The film stars Kildare actor Paul Mescal, playing the character Lucius alongside co-star and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington. Sir Ridley's first film in 2000, which starred Russell Crowe as soldier-turned-gladiator Maximus, won five Oscars including best actor and best picture.

The Paul Mescal lookalike contest is sadly an indictment of every Irish lad I’ve met who claims that Paul Mescal looks like every lad in Ireland,’ one person wrote on X

Hey, at least the people of Ireland are having a good week… Today, in Dublin, a handful of fit, Irish men donned their best short-shorts and marched on down to the city’s Smithfield Square, where they competed in an unofficial Paul Mescal lookalike contest for a grand prize of 20 Euro (which is actually more than it sounds—in U.

After a successful Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest in New York, a Paul Mescal look-alike contest was held in Dublin, Ireland ahead of the Gladiator II screening.

A Paul Mescal lookalike competition was held Thursday in Smithfield near the Lighthouse cinema and crowned its winner shortly before 2 in the afternoon. Video by: Hannah Daygo

Unfortunately, the real Paul Mescal didn’t show up to the competition. Overall competition winner Jack Wall O’Reilly said he thinks he was “organically” put over the edge to win. “I think I won the genetic Paul Mescal lottery,” the Clare man said.

Unlike the New York edition, it seems like no Pauls were arrested for the making of the bit, but one—real name Jack Wall O’Reilly—did win a giant check for “€20 or three pints.” A Paul Mescal lookalike contest took place in Dublin today.