Shadowing Practice: Paul Mescal & Denzel Washington Talk Gladiator II, Life Advice & “Making It” - Learn English Speaking with Video
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What's the most unusual thing you ever done to prepare for a role?
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Listen to the director.
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I'm Paul.
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I'm here with Denzel.
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I'm Denzel.
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Yep.
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And we're gonna play In Conversation With.
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Should we go?
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You first.
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Let me go first.
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All right.
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Describe your job in three words.
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I'm unemployed now.
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Tell us about the first time you both met met?
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So the first time I met Denzel, I was in Morocco shooting the first day that Denzel was on set.
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I was going to go up and say hello.
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I have no shame in admitting this, but I was a little bit scared.
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And then I waited at the bottom of the stairs, because it was like up in this balcony, I waited at the bottom of the stairs, and I was like two,
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three minutes passed, and I was like, I'll do this tomorrow.
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So I bailed, and then I met you the second So where did we actually meet then?
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The second day.
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I remember this so clearly.
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You put your hand out, we shook hands, and you go, whacked me on the shoulder and you go, stop working out, man.
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Oh yeah, I was pissed off?
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So that's my part of the story.
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Right, have you learned anything from each other whilst working on this film?
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Absolutely not.
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What a waste of time you are hanging around you.
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I don't know.
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I learned that I'll never want to do it again.
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What's your name, by the way?
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Teaser.
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And you're famous for?
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being in a film with you.
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I learned about humility from you.
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Really?
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Humble man, good man.
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That's very kind.
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Good, humble, hardworking.
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Didn't need to get thrown around as much as you did, but I enjoyed it.
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But a good man, I mean it.
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I appreciate that.
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The thing that I learned that I found so leveling was that regardless of what you've achieved,
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the idol that you are to someone, you came with a desire to do nothing else but work.
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And I think for any young actor, I think it's important to remind people that regardless of where you get to, that doesn't exist unless you have an appetite to work.
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And I learned that from you and also from Ridley.
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Which, I have a question, which side of your back would you like to be patted on?
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I prefer this side of your back.
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Yeah, great.
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There you go.
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Right.
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What's the biggest challenge of your career so far?
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There's no one thing.
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There's never...
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It's cumulative, right?
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Yeah, it's cumulative.
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For me the biggest challenge is like navigating having a life outside of work because I love Work, you know, I don't know whether you have a thought on
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that or whether it's just something that you find a way to navigate those priorities shift.
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I can tell you 50 years of experience I've learned to put it down and go home.
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Yeah, my happiness doesn't come from the roles I play
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or the accolades people have given me and that was that always true.
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No, absolutely not You know I can I'm telling you from 70 years of experience don't listen to them.
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Yeah That's too so yeah spend quiet time Five minutes every morning just be quiet hard to do yeah,
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I'm talking to everybody in this room Very hard to do five minutes of quiet don't reach for it.
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Don't think about it, which is impossible Don't reach for it.
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You know what I'm talking about your devices If you could have played the lead in any film in history, what would it be?
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I played the lead in every film.
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It's historic because somebody else made it historic.
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Yeah, if you want to do it, that's the reason to leave it alone.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Which actor in history do you most admire?
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All right, I'm changing the game.
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Three actors.
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Three actors, yeah. That you admire.
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And I'm not one of them.
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There you go.
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All right, two X.
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Exactly.
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I love Michelle Williams, Betty David, Sidney, Meryl Streep, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Al Pacino.
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What advice would you give your 18 year old self?
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In other words, what were you thinking when COVID started?
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18 year old self, never be the person in the room who hasn't done the most amount of work.
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I would tell my 18 year old self it's okay to
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not know what you want to do with the rest of your life.
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When I was 18 I was scared because I was like okay I'll be a doctor so I was pre-med
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And I had a course called chordate morphogenesis.
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What is that?
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I don't know I still don't know but I played a doctor on TV What was your first I've made it moment?
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What was your first I've made it moment like was there a moment when that happens?
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I'll tell you really you still feel that made what made it like that you've got
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I felt that the first time somebody paid me to be an actor.
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I never thought when I went to drama school.
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I think people maybe misconstrued that it's like, oh, suddenly when you walk onto a big film, or you walk into your opening on Broadway, or you walk into a big paycheck,
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that that's what actors think is the I've made apartment.
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But I think when I went to drama school for three years, I was like, there's still no guarantee that somebody's going to turn around to be like,
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hey, we deem you worthy enough to be an actor an actor.
