Spencer Treat Clark has offered his thoughts on Paul Mescal taking on the role he played in Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical epic Gladiator, saying he’s “heard great things about the movie.”
Clark, now 37, was just 13 when Gladiator was released.
He played Lucius Verus, son of Roman Empress Lucilla. In the film, his father was purported to be the late Roman co-emperor Lucius Verus I.
Mescal, 28, will play the character in the forthcoming sequel Gladiator II. In a trailer for the new film, it was revealed that his father was actually Russell Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius.
In the scene, Lucius’s mother Lucilla (played by Connie Nielsen) shares words of wisdom with him as he readies himself for battle, saying: “Take your father’s strength, his name was Maximus, and I see him in you.” In another shot, Mescal looks at a stone wall with “Maximus” carved into it.
In an interview with People, Clark said he had recently watched the trailer and added: “The movie looks so good, and Paul’s going to do such a great job.
“I’ve actually heard great things about the movie.”
Clark is currently starring in the new Stephen King adaptation of Salem’s Lot, which is streaming on Max.
He added: “I feel like it was 25 years ago, but for some people, seeing me as an adult and being like, ‘Oh my God, you’re right. You were Lucius in Gladiator,’ is so wild.
“But I’m really excited to see the movie and to see what Paul brings to it. And yeah, it comes out soon. So I’m excited for it.”
In 2000’s Gladiator, the identity of Lucius’s father was never explicitly revealed but the clues were there since Lucilla and Maximus were identified as former lovers.
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The forthcoming film is set years after the death of Maximus who was killed at the hands of Commodus. In the sequel, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who have taken over Rome. With the future of the empire at stake, Lucius must try and return Rome to its people.
Speaking about the plot twist, Mescal said he was completely shocked when director Scott told him the news before they started shooting: “I was like, ‘Holy s***,’” Mescal told Entertainment Weekly.
“He mentioned it in the talk, but then it’s an affronting thing to see it written on the page, and [to have] that responsibility fall on your shoulders is interesting,” he said.
“The screenplay does a lot of that work for you in terms of the rubbing the dirt between the hands, the kind of DNA, and the genetics that Lucius inherits,” he said.