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USA TODAY

Paul Mescal knows how to score a free holiday.
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 films in Australia (Carmen), Greece (The Lost Daughter) and Türkiye (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, one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films, with 97 per cent positive reviews on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.


Mescal, 26, has already earned acting nominations at the Gotham, British Independent Film and European Film awards, and some Academy Awards pundits are calling him a dark-horse best-actor contender for his gut-wrenching work in father-daughter drama Aftersun.
In the film, Mescal plays a young dad named Calum who takes a seaside holiday with his 11-year-old girl, Sophie (Frankie Corio).
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It evocatively captures the almost mundane moments of a family holiday, as Calum and Sophie sunbathe, play pool, get dinner, and dance to David Bowie and Queen.
But as the story unfolds, the audience slowly gleans that Calum is masking considerable pain, breaking down privately and confiding in strangers that he is amazed he made it to 30.
“The film asks you to re-evaluate your relationship with your parents, or your memories of your parents as a child,” Mescal says. “We demand so much of our parents when we’re very young because we don’t really know any different, and you forget that they’re dealing with their own trials and tribulations.”

The film was written and directed by first-time feature-film maker Charlotte Wells, and was loosely inspired by her memories of her own father. Watching Mescal in Normal People, she was drawn not only to his tenderness, but also his resemblance to her dad.
“He feels very solid in a way I remember my dad feeling [when I was] a kid. There’s a safety to that person’s arm resting on top of you,” Wells says. “There was a physicality to Paul that I suppose reminded me of my dad, but he is also very warm and thoughtful and dedicated to what he does.”
Despite his character’s real-life inspiration, Mescal largely avoided talking to Wells about her father. Instead, he created his own backstory for Calum, who mostly succeeds in looking after Sophie but struggles to care for himself.
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“What has led him to this moment of what appears to be a crisis in mental health?” Mescal says. “Charlotte gives the audience a little bit of information, and then moves on to the next moment of the holiday, which is true to life.
“When you’re with your friends or family, you don’t really spend time talking about things that are difficult.”
Subconsciously, Mescal also channelled his own parents while playing Calum: his mum, a police officer, and his dad a teacher. He remembers them being “incredibly supportive” when, at age 16, he landed the title role in a school production of The Phantom of the Opera. It was then that acting “became a real addiction to me”.

“I had this mask that we had to tape [to my face], because it kept flying up and revealing the make-up,” Mescal recalls with a laugh. “That whole experience is a feeling that I’m probably still chasing: just the adrenaline rush and the stakes feeling so big. What I find sad about growing up is that first experiences are harder to come by.”
After performing in plays in Dublin and London, Mescal made his screen debut in the steamy television romance Normal People, which blew up online at the height of quarantine. It earned him an Emmy nomination and British Academy Television Award win for best actor.
Many up-and-comers might have worried about being stuck indoors, unable to capitalise on their new-found fame during the pandemic. But Mescal appreciated that he was not immediately subjected to the chaos of paparazzi and red carpets.
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“There was such a drastic shift in life pre- versus post-Normal People for me,” Mescal says. “I was grateful, if I’m being honest, about the sort of slow introduction to the public side of being in a film or TV show that is popular.”
He remains close with his Normal People castmate Daisy Edgar-Jones, who went on to star in Where the Crawdads Sing and Hulu’s Under the Banner of Heaven earlier this year.
“It’s wonderful to have somebody who’s not only going through something similar, but a friend that you can talk to candidly about the ridiculousness and wonderful parts of this career,” Mescal says.
Mescal also continues to navigate how much he is willing to share about his relationship with musician Phoebe Bridgers. The couple started dating in 2020 and are reportedly engaged; although Mescal no longer has a public Instagram, Bridgers has shared photos of them together on her social media.












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“I feel like I have a lot more control than I thought I would have. Ultimately, I get to choose what I say and what I talk about,” Mescal says. “My private life will always remain, to a certain degree, as private as I choose to keep it.”
After starring in Aftersun and sexual-assault drama God’s Creatures, also released this autumn, Mescal is returning to his theatrical roots next month in a West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He plays the role of Stanley Kowalski, made famous by US actor Marlon Brando on Broadway and in the 1951 film.
“The anxiety is definitely attached to it being done so famously well, but I’m thinking that will go away. I can’t spend every minute of the rehearsal process thinking about how well he has done it before,” Mescal says. “If I wanted to steal his performance, I’d have to go and watch the movie again. And I’m definitely not going to do that.”


