Irish heartthrob Paul Mescal claimed Sunday that straight men should be allowed to play gay roles depending on who is in charge of the film.
“It depends [on] who’s in charge of telling the story,” Mescal, 27, told The Sunday Times. “The issue is that there have been so many queer performances in cinema that have been offensive, but that’s because the filmmakers and the actors have been careless.”
“I don’t think this film exists in that conversation whatsoever. And that’s it,” Mescal said referring to his LGBTQ film “All Of Us Strangers.”
The tear-jerker fantasy film, which was released last month and based on a 1987 novel called “Strangers,” tells the story of Adam (Andrew Scott), a lonely British screenwriter who has a sexual encounter with his neighbor Harry (Mescal) which sets him on the path to self-acceptance.
“We are still navigating, as men, how to be vulnerable,” Mescal tells The Times as to why he chose to star in the film. “Time and time again men are told vulnerability is weakness and not what society requires of them, so it’s difficult to reach out for help.”
According to the “Gladiator 2” star, he found comfort in his intimate scenes with Scott, 47, to the point he even called them “healing.”
“You have Andrew Scott’s character, Adam, who is in his mid-40s, who has a difficult relationship to sex,” Mescal said to NME in a recent interview. “Then you have Harry come in, who is much more comfortable. Harry serves as a safe landing space for him to re-explore his sexuality, which I think is both really moving and also really sexy.”
“I think sex in film, or any form of media, when it can be healing and sexy at the same time, that’s when it’s at its best,” he continues.
Mescal recently made headlines after a clip of the Irish heartthrob speaking in an American accent went viral via TikTok.
The clip, which has been viewed nearly 6 million times, was uploaded to the official account of Amazon’s Prime Video in an effort to promote the studio’s film “Foe,” which stars Mescal as Juniro and Saoirse Ronan, 29, as Hen.
“Do me a favor,” Junior says in the clip. “Stop wearing that shirt.”
“Why?” questions Hen. “I like this shirt.”
“You were wearing it the day we met,” Junior says. “The more you wear it, the more worn out it’ll get.”
The 33-second video left several viewers aghast.
“PAUL MESCAL WITH AN AMERICAN ACCENT? WITH SAIROSE RONAN?!” one fan screeched in the video’s comment section.
“The American accent is making my brain do backflips,” said a second fan.
“He sounds like a completely different person in an American accent,” a third fan gushed.
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