Fred Hechinger played the awfully sweet Quinn Mossbacher (maybe the only non-awful character) in the first season of The White Lotus, and his character arc is charming and hopeful. He takes a perpendicular path in the new Ridley Scott film Gladiator II, where he plays Emperor Caracalla, brother of Joseph Quinn’s Emperor Greta, and they make a pair of nasty antagonists that will surely remain memorable. Perhaps the most memorable thing from the film, though, will be the gargantuan set piece that floods the Colosseum to create an epic water fight. In a recent interview with MovieWeb, Hechinger shared how this was based on a wild reality:
I mean, in Roman times, they really did these water fights, you know? And so that’s inspired by the actual history of the matter, which is, they would bring water into the Colosseum and fight in that setup. It’s theater, right? It’s a form of intense theater. It’s like WWE, but for then.
The actor, also in this year’s wonderfully entertaining Thelma, then took us behind the scenes of the water fight’s production, which was structurally based on a massive set. Hechinger says it’s yet another example of Ridley Scott’s meticulous style of filmmaking:
“Ridley is incredible at working fast. That’s something that you probably know, is that he has a record-breaking amount of cameras on set, like eight to 12 cameras. So the way that he covers the big Colosseum fights is practically 360 degrees. It’s like you’re doing a live sports documentary of what’s happening. And it means that when everyone hits their mark and the whole thing works, you have it, you have it from every angle, so you can move really fast.”
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The Emperors of Gladiator II Formed a Vaudeville Double Act
It wasn’t just flooding the Colosseum that made Gladiator II a unique experience for Hechinger. The way he approached his character was also unique to him, becoming practically “codependent” with Joseph Quinn, who plays his Emperor brother. “What was extraordinary about working with Joseph is that we kind of built part of this as a double act, which is really unusual. It was a real pleasure to collaborate with him in that way. It felt like he really became not only a dear friend, but kind of like a brother, so that we could bring that dynamic into the film. I almost felt like we were an old vaudevillian couple planning our routine together, and it was a real pleasure.”
Hechinger elaborated about the fraternal Emperors:
“I always thought of it in the sense that Joe and I are both highly codependent and incredibly competitive, and there’s that constant push-and-pull between those things. We kind of lived for each other, but we also lived to destroy one another. It’s that love and hate, and back and forth and back and forth. So building it with him was really enjoyable in that way […] But at the same time, there was always this secret side bubbling underneath for both of us, and we kind of lived for it.”
What else was unique for Hechinger? Working with the great Denzel Washington. “Denzel, as I think anyone who loves movies knows, is one of the greatest actors ever. He’s just a true genius. Working with him was a very amazing pleasure every day. It was, it was so surprising and in the moment. And I just love playing with him. It’s something I will always treasure.” See how it all plays out when Gladiator II hits theaters Nov. 22 from Paramount Pictures.
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
- Release Date
- November 22, 2024
- Cast
- Paul Mescal , Pedro Pascal , Denzel Washington , Connie Nielsen , Joseph Quinn , Fred Hechinger , Derek Jacobi , May Calamawy , Peter Mensah , Matt Lucas , Alexander Karim , Tim McInnerny , Lee Charles , Chidi Ajufo , Alfie Tempest , Riana Duce , Chi Lewis Parry , Paul Candelent , Hadrian Howard , Alexander Simkin , Mikhail Basmadjian , Matthew Charlery-Smith , Maxime Durand , Lior Raz
- Distributor(s)
- Paramount Pictures