Best Picture 2025: Gladiator Brings Beefcake We Didn’t Know We Needed

Vanity Fair has an exclusive First Look at the cast of Gladiator. And what can I say, masculinity, you’ve been missed. Gaze upon the glistening biceps of Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington is not too shabby either. It’s like manna from Heaven. In one of the photos released by the studio and given to Vanity Fair, Mescal and Pascal fight mano a mano.

Another photo posted to Vanity Fair, courtesy of Paramount, shows Paul Mescal newly ripped — grabbing his sword…This photo represents one of the first times we’ve seen Mescal’s physical transformation. It also hints at the film’s cinematography.

And the King of Hollywood, Denzel Washington, looks on with a suspicious look in his eyes. The photo was given to Vanity Fair for their first-look exclusive. We can also see how intricate the production design and costuming are.

Writing in VF, says Anthony Breznican:

As Gladiator II picks up her story, decades have passed and Lucius has come of age far away from his mother. While he was still a child, Lucilla sent him to the northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire. He never fully understood why, and as he grew stronger, so did his resentment—even if his mother’s reasons had been pure. “There’s a lot of Sophie’s Choice going on here, where these are impossible situations that we are being forced to reckon with,” says Nielsen. “There is an authoritarian power that is parading as if it were still somehow the vestiges of a Republican government. Inside of this travesty are human beings who are caught in this gamesmanship and power. That is what I find always so interesting in Ridley’s stories. He’s really showing the effect of power on people and what happens in a place where power is unrestrained.”

And:

Mescal saw meaning in the story beyond the thrill of men clashing swords, fighting wild animals, or staging deadly combat for the amusement of the masses. Asked what Gladiator II is really about, he says, “What human beings will do to survive, but also what human beings will do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see there’s other characters striving and pulling for power. Where’s the space for humanity? Where’s the space for love, familial connection? And ultimately, will those things overcome this kind of greed and power? Those things are oftentimes directly in conflict with each other.”

Here is another photo posted on Vanity Fair that shows Ridley Scott directing Paul Mescal. The photo illustrates beautiful umber brown cinematography, with costumes on par with or surpassing the original. The photo is by AIDAN MONAGHAN.