Paul Mescal undergoes insane body transformation for Gladiator 2

Paul Mescal has proven he's very serious about his preparation for the Gladiator sequel, as a video of the star working out has gone viral.

The 27-year-old is seen shirtless in the clip, which is believed to have been shot by his trainer and has since started circling online, with the star showing off his insane muscles as he performs dumbbell upright rows.

Paul appears to also be growing his hair and a beard for the role of Lucius, the now-adult nephew of Joaquin Phoenix's Roman Emperor Commodus from the original 2000 movie, with Russell Crowe in the leading role.

"OK, I fully support Ridley Scott making a sequel to Gladiator if Paul Mescal is gonna keep sharing videos of him getting in shape for it," one fan wrote on Twitter.

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"The man is training hard!" another added.

"OMG? I was not expecting this," a third said.

"I didn't know how much I needed to wake up with a video of HIM training until today oh my god," someone else added.

The actor was hand-picked by director Ridley Scott for the sequel, with Paul telling The Hollywood Reporter he's "so proud" to be involved in the film, adding that it's an "intimidating feat".

Speaking with the publication about his body transformation, Paul said, "With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don’t find that interesting.

"Of course, there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I’m not interested. This guy’s got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it’s going to be. Sometimes I see films and I’m like, ‘That person doesn’t look real.'"

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During an interview with Vanity Fair, Paul shared that being cast in the film was "more dumbfounding than the Oscar nomination," with the star being nominated for Best Actor earlier this year for Aftersun.

He had previously opened up to the publication about wanting a project that would allow him to change his physique.

"I was looking for something—it wasn’t actually to do with scale, but I wanted to pin my shoulders back and step into something a little bit more physical," he explained. "Literally as I was formulating these thoughts, this came in. And I was like, Oh f**k. This is meant to be or something."

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