UOne of the great skills of a director is knowing how to choose his own actors. For Strangersthe talented director Andrew Haigh he bet on Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. The two excellent protagonists, from the undeniable chemistry and professional understandinghave enriched a wonderfully complex film with pathos and humanity.
Despite the Oscars have incomprehensibly ignored him, there is no doubt that this is one of the happiest professional periods for the two interpreters of Irish origins.
Strangers It’s a heartbreaking gay love story
In the story inspired by the novel of the same name written by Japanese author Taichi Yamada (in 1987), Scott is Adama solitary forty-year-old screenwriter in a creative crisis who lives in an almost uninhabited London building. The only tenant he crosses paths with is Harry (Paul Mescal), younger but equally introverted. Between two, a silent and seductive game of glances is established. One evening Harry, rather tipsy, shows up at Adam’s door offering him to spend the night together.
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in “Strangers.” (Searchlight Pictures. 20th Century Studio)
The writer, although attracted, due to his distrustful character, kindly declines the invitation. A nostalgic trip to his childhood home where he remained until his parents diedwhich occurred when he was little more than a child, turns Adam’s life upside down. His parents are still in the house (Clare Foy and Jamie Bell) apparently alive and never aged.
After a moment of confusion, she begins to spend time with them and, at the same time, finally opens up to the world by establishing a sexual and romantic relationship with Harry. But what is really reality and what is fiction?
Andrew Scott: From Sherlock to Fleabag he’s the star of the moment
Andrew Scott was born in Dublin in 1976. One of the most loved stars by the public and critics, he always receives words of affection and admiration from directors and actors who have worked with him. Fascinating and multifaceted at the cinema, on TV and at the theatre, he is able to immerse himself perfectly in every character. From crazy ones like the Professor Moriarty by Sherlock to more mysterious as in Spectre by Sam Mendeseach role is approached with great professionalism.
Despite his long apprenticeship in international productions including Save Private Ryan And 1917the true exploit professional arrives only in 2019 with Fleabagthe Prime Video series.
In the second and final season of this series, written and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, he is an enchanting priest who makes the protagonist fall in love (and all the spectators). After Strangersit expect new successes like Ripleythe long-awaited Netflix series taken from The talent of Mister Ripleythe novel by Patricia Highsmith.
Andrew Scott at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Getty Images)
Paul Mescal: from Normal People at Aftersun it is the symbol of the Babygirl generation.
Paul Mescal, Irish born in 1996, he achieved fame with the miniseries Normal People. The British director Charlotte Wells chooses him in 2023 for his first film, Aftersun, in the dramatic role of a depressed young father. For his performance, he received an award nomination BAFTA and his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Harry’s intense, touching performance in Strangers confirms his talent, particularly evident in fragile and tormented characters. Precisely because of this uncommon prerogative he has been defined, together with another rising colleague Jacob Elordi, a Babygirl.
Babygirl is, according to the media, a man capable of conveying sensuality and vulnerability at the same time. We will see him soon in the sequel Gladiator 2 by Ridley Scott as Lucius, nephew of Emperor Commodus. Near him, another star of the moment, Pedro Pascal.
Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards 2024. (Getty Images)
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal: friendship and a new relationship with the public
The intense promotional tour of Strangers highlighted the harmony of the two protagonists and their beautiful, true friendship. Two actors of different generations who have not only a unique way of acting but a new and more sincere relationship with their audience. Equally in common is the kind but firm defense of one’s private life: never a scandal, never a gossip.
Even in the face of inappropriate questions from certain journalists, the tone always remains cordial. Andrew Scottwho has never kept his sexual orientation hidden in interviews he declared how the role of Adam has fragments of his personal experience such as coming out to parents and self-acceptance. Paul Mescal talked about the dynamics and naturalness with which he faced intimate scenes with a man for the first time.
The actor has expressed great admiration for his colleague on several occasions and the assiduity with which they exchange messages to receive job advice or invitations for a beer at the pub. Finally, speaking about Harry’s temperament, he underlined how important it is not to let yourself be overwhelmed by loneliness but to take care of someone, at the cinema as in life. Two stars are born.
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