{"id":615719,"date":"2026-09-05T22:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615719\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:58:13","slug":"ridley-scott-responds-to-reports-of-paul-mescal-being-fired-from-the-dog-stars-for-not-being-masculine-enough-in-gladiator-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615719\/","title":{"rendered":"Ridley Scott responds to reports of Paul Mescal being fired from ‘The Dog Stars’ for not being “masculine enough” in ‘Gladiator II’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ridley Scott<\/a> has responded to reports that he fired Paul Mescal<\/a> from\u00a0The Dog Stars for not being masculine enough in Gladiator II<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2024 sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 historical drama saw Mescal step into the shoes of Russell Crowe<\/a> as a man seeking revenge by becoming a gladiator in Rome\u2019s Colosseum. Despite being a box office success, making $462million (\u00a3342million) and having an 80 per cent \u201cfresh\u201d rating on\u00a0Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>, many considered it inferior to the original.<\/p>\n

According to a new report from\u00a0Puck\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0newsletter\u00a0What I\u2019m Hearing, writer Matthew Belloni writes that Ridley Scott blamed Mescal for the film\u2019s response, claiming he was not \u201cmasculine\u201d enough for the part.<\/p>\n

The disappointment allegedly led to him being replaced on Scott\u2019s new movie\u00a0The Dog Stars\u00a0by Jacob Elordi. The switch may have been fortuitous for Mescal, however, as the new film\u00a0flopped last weekend at the box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, a representative for Scott has denied the claims, saying that Mescal didn\u2019t appear in the movie as filming clashed with another of his projects.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, a representative said of the reports: \u201cNot true. Ridley loves Paul and was excited to work with him on Dog Stars after having [enjoyed] such a great collaboration on Gladiator II. Sadly, Paul\u2019s rehearsal schedule for another film prevented him from ultimately doing Ridley\u2019s film. While he was disappointed to lose Paul, he was thrilled to get the chance to work with Jacob, who was excellent in the role.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, reports stated Mescal\u2019s commitment to Sam Mendes\u2019 forthcoming four-part biopic of\u00a0The Beatles<\/a> prevented him from working with the filmmaker again. Mescal is slated to play \u00a0Paul McCartney<\/a> in the films, which are scheduled for release in April 2028.<\/p>\n

NME\u00a0rated\u00a0Gladiator II\u00a0three stars out of five<\/a>, with Alex Flood writing: \u201cIf you loved Gladiator, it\u2019s odds-on you\u2019ll enjoy this too. It\u2019s got all of the same exciting bits \u2013 swordfighting, rousing speeches, nasty poshos getting what they deserve. The problem is that\u2019s all it gives you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original film\u2019s star, Russell Crowe, mentioned numerous times his disdain for the film, saying that it\u00a0lacked a \u201cmoral core\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and that\u00a0the movie had \u201cfailed\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

As for Mescal, he and his co-stars on the Beatles\u2019 biopics were recently spotted recreating the famous \u2018Abbey Road\u2019 album cover for the movie.<\/a><\/p>\n

In June, the actor\u00a0made his first public statement in support of transgender rights<\/a>, in support of the London Trans+ Pride demonstration that happened in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ridley Scott has responded to reports that he fired Paul Mescal from\u00a0The Dog Stars for not being masculine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-615719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}