How Paul Mescal became a superstar in just three years
The best actor at this year’s Oscars is always a battle of giants.
or weeks, nominations have been widely anticipated for Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy and Brendan Fraser, whose performances over the past 12 months range from pop icon rebirth to comeback comebacks. transformative, has met the usual requirements of the award season.
Before yesterday’s Academy press conference, there was only one question left. Who on earth will get fifth place? Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, or perhaps Tom Hanks – all well-loved veterans with the right jobs?
Not necessarily. Instead, 26-year-old Kildreman, whom no one had heard of until three years ago, but has since passed – through just his next two screen roles, one film and one series – to the end. top of the pyramid. Ladies and gentlemen, your fifth best actor nominee is Paul Mescal.
Close
Paul Mescal reacts to his Oscar nomination
And, I should add, it is; The Mescal nomination is not a strange turn of events.
Instead, he achieves it in an organic, low-intervention way: excelling in a film that quietly but firmly made it to voters’ must-see lists.
That movie, if you haven’t had considerable fun, is sundown: the feature film debut of 35-year-old Scottish actress Charlotte Wells, which witty and tenderly depicts a father and son vacation at a Turkish beach resort in the late 1990s.
It’s a kind of deeply felt, handcrafted wonder on which great independent film careers are often built. It’s also exactly the kind of movie you’d stay a million miles away from if you want Hollywood to quickly notice you.
Mescal’s career – all of its six years – has never looked like a master plan.
After two years of starring in stage roles in Dublin (he grew up in Co Kildare), he was cast alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones as Connell in the BBC’s 2020 adaptation. Normal personSally Rooney’s exquisite millennial romance.
Alike sundown, the miniseries is recognized as less important. But when it aired in April 2020, its frankness and intimacy — its sex scenes, to be honest — eased any lockdown itch, and overnight, Mescal had become a young talent worth watching.
He’s an idle temptress in Maggie Gyllenhaal lost daughter, as a beach bar employee who is aimlessly flirting with Olivia Colman’s vacationing scholar. The role capitalizes on Mescal’s particular charm – an easygoing adjective that hints at vulnerability and weakness – and suggests that a larger rollout is imminent.
sundown that’s it. Recommended by rave reviews from Cannes, the film toured the film festival before opening in cinemas in the UK and Ireland last November, grossing 1.3 million euros – a huge sum for a film of this size – before moving to the MUBI streaming platform, which is probably going to be somersault. at this week’s Oscar news.
Video of the day
Close
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Paul Mescal and Charlotte Wells at the 25th British Independent Film Awards last December. Photo: David M Benett
So does London’s Almeida Theatre, where Mescal currently plays Stanley Kowalski in The tram named lust. Of course, that role was immortalized first on stage and then on screen by Marlon Brando, and it earned him his first Oscar nomination in 1952, at 27: the same age. with Mescal when this year’s awards were announced.
Mescal has two more unreleased independent films, God’s Creation and carmen, is ready to go, but some significantly heavier projects are ahead. He is said to be Ridley Scott’s first choice to star in the upcoming movie fighter sequel, will appear alongside Saoirse Ronan in the Amazon sci-fi thriller Enemyand with Andrew Scott in the British fantasy film stranger.
Most notably, he recently replaced Blake Jenner in the adaptation of Richard Linklater’s Stephen Sondheim musical. Fun we roll togetherwhich childhood The director is shooting for 20 years. So clearly at least one production company is confident that he will remain a star for another two decades.
It’s fitting, then, that he should make his Oscar debut in what looks like a classic Best Actor lineup. The category is often much more complex and less exciting than its female counterpart, but the 2023 classic is the most exciting and open-ended category in years.
Austin Butler, there for Elvis, provides brilliant instant star; Colin Farrell (Inisherin’s Banshees) is a fellow Irishman and seasoned professional with an outstanding mid-career track record. Brendan Fraser (Whaleopening here next week) is the beloved exile back despite the hardships – while in LifeBill Nighy offers the kind of peak career achievement that makes you appreciate the decades of previous work.
This is a good company for Mescal to be among. And it’s to his credit – and the benefit of awards season – that he can still win in a very viable way.
The Oscars ceremony takes place on March 13.
(© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2023)
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/movie-news/how-paul-mescal-became-a-superstar-in-just-three-years-42312785.html How Paul Mescal became a superstar in just three years