Behind The Scenes On Gladiator II

3 weeks ago

It’s finally landing in cinemas

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Paul Mescal has been on a mammoth press tour for Gladiator 2 – so we’re pleased we can finally catch it in the cinema. The largest project of the rising star’s career to date, Mescal swaps indie films for this much-anticipated, huge-budget sequel to Ridley Scott and Russell Crow’s 2000 blockbuster Gladiator. Will Gladiator 2 serve to be just as iconic? Only time will tell (but a third film is reportedly in its early stages of development regardless…).

Despite its star-studded cast – Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielson and Joseph Quinn all star, among many more – one stand-out performance comes from the film’s breathtaking sun soaked backdrop. So where was Gladiator 2 filmed? Here we step behind the scenes…

Paul Mescal plays Lucius in Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)

Where Was Gladiator 2 Filmed?

Gladiator 2 was mainly filmed in Malta, with additional scenes filmed in Ouarzazate, Morocco and at Devil’s Dyke in Sussex’s South Downs in the UK. ‘Malta is a character,’ star Denzel Washington (who plays Macrinus) shares in a video captured by Screen Malta. ‘You can feel the history here, and it was the perfect place to shoot. […] This is the biggest film I’ve been on. It’s huge.’

The original film was also shot in Malta back in the ‘90s, but Gladiator 2 has made headlines for the whopping life-size reconstruction of the Colosseum, which features heavily in the sequel – including when Mescal fights a CGI rhinoceros. ‘First day walking in the Colosseum, he [Mescal] nearly died,’ Ridley Scott told GQ last month. ‘He didn’t realize it was going to be so big.’ Nervous, Mescal recalls Scott slapping him on the back and declaring: ‘Just remember, your nerves are no good to me.’

A still from Gladiator II featuring a CGI rhino

Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)

‘I love Malta,’ Scott shares in a video created by Screen Malta. ‘I keep going back and I always find a new space. I love the atmosphere of Malta. I love the feeling of life in Malta, it’s constantly alive. It’s great.’

‘It’s a country that knows how to tolerate big film making,’ Mescal adds. Get a glimpse behind the scenes below, courtesy of Screen Malta.

Gladiator 2’s Malta Filming Locations

‘Location is everything when it comes to telling a story,’ says Pedro Pascal (who plays Marcus Acacius) – which means Malta is everything in Gladiator 2. Specific filming locations include:

Fort Ricasoli, a huge 17th century fort just across the water from Malta’s capital, Valletta
Mizieb in the Maltese countryside
Palazzo Vilhena, a palace in Malta’s ancient fortified city of Mdina, which served as the island’s capital from antiquity to the medieval period
Malta Film Studios in Kalkara, a stone’s throw away from Fort Ricasoli

Pedro Pascal, Director Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal on the set of Gladiator II. (Paramount Pictures)

The large-scale filming in Malta was all thanks to a record-breaking deal struck between Paramount and Malta’s government. In 2023, the Times of Malta reported a whopping €46.7 million would be donated by the Malta Film Commission to the production of Gladiator 2, breaking the ‘record for the biggest state aid to cinema in the EU’. The money – which is actually a tax rebate – is part of a larger scheme that promises production companies up to 40 percent cash back if they film in the sunny EU nation. It is hoped that doing this will inject millions into the Maltese economy by enticing filmmakers and tourists alike.

And it seems the production team were pleased to be here. ‘Malta is one of the best places in the world to make movies,’ shares executive producer Adrian Eliot, praising the nation’s ‘talent to execute very complex movies’.

‘The discipline, the creative genius… Everywhere you looked, Rome was there,’ shares Fred Hechinger, who plays Emperor Caracalla. ‘It was like an actor’s greatest playground. It is a testament to the designers and craftspeople who are Maltese. Not only was the legacy continuing with Ridley Scott and his direction, it was also continuing with Malta.’