- Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal are the stars of Wicked and Gladiator II
- But now the actors have agreed that although their movies are actually pretty similar
- The pair sat down together for Variety’s Actors on Actors series
They’re the stars of two of 2024’s biggest movies – and Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal have now come to the conclusion that their movies are “strangely similar”.
While you’d be forgiven for getting confused – Wicked is the all-singing, all-dancing prequel to The Wizard of Oz, while Gladiator II is… Gladiator II – Grande, 31, made some excellent comparisons between both films.
In their Actors on Actors chat together for Variety, Grande – who plays Glinda in Wicked – said, “I feel like our movies are strangely similar. I know that sounds absolutely absurd, but I really do feel like they are.
“Because there are strong themes of evil versus good; honestly, in certain ways, dictatorship. Corrupt government. They feel thematically intertwined.”
Mescal, 28 – who stars as gladiator Lucius in the Ridley Scott sequel – agreed, while also explaining that the movies work very well together in other ways.
Referencing the fact that both films debuted in the US on November 22, he added, “And also, not to sell the whole Glicked thing, but in terms of a double feature, thematically similar but then also totally different meals.”
“We’re really selling each other’s films quite well!” Grande laughed.
Mescal ‘proud’ of Glicked
Delving further into the movies being dubbed ‘Glicked’, Mescal also addressed their similarity to the Barbenheimer phenomenon of summer 2023.
Much like Glicked, Barbenheimer came about when two opposing films were released on the same day: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Barbie, and the Cillian Murphy-fronted Oppenheimer.
“The thing that makes me really proud of it all – for both, I imagine, Wicked and Gladiator II – is that it’s championing the thing that we both adore, which is cinema,” Mescal went on. “If it does anything to what Barbie and Oppenheimer did last year… I remember watching that from afar and being like, ‘This is so brilliant for our industry’.
“Both films couldn’t have been more opposite. Just to see the appetite that people had to go to the theater.”
Grande agreed. “Yeah, people became so involved,” she said. “It became such an event, and it was just such a beautiful thing to watch. People falling in love with going to the theaters again.”
Mescal continued, “I remember just looking at the trades and being like, ‘They’ve done X amount of money,’ and just getting excited. Because I don’t know, the industry has been in a tricky position for X amount of years, and to see films that couldn’t be more disconnected become connected because of the audience’s appetite to go to the cinema.
“And to remind people who doubt the health of the film industry that people want to go into a dark room and see these stories.”
Where can I watch the full Actors on Actors conversation?
You can watch Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal’s full Actors on Actors conversation below:
