The Gladiator II Cast on Working with Ridley Scott

The action extravaganza is about to begin. Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II hits theaters on Friday and we sat down with Pedro Pascal and Connie Nielsen to talk about the highly anticipated sequel and what it was like to work with the iconic director. RT corespondent Nikki Novak also chatted with Scott as he shared his selection process of the costumes and props and broke down the epic monkey fight scene.

Nikki Novak for Rotten Tomatoes: Can you describe how it feels the day after you wake up from fighting Paul [Mescal]? What happens to your body? 

Pedro Pascal: I still feel it. Listen, Ridley Scott will set up so many cameras and he’ll shoot something start to finish. So the thing is that the sequence goes from action to cut, and instead of like pieces [where] we’ll put the stunt guy in here and we’ll do this bit here, you do the whole thing. We’ve learned the whole thing but on the day with the costumes, with the cameras rolling, with another actor… yeah, he [Ridley Scott] famously, thank God, doesn’t do multiple takes but Paul is very strong and he is an athlete and a lot younger than me and it was astonishing to physically experience his strength. And how it felt the next day is a place I never want to be again.