Paul Mescal on ‘Hamnet’ Death Scene, Imposter Syndrome and Juggling the Beatles Films and Richard Linklater’s 20-Year Musical

Paul Mescal doesn’t do grandstanding. Courtesy of Agata Grzybowska The 29-year-old Irish actor has built a career on restraint, on what’s held back rather than what’s unleashed. In Chloé Zhao ‘s “ Hamnet ,” he brings that understated power to his portrayal of William Shakespeare, a father devastated by the loss of his son. “I can count on one hand those kinds of big cathartic moments that someone has in their life,” Mescal explains over a Zoom call, just landing in L.A. the day before the Golden Globes, where he’s nominated for best supporting actor. “What makes my back go up when I watch performances in general, there’s that kind of grandstanding performances that I’m envious of actors being able to do, but I also just don’t recognize people when I see that.” It’s that philosophy that grounds his performance in “Hamnet,” a film that explores two contrasts: grief and how couples fracture under unimaginable loss. Working opposite Jessie Buckley , Mescal found himself calibrating his performance to match the film’s subjective focus on her character while maintaining the emotional truth of a father’s anguish. Popular on Variety “What I’m probably most proud of in this film is the balance that exists between Jessie and me, in moments of how we express something that is happening to us as a couple and as two individuals very differently,” he says. “Couples will understand - you can go through anything traumatic in a partnership or as a family, and oftentimes you’re experiencing the same thing, but through very, very, very different lenses.” The role comes at a pivotal moment in Mescal’s career. Six years after “Normal People” introduced him to international and TV audiences, he’s now juggling multiple long-term commitments: four films about the Beatles for director Sam Mendes, where he’ll play Paul McCartney, and Richard Linklater’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” a 20-year project currently in its third or fourth year of filming. Yet he remains grounded, living outside the Hollywood system while his work gains recognition within it. As for playing The Bard himself, Mescal found liberation in Shakespeare’s visual anonymity. “I think it is very freeing when you don’t know necessarily what someone looks like, because it also just frees up your imagination as an actor, that you don’t feel tied to likeness,” he notes. Instead, he focused on what connected him to the historical figure: “I’m an artist, and he’s an artist, and he’s not somebody who didn’t grow up in London. I felt this pull that Shakespeare has to get to London to get to this cultural center to express something, one that I felt when I wanted to become an actor.” Read excerpts from his interview below, which has been edited and condensed for clarity. When you first read the script, what jumped out at you - or what made you nervous - about portraying a father experiencing every parent’s worst nightmare? The big fear that I had - and it was probably something similar to “Aftersun”...

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