Paul Mescal has become something more than an actor in these few short years, something closer to a collective hallucination we’ve all agreed to participate in. You know him, or think you do—the shoes, the jewellery, that mini mullet, the Met Gala memes that ricocheted across the internet until they stopped meaning anything except themselves. These images have calcified into mythology, each one a mirror we hold up to project our own ideas about grief, lust, longing, masculinity, vulnerability, whatever we need him to carry for us in that particular moment. He’s become a vessel, and we’ve been filling him with whatever we lack or crave or fear, watching this first act unfold with the curious fascination of people who sense they’re witnessing the birth of a leading man who refuses the old blueprint entirely.
The Paul Mescal experiment, if you’re keeping score, has been a resounding success by any measure that matters. What began as a damn good performance in NORMAL PEOPLE, a quiet BBC drama that was supposed to stay quiet, detonated into cultural obsession and launched a career trajectory that reads like someone made brilliant choices at every turn. The filmography he’s assembled is impeccably curated, each project carrying the unmistakable scent of high taste and intentionality—Andrew Haigh’s fantasy romance ALL OF US STRANGERS, which let him excavate emotional depths that would break lesser actors, and AFTERSUN, that small wonder of a film so devastating and precise it earned him his first Oscar nomination and announced him as someone capable of carrying grief on screen without ever begging you to notice.
Then came the real test, the one that would answer whether this hunky indie darling could actually command a blockbuster, whether he possessed whatever alchemy transforms art house credibility into genuine movie stardom. GLADIATOR II, that long-awaited sequel nobody asked for but everyone was curious about, the one without Russell Crowe, pulled in half a billion dollars worldwide with Mescal stepping into the arena and proving, definitively, that he could hold the center of a spectacle without disappearing into it. Now he’s been handed the role of Paul McCartney in Sam Mendes’ dizzyingly ambitious four-part Beatles cinematic anthology, which feels less like casting and more like coronation, the industry placing its bets on who gets to shape cinema’s next chapter. He stubs out the cigarette and steps inside the house, and we follow, because at this point, we can’t help ourselves.
Read more in the full British GQ interview HERE.
Paul Mescal is an Irish God in the new @britishgq interview.
In just a few years, he`s become more than an actor—he`s a mirror we all project onto, filling him with our ideas about masculinity, vulnerability, and what a leading man can be in 2025.
More Mescal at irishfilmtv.com.
A priest. A pool. A Spanish island. And one very dead body. 🏊♂️☠️
THESE SACRED VOWS hits RTÉ One on February 1st, and this wedding weekend mystery is about to become your next obsession.
Newly released trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.
Killarney`s own Jessie Buckley just took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for HAMNET, and her acceptance speech was pure gold 🏆✨
In HAMNET, Buckley delivers a devastating performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare`s wife, navigating the grief of losing their 11-year-old son. Critics are calling it unforgettable, and now she has the trophy to prove it 🎬💚
More Jessie at irishfilmtv.com.
HAMNET star Jessie Buckley shines in BEAST, now on #Netflix.
A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
🕺✨ DANCING WITH THE STARS IRELAND is back for S9 tonight!
Get ready for spray tans, sequins, and Sunday night sparkle because Ireland`s favourite winter escape is almost here. Who`s ready to vote their faves to victory? 💃
More at irishfilmtv.com.
** Now on Netflix **
RUN AWAY brings Harlan Coben back to form with James Nesbitt doing what he does best—playing a tormented father searching for his missing daughter against all advice.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
By order of the Peaky Blinders, Merry Christmas!
A teaser for the new film PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN just dropped, and it features Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby returning to his old ways despite leaving them all behind at the end of the TV series.
Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.
Domhnall Gleeson heads to a remote Scottish isle for THE INCOMER!
He plays an awkward council worker tasked with relocating two siblings who survive by hunting seabirds, talking to mythical beings, and fiercely defending their homeland from outsiders.
More Domhnall at irishfilmtv.com.
Andrew Scott is bringing one of theater`s most powerful true stories to life.
The ALL OF US STRANGERS star will portray Scottish actor Ian Charleson in ELSINORE, chronicling Charleson`s breathtaking final performance as Hamlet at London`s National Theatre before his death in 1990 at age 40.
More via irishfilmtv.com.
Belfast-born Ciaran Hinds shines in Bradley Copper`s IS THIS THING ON?
With Hinds, you`re not just getting an actor. You`re getting decades of gravitas, warmth, and that rare ability to make every scene feel like it matters. From prestige drama to fantasy epics, he`s built a career on understated brilliance. And now? He`s ready to find the humor in heartbreak.
More Ciaran at irishfilmtv.com.
Gothic drama LIES WE TELL is now on Netflix.
With powerful performances by Agnes O`Casey and David Wilmot, the Irish drama takes Sheridan Le Fanu`s classic novel UNCLE SILAS and transforms it into something urgent and vital for our moment.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
When Colin Farrell and Jessie Buckley finally sat down together, they were strangers—but within moments, the conversation became profound.
Both Irish actors are carrying the weight of devastating roles this year: Farrell as a gambling addict spiraling in Macau in BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER, Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare grieving her son in HAMNET.
Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.
From FAIR CITY to KNIVES OUT! Daryl McCormack shines in the new #netflix film WAKE UP DEAD MAN.
McCormack just wrapped Netflix`s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE opposite Jack Lowden, Emma Corrin, and Olivia Colman. Talk about range: trading viral grift for Jane Austen elegance. Same actor, different century, wildly different moral compass.
More Daryl at irishfilmtv.com.
Eve Hewson brings ghosts to life in Noah Baumbach`s JAY KELLY.
From her breakout in THIS MUST BE THE PLACE to BAD SISTERS and beyond, she`s now haunting George Clooney as Daphne—a face from the past that forces a movie star to confront who he became while chasing fame.
More Eve at irishfilmtv.com.
When the past catches up with you in Amsterdam 🌊
Ciarán Hinds and Lesley Manville star in MIDWINTER BREAK—a retired couple`s winter getaway becomes a reckoning with memories they`ve tried to outrun for decades, in theatres Feb 20.
New trailer at irishfilmtv.com.
