In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast features in-depth conversations with today’s most noteworthy actors and creators. Join host and senior editor Vinnie Mancuso for this guide to living the creative life from those who are doing it every day.
It’s been five years since Paul Mescal burst onto the scene thanks to his achingly vulnerable portrayal of Connell on Hulu’s “Normal People,” and he’s only continued to evolve into one of our most dynamic young leading men since. But ask the Irish actor himself, and he’s not entirely sure he’d agree.
“I feel more confident in myself as an actor, but I [also] feel like my confidence is lower now than it was then,” Mescal tells us on the most recent episode of In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast. “I’m better at my job because I have more experience, but I feel way more shaky in terms of my relationship to the industry.… The more eyes that are on you, the more that there’s people talking, and if you’re not super, super, super thick-skinned, that creeps its way in and you lose confidence.”
He continues: “But on the other side of that, I know that I’ve worked with some of the best directors in the world, some of the best actors in the world, so no question, I’ve definitely improved since then.”
The thing Mescal is definitely sure of is the love and pride he has for his long list of scene partners turned friends. He specifically mentions past collaborators Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Normal People”), Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”), and Saoirse Ronan (“Foe”), as well as Jessie Buckley, his co-lead in Chloé Zhao’s current festival sensation “Hamnet,” and his most recent, Josh O’Connor, whom he crafts a tender onscreen bond with in Oliver Hermanus’ romantic drama “The History of Sound” (in theaters Sept. 12).
“I do fundamentally believe that my best friends are the best actors in the world,” Mescal says. “I’m not just saying it because they’re my friends. In terms of whose films I’m most excited about coming out each year, it just so happens to be people who I like hanging out with.”
He’ll have to hope that run of strong onscreen chemistry persists, because he’s currently prepping for perhaps his most scrutinized role to date. In 2028, Mescal will play Paul McCartney in four Beatles biopics from director Sam Mendes, alongside Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
“It’s mad, dude,” he says, referring to seeing himself as the iconic songwriter during early camera tests. “It’s such an exciting ordeal. It’s four films; it’s the greatest band to ever do it. I get to play somebody who I have always admired. You could count on one hand how many people have influenced the world as much as he has. His relationship to his art is so inspiring to me.”
Even still, “it’s fucking scary,” Mescal says. “It’s so exciting. I’m working again with actors that I really, really admire, and we’re stepping into something where people will have such intense opinions about who [the Beatles] are, or whether we should even be making [these movies] in the first place. But I can tell you from the inside of it that we’re approaching it with the greatest love and respect and rigor. I’ve definitely rehearsed for this longer than I’ve ever rehearsed for anything else in my entire life already. So we’re putting in the hard yards.”
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