AFTERSUN leading man, Paul Mescal, is undoubtedly one of the most in-demand actors right now. Among his upcoming films, Mescal will be starring in THE HISTORY OF SOUND alongside him THE CROWN star Josh O’Connor. The story follows two young men, Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor), who during World War I, begins to record the voices and music of American countrymen. Throughout their journey, they will start having feelings for each other.
Irish actor Paul Mescal, best known for his breakout role in the critically-acclaimed BBC and Hulu series NORMAL PEOPLE, is rumored to have been offered the role of Johnny Storm in Marvel’s FANTASTIC FOUR reboot. While the rumors about Paul Mescal potentially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe are exciting, the actor is currently focused on another project. He is set to star in the upcoming GLADIATOR sequel, which is currently in pre-production. The original film, released in 2000, starred Russell Crowe and was a massive critical and commercial success, winning five Oscars, including Best Picture.
Paul Mescal makes his debut as a recording artist on the soundtrack for CARMEN, which stars the actor and Melissa Barrera in an update of the classic Georges Bizet opera. In a clip from the Benjamin Millepied-directed film, Mescal delivers the track — one of the original songs co-written by Oscar-nominated composer Nicholas Britell — on acoustic guitar. CARMEN is in theaters in Los Angeles and New York this weekend, while the soundtrack has a wider release (a.k.a. streaming everywhere) now.
Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera are teaming up to reimagine a classic opera in CARMEN. Sony Pictures Classics has released the teaser trailer for the upcoming film, based on an 1845 novella by French writer Prosper Mérimée. Set to composer Nicholas Brittell’s (MOONLIGHT, SUCCESSION) haunting score, showcases 27-year-old Mescal’s character Aidan fighting police and others on the street as he and Carmen (Barrera) fall in love and dance their way across a desert backdrop. Carmen is also shown performing at a nightclub in Los Angeles.
The Irish may not have fared as well as we’d hoped when it comes to taking home golden gongs – but the 95th Academy Awards were still a night to be proud of us Irish. Northern Irish comedy-drama AN IRISH GOODBYE won the Oscar for best live action short film, with a birthday sing-song for actor James Martin ensuring their winning moment will go down in the Oscars’ history books. And Irish animator Richard Baneham made sure to include his cúpla focal in his speech when he took home the award for best visual effects for his work on blockbuster AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER.
Paul Mescal talks with Jimmy Kimmel about the pronunciation of his name, being popular with the ladies, befriending 13-year-old AFTERSUN co-star Frankie Corio, his Oscar nomination for Best Actor, taking his mom as his date, a lot of the nominees being Irish, starring in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE in London, meeting Nicole Kidman after the show while he was changing, and preparing an Oscars speech.
NORMAL PEOPLE plucked the Irish actor from anonymity, sparking a new global infatuation. Now, Nicole Kidman’s barging into his dressing room, Ridley Scott’s gift-wrapping GLADIATOR 2 for him and AFTERSUN has earned him a surprise Oscar nomination: “It’s been a f***ing wild year.”
Paul Mescal has become both an Internet boyfriend and an Oscar nominee within just four years of making his cinematic debut. Mescal makes his grand blockbuster debut with the upcoming Ridley Scott GLADIATOR sequel, it’s clear he is far from a “Normal” person any longer. Plus, don’t forget a viral West End turn in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE setting the stage (literally) for multiple musical adaptations up ahead.
AFTERSUN is now available to rent on Google Play! 20 years after their last holiday at a fading vacation resort, Sophie reflects on the rare time spent with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). Sophie’s recollections become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t, in Charlotte Wells’ superb and searingly emotional debut film.
The NORMAL PEOPLE actor has been cast in the starring role in Ridley Scott’s long-promised sequel to his 2000 Best Picture winner GLADIATOR. Mescal will take on the starring role of the adult Lucius (played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original movie), who will presumably have to give up his fancy “nephew of the now dead emperor” lifestyle in order to to live up to the example that Russell Crowe’s general-turned-gladiator Maximus set in the original movie.
Charlotte Wells’ moving debut feature AFTERSUN details a father-daughter vacation at a cheap resort in Turkey. There’s something unknowable about Calum (Paul Mescal), and maybe this is because Sophie (Frankie Corio) is a child, and he’s her dad, and she’s just about coming to the age where she’s separating herself and becoming her own person. As both a gorgeous ode to the faultlines of memory in family life, and a single, heartbreaking portrait of a father and daughter set to prematurely part ways on a number of levels, AFTERSUN is a genuinely standout feature debut.
Paul Mescal knows how to score a free vacation. Since breaking out in 2020 on Hulu miniseries NORMAL PEOPLE the Irish actor has collected passport stamps from some of the most idyllic places on Earth, shooting movies in Australia (CARMEN), Greece (THE LOST DAUGHTER) and Turkey (AFTERSUN). “That’s part of the grand plan: just to put myself in films that are in parts of the world I’ve never been before,” Mescal jokes in a recent interview. “And hopefully they turn out to be good!” His globetrotting scheme paid off with AFTERSUN (in theaters nationwide), one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films with 97% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.