Paul Mescal ‘dropped from Ridley Scott’s new movie’ after director blamed Gladiator II flop on him
Last Friday (28 August), The Dog Stars landed in cinemas starring Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley.
However, Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic thriller was originally meant to feature Paul Mescal in the leading role.
And it’s now been claimed that he ‘dropped’ from the film after the director blamed him for Gladiator II’s supposed underperformance - although, his team deny this.
Puck’s Matt Belloni has reported that Scott wasn’t so happy with the Irish actor’s performance in his highly-anticipated sequel back in 2024 while the director's reps say it's just 'not true'.
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To some, the follow up to the legendary 2000 epic was thought to be a bit of a disappointment – it simply wasn’t considered to be as good as the original. It did however make $462 million worldwide (although some claim the budget could be anywhere between $250 to over $300 million) and some critics praised Mescal’s performance as Lucius.
According to Belloni (via World of Reel), Scott claimed that the actor wasn’t ‘masculine enough’ for the lead Gladiator II role. And so, Mescal reportedly dropped out of The Dog Stars and was replaced by Elordi.
At the time, it was claimed that his exit from Scott’s project was due to ‘scheduling conflicts’ with Sam Mendes’ four-part Beatles film (in which the Irishman is playing Paul McCartney).
While these claims do the rounds, the director's representatives tell LADbible it's 'not true'. "Ridley loves Paul and was excited to work with him on Dog Stars after having enjoying such a great collaboration on Gladiator 2.
"Sadly, Paul’s rehearsal schedule for another film prevented him from ultimately doing Ridley’s 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."
Belloni reports The Dog Stars had a budget of $89 million but opened at the weekend to only $7.7 million
The LADbible Group has contacted representatives for Mescal for comment.
The Dog Stars
It’s reported that the new film is one of Scott’s biggest fails, not doing particularly well with either critics or audiences.
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Dog Stars is currently sitting at 39 percent on the Tomatometer and a semi-respectable 71 percent on the Popcornmeter.
One viewer called it ‘mediocre’ as another wanted to save others ‘from wasting two hours of their God given time on this film’.
“Took a great book and made it a pretty stupid zombie apocalypse shoot ‘em up. Really disappointed,” a third put as a fourth wrote: “Slow, not much of a plot. Simple ending. Kept waiting for the movie to take off never really did.”
Although, others said they were ‘blown away’ and ‘love everything about it’.
“I don’t understand the story but I still enjoyed the ride.
Topics: Jacob Elordi, Entertainment, Celebrity, TV and Film
Jess Battison