Ridley Scott Reportedly Blamed Paul Mescal for ‘Gladiator II’ Failure

Ridley Scott has never been shy about voicing his opinions on his own films, but a new report suggests some of that candor extended into how he privately assessed one of his own leading men. The fallout, according to insiders, may have quietly shaped a major casting decision on his very next project.

That project was ‘The Dog Stars,’ which Scott had originally envisioned as a quick reunion with his ‘Gladiator II’ star. Instead, the film ended up with an entirely different lead, and the official explanation for that swap has now been called into question by new reporting on what actually happened behind the scenes.

Ridley Scott reportedly blamed Paul Mescal for ‘Gladiator II’ and felt he wasn’t “masculine enough” for the role, according to Puck’s Matt Belloni. That dissatisfaction reportedly contributed to Mescal being dropped from ‘The Dog Stars’ altogether, a decision that had previously been attributed entirely to scheduling.

Mescal had originally been attached to star in ‘The Dog Stars’ before Jacob Elordi replaced him last year. At the time, his team cited scheduling conflicts with Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles films, in which Mescal is rumored to be playing Paul McCartney, as the reason for his departure. That explanation has since been disputed, with the new report suggesting Scott’s private frustrations with Mescal’s ‘Gladiator II’ performance played a larger role than previously understood.

Scott had first hinted at Mescal’s uncertain status on ‘The Dog Stars’ back in December, during a conversation with fellow director Christopher Nolan following a ‘Gladiator II’ screening at the Directors Guild of America. When Nolan asked whether Mescal was still set to star in the project, Scott responded, “Yes. Maybe. Paul is actually stacked up, doing the Beatles next. So I may have to let him go.”

That hesitation stood in contrast to the enthusiasm Scott and Mescal had both expressed about working together again just months earlier. Mescal had praised Scott during the ‘Gladiator II’ Tokyo premiere, calling him unmatched at “focusing on an audience’s sense of entertainment,” while Scott told The New York Times around the same time that Mescal was “very smart” and simply needed to adjust to the scale of the productions Scott was bringing him into.

‘The Dog Stars’ ultimately moved forward with Jacob Elordi in the lead role of Hig, a pilot navigating a pandemic-ravaged world alongside a hardened survivalist. The film, based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, also brought on Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, and Guy Pearce, and has since released in theaters, drawing a notably mixed critical response since its debut.

‘Gladiator II’ itself opened to a similarly divided reception when it premiered in 2024, with critics and audiences split on Mescal’s performance as Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla from the original 2000 film. Whether Scott’s reported private dissatisfaction with that performance genuinely factored into the ‘Dog Stars’ casting swap, or whether the scheduling explanation simply happened to align with a convenient exit, remains something only those directly involved can fully confirm.

For now, this new reporting adds a more complicated layer to a casting change that had largely been accepted at face value when it was first announced. Whether Scott and Mescal ever reunite on a future project remains an open question given this reported behind-the-scenes friction.

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