The Maynooth man has already been cast in a number of high-profile upcoming movies.
Undoubtedly one of the most exciting actors to break onto movie and TV screens in recent years is Paul Mescal.
Since he burst onto the scene in 2020 with his incredibly moving portrayal of the sensitive and shy Connell Waldron in small screen sensation Normal People, the Maynooth man has gone from strength-to-strength – appearing in the acclaimed dramas The Lost Daughter, God’s Creatures and Aftersun.
For the latter, in which he played a young father struggling with his mental health while on a holiday with his daughter, Mescal was rightly honoured with a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars.
And things do not appear to be slowing down for the Irish star, with the performer already having been cast in a number of high-profile upcoming movies.
Here is what you can expect from Mescal’s career in the next few years.
Foe
Based on a novel by Iain Reid (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), this sci-fi thriller stars Mescal and fellow Irish performer and Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan.
They play a married couple living on a secluded piece of land in the not-so-distant future. However, their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre, Old) shows up at their door with a startling proposal.
Directed by Garth Davis (Lion), Foe will be out in Irish cinemas on 20 October.
You can see Ronan talking to JOE about working with Mescal on the movie right here:
@joedotie “We chatted to #SaoirseRonan about her new movie #SeeHowTheyRun, but we also looked forward to upcoming scary movie Foe, co-starring#PaulMescal #fyp ♬ original sound – JOE.ie
All of Us Strangers
Written and directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years, The North Water), this novel adaptation tells the story of a screenwriter (Andrew Scott) in London.
After an encounter with his neighbour (Mescal), the writer is pulled back to his childhood home where he discovers that his long-dead parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) are living and look the same age as the day they died.
All of Us Strangers is set to be released on 22 December.
Gladiator 2
Definitely the biggest of Mescal’s upcoming movies, he will star in director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to his Oscar Best Picture winner Gladiator.
The blockbuster will see the Irish actor play the lead role of Lucius, the grown-up version of the little boy who appeared in the original film.
In the 2000 classic, Lucius was the young nephew of the villainous Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who was saved from a grim fate by the hero Roman general turned gladiator Maximus (an Oscar-winning Russell Crowe).
Amongst the cast for Gladiator 2 with Mescal is Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn and Pedro Pascal, as well as the returning from the first movie Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi and Djimon Hounsou.
Mescal’s fellow countryman and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) was originally cast in a villainous role in the sequel but had to leave the project due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus).
Gladiator 2 is currently set for a 22 November 2024 release.
Young Lucius in 2000’s Gladiator, where he was played by Spencer Treat Clark
A Spy by Nature
Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) and based on the first novel in the bestselling Alec Milius spy series, Mescal is lined-up to star as a disillusioned twenty-something whose gift for deception catches the eye of MI6.
He then becomes “caught up in the thrusts of a geopolitical war on commodities involving the British and the Americans.”
A Spy by Nature does not a release date as of yet.
The History of Sound
Mescal is also set to star in this romantic drama with Josh O’Connor (The Crown) as “two young men during World War I set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen”.
Helmed by Oliver Hermanus (Living), the movie is still in pre-production according to IMDB, meaning you will be waiting a while before it is released.
The End of Getting Lost
The Kildare actor is reported as being tapped to star in this other book adaptation with Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) from director Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang).
“A young couple travels across Europe and their old lives threaten to catch up with them while the truth grows more elusive, showing what it means to lose oneself in love,” the plot synopsis.
IMDB lists the film as also still being in pre-production.
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Hamnet
As well as the above, Mescal is reportedly in talks to play William Shakespeare in this family drama with Irish Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley, his co-star in The Lost Daughter, said to be in negotiations to play the Bard’s wife Agnes.
Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Eternals, Nomadland) is set to direct the movie, which is based on a best-selling novel.
Merrily We Roll Along
Probably the most unique of Mescal’s upcoming projects, he will star in this project from writer-director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) based on a stage musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth.
Mescal will play Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his friends and career to become a Hollywood producer, with the story being told over 20 years.
What makes the musical comedy unique is that – similar to Linklater’s previous film Boyhood, which was shot over 12 years – Merrily We Roll Along will actually shoot over a 20-year span.
As such people will be waiting a long, long time for this Mescal movie.
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