The love pairing of flirty, late-era Millennial Harry (Paul Mescal) and the shy, fringe Gen X-er Adam (Andrew Scott) isn’t what you’d necessarily expect in most contemporary gay love affairs, let alone in Andrew Haigh’s sublime new drama, “All of Us Strangers.” But, lonely living in a barely occupied London apartment tower can make for unexpected and literal bedfellows. In the context of the film, it also leads to several intimate cinematic scenes that are both emotionally moving and, well, quite erotic.
READ MORE: ‘All Of Us Strangers’: The Moving Words From Andrew Haigh’s Father Before He Filmed The Acclaimed Drama [Interview]]
One particular passionate scene in “Strangers” pushes boundaries in the most wonderful way possible if you happen to catch it (very much like a moment in Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn”). And don’t you worry, Mescal was all for it. On a weekend when the “Aftersun” star was finally able to speak about “Strangers” for the first time since the end of the SAG strike, he revealed that making the audience stir in their seats was absolutely a goal of everyone involved.
“We blocked it out, and then it was kind of handed over to us to kind of fill in the gaps,” Mescal says. “But none of it’s really improvised. Of course, the emotional interiority is ours to play with, and I felt very safe in the hands of Andrew. And also, we wanted to make something hot and exciting for an audience, and it is. To me, it is that as well.”
Mescal, who packed in many awards campaigning before heading off to Europe to film Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator 2,” is an avid cinephile and will soon add producer to his resume. During our conversation, we caught up on his favorite film festival he could not attend because of the strike, his now-close relationship with Scott, that twist no one should spoil, his concern over the death of the mid-budget movie, and much more.
Note: Potential spoilers can be insinuated by moments in the following conversation.
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The Playlist: I didn’t get a chance to talk to you there, but you were at the Telluride Film Festival last year, and you were seemingly having the best time of your life.
Paul Mescal: Best time ever, yeah.
How upsetting was it, because of the strike, that you could not go to Telluride?I can’t talk about it. It’s my favorite festival. There’s no… Well, there’s press there, but you’re not kind of dressing up. You’re just literally trying to absorb the most amount of films. It’s like a game. It’s like, “How many of the best films this year can I see in the shortest period of time?” That was my first time there. So this one hurt not being there. But look, especially since this movie was premiering there as well.
So when did you actually get to see this movie?I saw it in the summer with Andrew Scott for the first time, in his screening room in London. We were kind of… It’s that weird thing, the first time you see something, it’s impossible to be objective about it. And we both turn to each other, and you’re like, “Yeah, I think it’s good.” And then, after you get through the first white knuckling of it, I’ve just become more and more proud of it. I’ve seen it three times now.
What have you discovered the more you’ve seen it?That people laugh during it, which I think is why the emotional kind of the landing of it is profound. Because when you’re making it, you’re like, “This is not a comedy.” And, of course, it’s definitely not a comedy. But I think it’s a testament to the kind of humanity of Andrew Haigh that he writes the human condition so well, so people are laughing at the kind of recognizing humanity in it. I felt kind of guilty watching an audience laugh during it, because I was like, “You don’t know what you’re in for when it gets to the landing spot.” But, yeah.
So the script comes your way.Yeah.
What was your initial reaction?How can I be in this? Yeah, I was just totally blown over by it. And I was, and I’m a great admirer of Andrew Haigh’s work, and knew Andrew Scott’s going to be doing it. I feel like, on paper, it was just everything that I would want to be involved with.
Were there things about Harry that Andrew told you that weren’t in the script? Did you feel you needed to ask him for more of a backstory, or did you create one yourself?It was a mixture of both. I feel like there are lots of clues there in the script itself, but I think that’s something that I like. One of my favorite things about the job was having little secrets for yourself. I think directors like that as well because, ultimately, it’s your responsibility. You’re in charge of building this character, and it’s his responsibility to help you build that. But also I think it’s important to keep some things back, to yourself.
So, why do you think that Harry is intrigued by Adam? Why do you think he’s into him? Because in theory, if you look at Harry, they don’t look like they’re necessarily…Well, I think there are two things at play. I think Adam’s a very attractive man, and you’ve also got the innate loneliness that both of those characters are experiencing, and they need to find each other to save each other. But it’s like if I was to ask, I think it’s a hard thing to answer in general because it’s like, “What is it about people that we find attractive?” It’s kind of this amorphous… it’s a feeling rather than something that is very easy to describe. It’s just you’re drawn to them. And I think Harry, in that first scene that we meet him, there are other factors at play. We understand what happens towards the end of the film is informed by what is motivating him through that first scene. There’s a kind of desperation and necessity to be received, to be let through the door. And that’s quite depressing and upsetting to talk about. But there are so many factors at play as to why he’s drawn towards him in that first moment.
So, obviously, without giving the twist away, something changes for…Harry.
Did you feel you always had to play him with that in the back of your mind, or was it pretend that hasn’t happened?No, both things have to be true for the film to work, in my mind. It’s the nature of playing a three-dimensional character. It’s like he is both of those versions of himself. He is a person who’s sexually forward at your door, looking to be let in, and he’s also a very warm, inviting, caring, intelligent young man who is a safe landing space for Adam to express and re-engage with his own sexuality.
