Denzel Washington’s Approach to Gladiator II Was to ‘Put the Clothes on and Start Talking’: ‘It Was Make-Believe’

For Denzel Washington, stepping into the shoes of his latest character was easy. 

Of course, considering he plays the gladiator trader and arms dealer Macrinus in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II (in theaters Nov. 22), it’s more accurate to say he stepped into the character’s sandals. “All we had to do was put the clothes on and start talking,” Washington said at a Los Angeles screening of the sequel on Friday, Oct. 18.

“I’m serious,” added the Oscar-winning actor and director, 69. “What Ridley did, which was great, is he built Rome… When we would walk around, you were in Rome [with] 10,000 extras and horses. I mean, it was make-believe, it was play.”

That level of authenticity, he continued, made filming Gladiator II “fun. Just put the gear on, put the dress on and go. That’s the way I looked at it.”

Washington was joined at the event by costars Paul Mescal, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger, where they discussed making the follow-up to Scott’s 2000 Oscar-winning epic starring Russell Crowe. Mescal portrays Lucius Verus, the vengeful son of Crowe’s character Maximus, who follows in his late father’s arena-fighting footsteps. 

Washington’s Macrinus, an enslaved person-turned-slave owner, plays a ruthless character who is “misunderstood,” quipped the Training Day star at the screening. “He’s a product of his environment.”

The scheming character, he continued, is “trying to use everybody. He used his mother, he used his own children. He’d already used up his soul, so he didn’t have any left. But he’s in bed with the devil.”

Asked what initially intrigued him about the role, Washington — who last worked with Scott in 2007’s American Gangster — responded simply, “It’s Ridley, it’s Gladiator. It’s ‘yes.’”

“It starts with the words,” he added of the script by Gladiator II screenwriter David Scarpa and co-story creator Peter Craig. “So you had the words, you had the great actors, you had the environment, you had the swords, the horses, you had it all. You had everything at your disposal. And the most brilliant director.”

Nielsen, 59, reflected on how starring in the 2000 original film compared to the sequel. “This time around, what would’ve taken three hours to set up 25 years ago, now it takes 20 minutes,” the Danish actress recalled. “And that is despite the fact that you’re talking 3000 extras, you’re talking enormous vehicles, you’re talking insane setups. We could not believe how fast we were moving.”

The 86-year-old director “loves technology,” added Nielsen. “There were things that I know that he wanted to do in [Gladiator] that he simply did not have the technology for yet.”

Of working with the legendary Alien director, Mescal, 28, recalled “absolutely sh——” himself during an early day on set opposite costar Pedro Pascal.

When Scott asked if he was nervous, he said. “I didn’t know what the appropriate answer was. So I was like, ‘Ah’… He’s like, ‘Your nerves are no f—— good to me.’”

Gladiator II is in theaters Nov. 22.