The band that means “everything” to Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott has seen a remarkable ascent in recent years. From his captivating portrayal of the Priest in Fleabag to iconic performances in television hits like Black Mirror and the much-anticipated All Of Us Strangers, Scott’s career has been on an unrelenting upward trajectory. Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers promises to captivate audiences with its haunting love story, likely earning accolades for its exceptional achievement.
Derived from Taichi Yamada’s book Strangers, Haigh’s film, aiming for awards recognition, features Scott as Adam, a screenwriter seeking a connection with memories of his late parents. As he revisits his childhood home, he encounters their ghosts. Concurrently, Paul Mescal’s character, Harry, seeks companionship from Adam, his sole neighbour in an empty tower block.
Aside from including an intensely engaging plot, Haigh’s interpretation also places Pet Shop Boys at its core in an effort to viscerally emulate its ambiguously nostalgic time frame. In one particular scene, where Adam is decorating the Christmas tree with his parents, the event is soundtracked to the band’s ‘Always On My Mind’.
According to Haigh, utilising music like 1980s staples helped to capture the essence of the difficulty that gay men go through, particularly during eras that evoke a heightened sense of paranoia. As he explained to Roger Ebert: “Pop songs can say the things we can’t express. There’s a reason queer people have been dancing in nightclubs and discos for all eternity, together, listening to music. It gives them hope.”
In Scott’s eyes, Pet Shop Boys couldn’t have been a better choice. When John Wilson asked what the band meant to Scott growing up during This Cultural Life, he responded with an enthused “everything”, adding: “I was really, really obsessed with them, particularly their album Actually.”
Continuing, he explained: “What’s so extraordinary is that we have this film All Of Us Strangers, which [Pet Shop Boys] play a real central part in. In the script, [Haig] had ‘Always On My Mind’ as the magic song of the movie. It was so wonderful to me because there’s something about the sensibility of that music that, I couldn’t even say why it appeals to me now, but I suppose there is something that relates to sexuality and aesthetics, or an attitude towards the world, where you feel seen by something even though you don’t quite know why.”
A known fan of fictional stories with deep, relatable meanings, Scott likely appreciates the music cue due to its ability to evoke specific emotions relating to sexuality and identity. When Wilson suggests the appeal lies in its lyricism and colloquialism, Scott responds, “Absolutely, I don’t think that’s too dissimilar from Victoria Wood or Shakespeare. When you can turn that into something mythical and epic: what a wonderful talent.”
Check out the trailer for All Of Us Strangers below.
