Paul Mescal receives great praise for his contribution in Gladiator IIbut the question of whether he was the right person to anchor a long-awaited sequel was apparently not on the mind of director Ridley Scott. During a recent interview on The Graham Norton Showrevealed Mescal that he landed the role in the blockbuster after a single Zoom call.

“Ridley doesn’t waste time,” Mescal explained per Deadline. “I thought it was going to be camera tests and auditions, but we zoomed in for half an hour, talked for 10 minutes about the role and then 20 minutes about Gaelic football, his dog and his wife.”

“I thought there would be more, but he called a few weeks later to offer me the part,” he says Normal people the actor continued. “I think he just goes by instinct, both in and out, and I’m very happy that’s how it worked out.”

Following his role as one of the leaders in Normal peopleMescal has experienced a rapid rise to the heights of movie stardom. He received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the highly acclaimed Aftersun and has also appeared in several other acclaimed independent features.

Mescal participates in Gladiator sequel starring Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Connie Nielsen. He plays Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s character from the original film. The first wave of reactions to Gladiator II were overwhelmingly positive. With a little less than a month left for the film’s release, the only question that remains is whether the film will live up to the high standard set by its predecessor.