The movie Paul Mescal called a wolf in sheep’s clothing: “It’s the first time that I’ve felt a pressure”
Art is all about the things we read in between the lines. While a song or a book or a movie might be about one thing on the surface, the emotional reality underneath is something entirely different. Paul Mescal really felt that about one of his biggest projects, imploring audiences to connect with the depth beyond the immediate plot.
In general, Paul Mescal’s legacy so far is one as an incredibly thoughtful actor. His projects, typically, are deeply introspective ones. He tends to gravitate towards emotive roles, whether it be Connell in Normal People and the therapist scene that launched Mescal to stardom, the complex character he took on in God’s Creatures or the unspoken depth to his role as Callum Patterson, a father struggling with depression, in Aftersun.
Clearly getting to the emotional heart of a role is what powers Mescal and what interests him best. It feels highly unlikely that the Irish actor would ever be found in something like a Marvel movie or a cheap blockbuster comedy, so even when he said yes to Gladiator II, it felt somewhat strange.
But, as Mescal himself admitted, who in their right mind would say no to that film? “Gladiator comes across your desk and there’s no way you say ‘no’ to it. But with this scale of film, and to work with Ridley Scott, it’s a no-brainer,” he said to AnOther Magazine. But it was also more than just an obviously great opportunity to work on a major movie with a major director.
“Up until this point, there have been very few larger films that remotely interested me,” he admitted, but Gladiator did.
Part of that, again, simply comes down to the scale of the thing on offer. “It feels really right. And also there’s the capacity to learn. It’s the first time that I’ve felt a pressure of, ‘God, I’m worried about box office receipts.’ It’s a different metric,” he explained, knowing that taking on this role would be a big challenge and a learning opportunity that he was keen to take.
Even if that was the initial impetus though, the more he got into his character as Lucius Verus and the more he dedicated himself to the project, the less alien it felt from his other jobs. More and more, the emotional core of the film appeared, allowing Mescal to still apply his love for more introspective, nuanced performances to the big, blockbuster role.
“It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he told GQ about the film. Similar to how he initially just saw the film as a big action flick and was surprised to eventually see the emotional wolf underneath, he knew audiences would also see the revelation within.
“You’re allowed to watch it and still feel very masc and macho about it. But actually, the reason that film works is it’s an action drama,” he explained, imploring people to pay attention to its more emotive side beyond the gore and fighting. He said, “It’s got a real pathos to it, and all of the violence is motivated by somebody’s love and betrayal.”