So, without giving the twist away, I’ve talked to many people who’ve seen the film, and I always find it interesting when they realize the twist, which makes for a great movie. Was there a moment for you where you realized, “Oh wait, I…”I didn’t see it.
Ah, really?Yeah, it’s a hard thing to talk about, but I think I just saw somebody at the start who had too much to drink and taken drugs, and then the next scene you see him in, he’s apologetic and totally different. He’s embarrassed, which felt to me, it’s like “That’s how human beings are.” It’s not two separate things or two separate identities. So, it was a big surprise to me. Yeah.
Both you and Andrew Scott have such great chemistry in the movie. I don’t know if Andrew Haigh is a rehearsal director or if he’s a “Let’s just read the script once” sort of.We didn’t do a read-through, actually. We didn’t do a huge amount of rehearsal, but I spoke a lot to Andrew Haigh in the lead into filming, and I knew Andrew Scott beforehand.
That helps.A little bit. I think the shooting process has informed our friendship and our relationship. We’re super close now. But yeah, I like to rehearse, and then other times, I like to be led by a director and see how they want to work. So it didn’t really bother me either way, whether we were going to rehearse or not.
So there is a very hot sex scene in the middle of the film.Thank you.
I’m sure you’ve been asked about this every f**ing interview, but did you guys plan it out? Did you talk about it?Yeah, we blocked it out, and then it was kind of handed over to us to fill in the gaps kind of. But none of it’s really improvised. Of course, the emotional interiority is ours to play with, and I felt very safe in the hands of Andrew. And also, we wanted to make something hot and exciting for an audience, and it is. To me, it is that as well.
You’ve said you’ve seen the movie three times with an audience.I’ve seen it once with an audience.
Oh.Twice. Once with Andrew and then once with just a couple of friends. So we just saw one with an audience last week, which was pretty special.
You mentioned the laughter, but was there any moment, particularly in the film that you remember having a reaction that you did not expect?No, there was nothing that… It’s also a testament to the confidence with which Andrew Haig knows what story he’s telling. He’s conducting an audience, I feel like, with how he’s directed this film. There was nothing I was like, “Oh, they’re laughing here, and they’re crying there.” It was all where it’s intentional. He’s so confident with what beats of the story he’s telling, and how he’s shooting it, and how he’s directing the action of it, that it’s an incredibly satisfying experience to see an audience laugh in the right places and crying in the right places.
Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott in Andrew Haigh’s All of Us StrangersI was going to say there are people who cry and weep through a good chunk of the movie.Yeah. That final act is pretty tough.
And there are people who especially the relationship with the parents means so much to them. Was that apparent to you in the script?Yeah, of course. When I first read it, I was immensely moved by it. But then, when you start preparing for it, it recedes into the background. That’s Andrew and Claire [Foy] and Jamie [Bell] ’s chair to lift. And then my job is a totally different [one]. It’s almost like there are two films in one happening at the same time.
I don’t want to ask about the movie you’re about going to shoot because I’m not supposed to, and honestly, enjoy it, whatever. But you have this interesting balance where you’ve taken these really super challenging roles, where you could have jumped way into more studio-esque gigs much earlier. You could be on a Netflix tear or something if you wanted to. What makes you want to take these smaller films instead?They’re just populated with fantastically talented people with great scripts. I know that sounds super boring, but that is the lifeblood of what makes cinema great. It’s great directors, great script, and great actors to play with. I think independent cinema to me, is what I gravitate towards. It’s what I go to see. It’s what I enjoy. But I also think that I do feel a desire to, recently, which I’m really happy about, I do feel a desire to expand, move, and go and do other things, and stretch different muscles. And I think the thing that I’m scared about with cinema at the moment is the kind of loss of the mid-budget film. That kind of $10, to $40, to $50 million film. It’s impossible to make money for that anymore. So, you’ve got these studio films, and you’ve got these independent things, and I just really don’t know how that can be solved, but I think it’s to do with the kind of saturation of what streaming is doing. And I’m hoping that over time that will balance out because I would love to span the $1 million film, to the $40 million film, to the $300 million film. And I think they all depend on each other and hold each other up.
You’re a very busy guy, but this sounds like a producer talking. Do you want to make your own movies? Do you want to direct?I don’t want to direct. It’s too scary. It’s also, I feel like I’d love to produce, I’m going to be producing something next year, and that is exciting. But it’s all with the intention of being in it. Because I love acting. I think at some point, maybe in the long, far away future, I might direct. I would love to master my craft, and that’s going to take a long time before I start trying to do something else.
So before I go, what was the one movie at Telluride you were most upset you missed?I really wanted to see “Janet Planet.”
Oh, it’s so good. I love it.I’m a huge Annie Baker fan. What else played there this year? “Bike Riders.”
“Poor Things” was there.“Poor Things,” Jesus, I can’t wait to see that. “Poor Things,” and “The Holdovers,” I’m excited to see. “Janet Planet” is the main one, yeah.
“All of Us Strangers” opens in limited release on Dec. 22.