Paul Mescal’s ascent to Oscar glory should be studied. Emulating the career paths of, say, Leonardo DiCaprio and, more recently, Timothee Chalamet, the 26-year-old Irish actor skirted inevitable superhero parts in the wake of his star-making turn in Normal People and signed on to an emotional indie from a first-time director. That movie, Charlotte Wells’s haunting father-daughter drama Aftersun, has now earned him a Best Actor nod – a reward for the laser-focused thoughtfulness that has gone into his trajectory so far.
Mescal probably won’t win the Oscar next month – Elvis’s Austin Butler and The Banshees of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell seem more likely – but he is the internet’s golden boy right now, his nod one of the most pleasant takeaways from a surprisingly strong list of Oscar nominations announced yesterday.
This story is from the January 25, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the January 25, 2023 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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