On Fred Hechinger's first day on the set of "Gladiator II," he and his co-star Joseph Quinn witnessed Paul Mescal's character face off against a rhino in a bloody battle at the Colosseum. It didn't matter that they weren't in the actual Colosseum but a replica built by the movie's production, or that the rhino wasn't real but a remote-controlled animatronic creature. The result still rendered Hechinger, 24, "immediately speechless." Day one ended up being a harbinger of the pinch-me experience Hechinger would have throughout filming Ridley Scott's epic sequel.
Hechinger's Caracalla is sick and twisted - a 'dangerous concoction'. "Gladiator II" is set 15 years after the death of Maximus Decimus Meridius. Under the rule of the villainous fraternal twin emperors Caracalla and Geta, Rome's citizens have become pawns and means for amusement.
"The scale that I have felt watching Ridley's movies is mirrored in the experience of making them," Hechinger told Business Insider. "Everywhere you looked, there was detail. The world felt like it was living around us and we were participating in it."
The twins show off their excess wealth in gold-adorned outfits and accessories and laugh maniacally as gladiators fight to the death in the arena. The film also suggests that Caracalla's twisted persona is the result of syphilis corrupting his mind.
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