GLADIATOR II beefcake Paul Mescal has been ordered to go on a Normal People diet as he prepares to play Sir Paul McCartney in the new Beatles biopics.
The 29-year-old actor was told to lose muscle and put on some fat for his role as the legendary singer and bass player — leaving fans distraught.
But he can drink and smoke — because famously enjoyed .
Last night an insider said: “Obviously there weren’t really gyms around in the Sixties.
“The Beatles weren’t dead-lifting between gigs.
“Macca was always pretty lean and flexible — he has always been really into yoga — but this is a very different aesthetic to that of a burly gladiator, and Paul has been keeping his body pretty ripped, even after filming stopped.
“ is also famously a vegetarian, whereas Paul mainly lives on a high protein steak, chicken and eggs diet.
“There also weren’t whey protein shakes back in the Beatles’ day.”;
Mescal found fame in 2020 playing Connell Waldron in the BBC TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel .
He hired an ex-Royal Navy personal trainer — putting on 22lbs in muscle by training six days a week — to play Lucius Verus Aurelius, the exiled Prince of , in last year’s movie Gladiator II.
Earlier this week, .
will play , Harris Dickinson will be and Joseph Quinn is .
There will be four films — from each star’s perspective — with all to be released in April 2028.
Last night, fans express their dismay at Mescal having to lose his muscles.
One said: “We just got super-jacked Paul and now they’re turning him back into Normal People Paul? This is a .”;
