Paul Mescal says he’s sticking to emotionally heavy characters a little longer.
The Irish actor, 29, known for Normal People, All of Us Strangers, and his current films Hamnet and The History of Sound, recently told Vanity Fair he’s been thinking about stepping away from the deeply sensitive roles that have defined much of his career.
However, he went on to add that he’s still unsure about moving on from them just yet. “I don’t know if I’ll have more to say with roles like Will or Lionel or Connell or Harry,” he told People.
“I recognise that they are in conversation with each other… I don’t know if I’m finished with that yet, but I might be finished with that?”
When asked to clarify, Mescal joked, “Don’t ever quote me on the things that I quote myself on,” before acknowledging that audiences often expect actors to stay in one lane.
“I just hope to keep making work that feels honest to me, and this film feels very truthful.”
Hamnet, which follows William Shakespeare (Mescal) and his relationship with his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), has earned both strong reviews and early Oscar buzz.
Mescal called it “probably the film that I’m proudest of.” Despite the story’s grief, Buckley said the atmosphere around the cast was warm and playful.
Mescal next stars as Paul McCartney in Sam Mendes’s The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event.
