Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones got quite close while working on Normal People. The two actors shined in the devastating Hulu series, which beautifully represented grief, anxiety and more. Luckily, the friendship between the two seems to still be intact, as the status of an NP Season 2 remains up in the air. Both actors have had incredible careers following the Sally Rooney adaptation, with Mescal leading this year’s Gladiator II, and Edgar-Jones leading the summer blockbuster Twisters. Apparently, they made working out for their respective roles a joint endeavor, and eventually that blossomed into a competition.
The cast of Twisters recently sat down with Australia’s Sunrise morning show to chat about the latest disaster film spinning towards theaters. Of course, the charming trio — consisting of Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos — could not have been more excited to talk about the upcoming film. During the chat, of which a snippet was shared on TikTok, the interviewer also asked Edgar-Jones about Paul Mescal and what she thought of his muscular frame. She shared her excitement for her pal and even mentioned that because, they both got in shape for their roles, they made it a competition. She explained:
I remember Paul was training for Gladiator while I was training for Twisters, and so we had a bit of a competition of who could bulk up more. I think-I think Paul won.
Daisy Edgar-Jones clearly looks incredible and, based on the Twisters trailers alone, I would trust her to lead me into a tornado with Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos in tow. However, when it comes to bulk, Paul Mescal is without question the victor. He apparently worked out like crazy with Joseph Quinn to get ripped for Gladiator II, and it shows. He was even conscious about the “type of” fit he got in so he appeared like a strong warrior rather than a movie star. His appearance is certainly impressive, and fans have called his new look their “Roman Empire.”
Of course, the Fresh actress shouldn’t sell herself short. During the interview, Daisy Edgar-Jones’ co-star encouraged her to take more credit for the hard work she also put in at the gym to chase around big screen-worthy tornadoes. The cast even prompted her to flex her own biceps, which achieving were likely no easy feat. You can see a clip of the moment from TikTok below:
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♬ original sound – Steve Hargrave
I absolutely adore the idea of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal battling it out over their gym performances, even though both clearly had very different fitness goals. They both definitely reached them and, due to their efforts, they’ve have given fans even more reasons to want to check out both of these highly anticipated films on the 2024 movie release schedule. While it will probably be a while before the duo properly reunite on camera, fans can rest easy knowing that they remain super tight and supportive of each other as their careers blossom.
You can catch Daisy Edgar-Jones in Twisters when it hits theaters on July 19th, and Paul Mescal in Gladiator II when it heads to cinemas on November 22nd. Fans can also revisit them together in Normal People, which is now streamable with a Hulu subscription.