Dragon,” “No Time to Die,” and “Black Widow”— Roberts spent most of his time helping the actor rather than stepping in for him.“Zach was almost sort of his mentor on set,” Blakeley said.“He just picked it up so fast.”Mescal, who can be seen practicing to grab a sword while on horseback in a behind-the-scenes “Gladiator II” featurette, has also ...