Paul Mescal wants to keep his head down until he emerges in cinemas in 2028 playing Paul McCartney.
Speaking to The Guardian to promote his new movie The History of Sound while he simultaneously does press for Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, Mescal said, “People will get a break from me and I’ll get a break from them,” over the next couple of years.
“I’m five or six years into this now, and I feel very lucky. But I’m also learning that I don’t think I can go on doing it as much,” said Mescal, who was Oscar nominated for 2022’s Aftersun and broke out in Normal People.
He said indie movies like Oliver Hermanus’ History of Sound, in which Mescal and Josh O’Connor play two men who travel together recording folk songs in 1920, “take more out of the well” than one might think.
Mescal said he is “most comfortable” making movies like History of Sound over the likes of Gladiator II, in which he played the lead. “I was 90 kilos and I had eight weeks to get down to 78 kilos [for History of Sound],” he told The Guardian. “It was a real headf**k. I loved the process of making that film but The History of Sound felt like home to me.”
Once awards season is out the way, Mescal’s next slated movie is Sam Mendes’ untitled 2028 Beatles movie in which he will play Paul McCartney. He also has Richard Linklater’s Merrily We Roll Along on the horizon, although in typical Linklater fashion that one may not premiere for at least a decade.