Over the weekend, I watched Aftersun, the indie film which earned Paul Mescal his first Oscar nomination. He’s one of the youngest Best Actor Oscar nominees of all time, alongside Orson Welles, James Dean, Heath Ledger and Ryan Gosling. If he wins, he’ll be the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner by several years. That being said, I don’t think he’ll win? I didn’t dislike Aftersun, I just thought it felt more like an a student film. The location shoot in Turkey was beautiful and Mescal’s performance as a loving father dealing with mental health issues was moving, but I just wish there had been more of a plot. In any case, I do see (a little bit) of why the youths like Paul Mescal now. Anyway, Mescal covers the latest issue of the Hollywood Reporter, and this is a real movie star rollout. Some highlights from the cover story:
On his Oscar nomination: “It’s a world that I may be starting to understand slightly. And I love work. If I could work every day, every hour, I would. I get itchy when I’m not working. I know at some point I’ll get tired and probably burn out for a little bit, but I don’t feel that now.”
Whether the Oscar nom came as a surprise: “It’s very hard to avoid the forecasting. So I was kind of aware that I was maybe on the bubble — like on the outside of potentially getting a nomination. I was aware that films like Aftersun aren’t the go-to Oscar pick a lot of the time. So it was a big surprise. The surprise was real. Yeah.”
A very Irish Oscars this year. “I’m hoping that the Oscars afterparties are going to be fun — because I think the Irish can show up in that setting,” he says with a smile. I ask what it is about the Irish condition that produces so many of Hollywood’s most celebrated artists. “I don’t know… I feel like we’ve always overrepresented ourselves. Just in terms of population, we’re punching above our weight.”
On his role in ‘Normal People’: “I’m far from that person. There are similarities, of course, because we culturally come from the same place, we both play Gaelic football and we both suffer a little bit with depression — he more so than I do. But there are no complaints with that because the writing and direction of that show was beautiful. It was a portrayal of what it is to be a young person in today’s world. And of course a lot of things are easier, but it’s just f–king hard sometimes.”
He scored the lead in ‘Gladiator 2’: Mescal says he did not have to audition for the lead role of adult Lucius, depicted in the original as the young nephew of Commodus, the Roman Emperor played by Joaquin Phoenix. He simply took a meeting with the 85-year-old directing legend in which Scott “discussed the parameters of the story. Then, after the fact, I was given a script. And I’m so proud I get to make it. It’s an intimidating feat. It’s something I’m nervous about but something I feel like I can do.”
Whether he’ll transform his body to play a gladiator: “With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don’t find that interesting. Of course there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I’m not interested. This guy’s got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it’s going to be. Sometimes I see films and I’m like, ‘That person doesn’t look real.’ “
His breakup with Phoebe Bridgers: At the moment, he’d prefer to keep his thoughts on that topic to himself. “Maybe at some point. But just not now. It’s just difficult territory. Yeah.”
He loves LA: “I love L.A.. I feel like I was introduced to it in the right way through people outside of the acting community. I have a love for it that I wasn’t expecting to ever have. I’m looking forward to spending a bit of time there in the next couple of weeks.”
It’s so refreshing to hear a foreign actor talk about enjoying LA and looking forward to the Oscars and really enjoying the process. It feels like a lot of British, Irish and European actors are overwhelmed or turned off by the awards season and they spend months bad-mouthing everyone in LA. It helps that Mescal hasn’t been in LA for the awards season – he’s been in London, doing Streetcar Named Desire on stage, only getting a few days at a time to fly to LA to do big events. He just turned 27 and the world is his oyster – he’s booking projects back-to-back and he’ll be doing another big promotional tour in a few months to promote Carmen, the trailer for which just came out this week (I’m adding it below). You know what I love? No superhero movies or franchise work so far (Gladiator doesn’t count).
Cover & IG courtesy of THR.
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