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So for me, when I was cast in a play for the first time, I was like, not that I've made it, like that there's a destination, but that I was like...
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I still save canned foods.
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Never know.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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No, I remember keeping cans of food and stuff, so maybe whenever I stopped recording cans of food, I knew I made it.
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Okay, I got one for you.
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If you had to fill in the back of this, what would you write down?
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What would I fill it in with?
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What is the thing that keeps you up at night?
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Only the mistakes have been mine.
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Yeah, that's fucking brutal.
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If you were 20 years older than you are now, you'd be 20 years older than you are now.
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Just to clarify, Denzala's reading nothing.
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I'm reading nothing.
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My mother said to me one time, she used to say, boy, the older you get, the older you get.
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Yeah.
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Like, no wiser, just older.
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Yeah.
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Oh, I'll tell you a moment.
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I thought I was hot stuff.
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I came home early on in my career or something, and I knew I was a movie star, and I came to my mother on the beauty shop,
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and I said, Ma, did you ever think it was going to be like this, and that I was going to make it?
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She said, what did you say?
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I think I was in trouble.
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She said, what did you say?
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Let me tell you something.
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So she started calling me superstar.
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She said, oh, you're a superstar, huh?
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I'll tell you what, superstar.
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Go in the back, superstar.
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Get that bucket and that squeegee and some soap and water and hit those windows, superstar.
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When you finish Superstar, grab the mop and mop the floor down.
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Wipe it all the way down.
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Superstar, have you finished wiping it down?
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Are you in the back, Superstar?
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Yeah, the Coke bottles, they have roaches in them, don't they?
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Right.
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Turn them over, get the roaches, I mean, this is a true story.
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Get the roaches out, clean all the bottles.
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They got the message.
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I've heard you say something like this before, where you're like, when people talk about the hardest thing about being an actor, and you say, this isn't hard.
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Picking up garbage is hard.
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That's the garbage man.
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Yeah, that's right.
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Now, here's a question for you all.
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What would you do with five minutes of silence?
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I pray for your generation because we did not have to deal with what you've had to deal with.
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And it's our fault for putting it in your hands.
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There were no nine million opinions of every moment of my day.
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No documentation.
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People that like you and then suddenly they hate you and you don't understand why.
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I never had, I don't even know what you call it, an Instagram account.
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I've never had one.
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Link, what's the other name?
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Link?
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LinkedIn.
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I don't have any of those things.
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You don't have a LinkedIn?
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No, no. I have a Cadillac.
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And on that note, we're out.
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Very good.
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What You'll Practice in This Lesson
This lesson uses a casual conversation between actors Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington to help you improve your English speaking skills. You'll practice understanding natural, conversational tone, picking up on humor and subtlety, and mimicking real-world dialogue flow. It's perfect for working on your listening comprehension and speaking fluency through shadowing.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Bailed: To back out of a plan. Example: "I was going to say hello, but I bailed."
- Leveling: Making something feel equal or relatable. Example: "The lesson about hard work was leveling."
- Appetite to work: A strong desire to work. Example: "Success needs an appetite to work."
- Whacked: Hit lightly. Example: "He whacked me on the shoulder."
- Idol: Someone admired greatly. Example: "He's an idol to many young actors."
Tips for Shadowing This Conversation
The dialogue has a relaxed, friendly tone with quick back-and-forth exchanges, making it ideal for practicing shadowspeak (the shadowing technique). Here's how to make the most of it:
- Match the speed: The conversation flows naturally, so focus on keeping up without rushing. Pause and repeat short sections if needed, using a shadowing app to track your progress.
- Emphasize humor and tone: Notice how the actors use sarcasm ("Absolutely not" when asked what they learned) and warmth ("Good, humble, hardworking"). Mimic these subtle shifts to sound more natural.
- Copy the rhythm: Pay attention to pauses and casual phrases like "Yep" or "I mean it." These small details make your English speaking practice more authentic.
- Focus on connected speech: Phrases like "I'll do this tomorrow" or "regardless of what you've achieved" are spoken quickly. Practice linking words together to sound fluent.
Why This Dialogue Works for Learning
Conversations between native speakers often include humor, self-deprecation, and genuine advice—elements that are key to real-world communication. By shadowing this video, you'll not only improve your pronunciation and fluency but also learn how to express personality in English. Remember, the shadowing technique is most effective when you repeat phrases immediately after hearing them, so don't be afraid to pause and replay sections. With practice, you'll start to sound more natural and confident in your English speaking skills.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've achieved · I've learned · have given |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was pissed · be patted · was cast |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.