Paul Mescal Got 'Gladiator 2' Role After Producers Saw Him Shirtless in a Play: 'It Was Electric'

"The ladies in the audience were very vocal, and we were like, 'I think we’ve found our guy,' " said Paramount motion picture co-head Daria Cercek

Paul Mescal has quite a convincing leading-man torso.

The Oscar nominee recently nabbed a starring role in Gladiator 2, the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 epic starring Russell Crowe. And according to the powers that be, a certain body-baring performance helped him get cast.

In a conversation with Variety, Paramount motion picture co-head Daria Cercek admitted that the reaction Mescal, 27, got during the West End revival of A Streetcar Named Desire influenced producers' decision.

“He played Stanley, and there are several moments where he takes off his shirt and it was electric,” Cercek told the outlet. “The ladies in the audience were very vocal, and we were like, ‘I think we’ve found our guy.' "

Mescal, whose casting was first reported in January, will portray Lucius, the son of the original Gladiator's Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and villain Commodus' (Joaquin Phoenix) nephew, who grows to idolize Maximus (Crowe, 59) as he fights in Rome's gladiator rings throughout the film.

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Related: Angelina Jolie Meets with Paul Mescal in London After Bringing Shiloh, 16, to See His Play

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter amid his 2023 Academy Award nomination for an interview published in February, Mescal said he did not audition to star in Gladiator 2 but was instead offered the part after a personal meeting with Scott, 85.

"I'm so proud I get to make it," the actor said. "It's an intimidating feat. It's something I'm nervous about but something I feel like I can do."

Asked about any significant physical training he'd undertake to play a warrior, Mescal told the outlet, "Of course there's a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I'm not interested. This guy's got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it's going to be."

"Sometimes I see films and I'm like, 'That person doesn't look real,' " he added of other films in the action genre.

Related: Russell Crowe Admits He's 'Slightly Jealous' About New 'Gladiator' Movie

As for his run in A Streetcar Named Desire, Mescal recalled during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! back in March that he was once caught backstage with his pants down — by Nicole Kidman!

Mescal told Jimmy Kimmel he didn't know Kidman, 56, was at the show. He was sharing a dressing room with two castmates, and they heard a knock on the door while they were changing.

"We thought it was the stage manager or something and I go to open the door," the Aftersun actor recounted. "It's Nicole Kidman, and I'm standing there in, like, sweaty underwear."

Mescal continued sheepishly, "You'd think the next smart step is [to] put on some trousers, but there's something incredibly undignified about the act of [pulling up pants]."

"It's not a look you want to be caught in, [bending] over," he added.

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