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European cinema

A feeling he is ‘still chasing’: Aftersun’s Paul Mescal on why he acts, his breakout role on Normal People and filming around the world

Frankie Corio, left, and Paul Mescal in a still from Aftersun. The actor talks about the film, staying friends with his Normal People co-stars and the moment acting being a “real addiction” for him. Photo: TNS

Writer-director Charlotte Wells with Mescal at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival in September. Photo: AP

A still from Aftersun. Photo: AP

Is the ‘brotherly love’ in martial arts films homoerotic? Why Chang Cheh rejected fellow director Stanley Kwan’s reading of his films

Alexander Fu Sheng (left) and Chen Kuan-tai in a still from the film ‘Heroes Two’. Photo: Celestial Pictures Limited

Hong Kong Chinese film director and producer Stanley Kwan, who made films showing a female point of view. Photo: SCMP

Chen Kuan-tai (front) and Alexander Fu Sheng in Heroes Two, the 1973 film directed by Chang Cheh. Photo: Celestial Pictures

Film director Chang Cheh, pictured in 1968. Photo: SCMP

Chow Yun-fat (left) and Danny Lee in a still from The Killer, a 1989 film directed by John Woo. Photo: Golden Princess Film Production

John Woo, pictured in 1996. Photo: SCMP

A still from Song at Midnight, the 1937 film directed by Maxu Weibang.

Wang Lai (left) and Sihung Lung in a still from Pushing Hands (1991), directed by Ang Lee. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cast – who’s who in Marvel film, from Letitia Wright and Lupita Nyong’o to new actors entering the MCU

Lupita Nyong’O as Nakia in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Marvel Studios

Letitia Wright as Shuri in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Familiar faces and new stars appear in the Marvel film sequel. Photo: Marvel Studios

Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Marvel Studios

Angela Bassett as Ramonda in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Annette Brown/Marvel Studios

Danai Gurira as Okoye in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Marvel Studios

Winston Duke as M’Baku in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Eli Adé/Marvel

Tenoch Huerta as Namor in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Marvel Studios

Dominique Thorne at the world premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo: AP

Michaela Coel at the premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London. Photo: Reuters

Maria Mercedes Coroy at the premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles. Photo: EPA

Alex Livinalli (left) as Attuma and Mabel Cadena as Namora in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo: Marvel Studios

Enola Holmes 2, Extraction 2 and more – Netflix movie sequels show it is eager to develop more franchises like Stranger Things

Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes in a still from Enola Holmes 2. This movie kicks off a slew of sequels to some of Netflix’s best-loved movies. Photo: Netflix

Lana Condor in a still from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Photo: Netflix

Chris Hemsworth in a still from Extraction. Photo: Netflix

Kira Goldberg, vice-president of Netflix’s original film studio. Photo: Getty Images

Ori Marmur runs Netflix’s original film studio along with Kira Goldberg. Photo: Getty Images

Charlize Theron (left) and Kiki Layne in a still from The Old Guard. Photo: Netflix

Daniel Craig in a still from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Photo: Netflix

Kira Goldberg worked for various film studios including DreamWorks and Fox before becoming the director of Netflix’s original film studio in 2019. Photo: Getty Images

Clara Law, Hong Kong filmmaker, on her movies about Chinese emigration, finding a home in Australia and shooting in the Outback

Hong Kong born film director Clara Law  on the set of A Floating Life.

Film director Clara Law Cheuk-yiu in an interview with the Post in 2005. Photo: SCMP

A still from Drifting Petals, Law’s 2020 film.

Clara Law in an interview with the Post in 1988. Photo: SCMP.

Tony Leung (left) and Maggie Cheung in a still from Farewell China.

Wu Hsing-kuo (left) and Joan Chen in a still from Temptation of a Monk (1993).

Law (right) with her partner and fellow filmmaker Eddie Fong Ling-ching at an interview with the Post in 2000. Photo: SCMP

A still from Floating Life, Law’s 1996 film about a Chinese family for whom Hong Kong, Australia and Germany are all home.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Irish actor Paul Mescal reflects on the school play that turned acting into a ‘real addiction’ for him, and how his role in Normal People changed his life
He explains how new film Aftersun forces you to ‘re-evaluate your relationship with your parents’, and why he chooses to keep his private life under wraps


Paul Mescal talks about his new film Aftersun, staying friends with his Normal People co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones and the moment acting being a ‘real addiction’ for him.


Fame and celebrity

Cinema

Chow Yun-fat