Ridley Scott Says Opening to Gladiator II Is “Bigger Than Anything in Napoleon”

We're a little over three months away from Gladiator II hitting theaters, and the anticipation is ramping up since the epic first trailer for Ridley Scott 's new film broke a Paramount record .

So far, we know that Gladiator II will feature an epic showdown , and Paul Mescal has confirmed that he fights baboons , but beyond that? There's much still to be uncovered.

However, Ridley Scott has offered up a little teaser about what's in store during the opening of Gladiator II in a new interview with Empire Magazine .

The four-time Academy Award nominee said, "We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I've ever done".

Considering Scott's filmography consists of multiple historical epics, this is a bold statement, but nonetheless, Gladiator II 's opening is "Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon ", reveals Scott.

Napoleon famously features a sequence including 300 men, 100 horses, and 11 cameras in the field.

With that moment being such a huge technical feat, it's unimaginable what could possibly top it in Gladiator II .

As well as prepping us all for the enormity of the opening sequence, Scott also offered up a little more detail on a sequence with a rhino, which we got a preview of the trailer.

Scott says he had "a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino's body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape."

So when Mescal got into the arena, there was "this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl".

It would appear that plenty awaits us in Gladiator II , and Scott primes us perfectly to Empire, saying, "A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it's a lot of fun."