It’s fair to say that Ridley Scott knows a thing or two about action, but the director tackled what could be the biggest action sequence of his career with Gladiator II.

“We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” Scott teased to Empire. “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.” The first trailer for Gladiator II teased quite a number of crazy action sequences, including a flooded Colosseum and a rampaging rhino. Speaking of that rhino, Scott had originally envisioned it for the first movie, but it was deemed too expensive at the time. Thanks to modern technologies, he was finally able to pull it off.

“Computerisation and AI — you have to embrace it,” Scott said. “I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape. I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl. A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.“

“From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome,” reads the official Gladiator II synopsis. “Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.“

Gladiator II is set to hit theaters on November 11th, the same day as Wicked, which has some hoping that we’ve got Barbenheimer 2.0 on our hands, including Gladiator sequel star Paul Mescal. “Wickdiator doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it? I think my preference would probably be Glicked if it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer,” Mescal said. “It would be amazing ’cause I think the films couldn’t be more polar opposites and it worked in that context previously. So fingers crossed people come out and see both films on opening weekend.“

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