Paul Mescal jumped at the chance to be a part of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

As he told Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum in our interview with the cast, Mescal seemed that this project was the perfect one for him to make the jump to big films after being a standout in smaller films such as Aftersun and All of Us Strangers.

“I think to be totally honest…it’s not that I didn’t have a desire to do a big film, but there are a lot of bigger films that I would not have a huge interest in doing,” he said. “There’s very few who could direct epics like Ridley Scott because what he manages to do is he gives the audience entertainment, but he also directs films that require an emotional center.”

Mescal also explained how the film explores living in a world full of what Mescal called “binary opinions.”

“I think it’s important to recognize that we live in a world full of binary opinions and the central point of this film is the capacity to change your opinion and the capacity for forgiveness,” he said. “But it’s deeply attached to the fact that the circumstances that these characters were living in, in Gladiator II, survival was a priority for these people, so it requires this sort of steadfastness.”

Watch the full interview with Mescal, Scott, Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen above.

Gladiator II comes to theaters Nov. 22.