Paul Mescal doesn’t do grandstanding.
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.
Courtesy of Agata Grzybowska
“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.
Paul Mescal stars as William Shakespeare in director Chloé Zhao’s HAMNET
Focus Features
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” — but I think I learned a lot from that. With “Aftersun,” I was going into something that is very much about being a father and a parent, and I’m not those things. And I think I got a lot of confidence from that, because I think the root of being a parent, I assume, is that it’s rooted in love, and you don’t have to be one to play one. Having gone through something like that and built a real close bond with someone like Frankie, to then step into something like this. I wasn’t nervous about playing something I hadn’t experienced in life because of that experience. That gave me a shot of confidence to begin with.
The big challenge with this is that, obviously, you’re representing a lot of parents who have lost children, and that’s another layer on top. I approached it by reading up on what happens to particular couples when they lose a child. And I’m sure you know this, but it’s often a miracle when couples stay together.
Much of your work here relies on restraint, what’s withheld rather than spoken. How do you calibrate that as an actor, especially in a story that’s so emotionally loaded?
It’s probably true for my career in general — restraint. I like operating in that place where there’s restraint. I would maybe argue that this definitely has a lot of restraint, but I think there are big moments where you have to plant your feet in this film and let rip a bit. As much as I love working in a kind of restrained capacity, because I think that’s just true of people, I can count on one hand those kinds of big cathartic moments that someone has in their life. 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.
Your performance is very internal, while Jessie Buckley’s is more physical and outward. How did you work together to create that balance?
That’s because it’s the nature of what Chloé was interested in as well. I think it would have been a mistake if I had gone big and Jessie went big, or vice versa. You have to understand what the film is about, and it is very much — for the first 70 percent — subjectively looking at Agnes. Anya is very much the protagonist. You’ve got to be a good dance partner. You’ve got to see what you’re getting. I was getting so much from Jessie, and she’s just so, I can’t actively like to think about what I’m doing when I’m on set.
I spend a lot of time in the prep process trying to imagine certain iterations of scenes, but then it’s basically an imaginative exercise where, like, what would happen if Jessie was doing this — you’re kind of just flirting with ideas of what a scene could potentially look like. And then when you’re there, I’m not thinking about how my face is moving or what I’m doing. I’m building a set of rules in my head about who this person is and how they interact with the world.
Do you still have moments of imposter syndrome?
I’m nominated with Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and these people that I’ve watched my entire life. The whole category is made up of massive film stars. When you see your name written out — and I know it sounds nonsensical — but it would be strange to me to get used to this, you know. I didn’t grow up having a reference point for what Hollywood or this industry looks like.
To be honest, this portion of the industry isn’t necessarily the one I live in. I’ve made one film over here in the United States, and I’m very grateful that my work and the world that we live in now — the studio system of Hollywood isn’t the epicenter of the world anymore. It’s still the epicenter of the film industry. But I can make films in Turkey, and they can get seen. I get to live my life outside of it, without feeling beholden to LA, this place, or Hollywood.
What was the most difficult scene for you to shoot?
There are two that jump to mind, but they’re rooted in the fact that Jessie built a very special relationship, which I think is very telling of the setup Chloé put in place. She’s just a very important person in my life. We had these first four weeks, because we shot semi-chronologically, we were running around, falling in love, and really just attached to each other creatively. And then we started getting into the heavier sections.
There’s that scene where Will comes back from London, he gives her the gift, and he’s like, “What do you see?” And when she says nothing, and he looks up to her — it was so hard not fight for us to consciously not find each other, which I think is communicated nonverbally in the film. When you have to be not teammates, it’s very, very challenging, but I think great for the film.
The other one is similarly tied. When Jessie was going through the birth and death scenes, I was off set for about seven or eight days. It’s a shock to the system. You’re in every day, and then you’re separated from your imaginary family. The first thing that I shot coming in that day was listening outside the door. Hamnet has just died, and I’m just standing in this blacked-out tent waiting to come in. I think the first take Chloé used in the film of me arriving back is the first take; it’s essentially me seeing them for the first time in like two weeks. That was intense.
You’re committed to playing Paul McCartney in four Beatles films for Sam Mendes and participating in Richard Linklater’s 20-year “Merrily We Roll Along” project. What can you tell us about it, and what does that long-term commitment feel like?
To be honest, I can say very little — actually contractually, but also I’m kind of keen to say very little about it, because I’m excited that people want to know so much about it. I think the endeavor is totally singular. The four of us inside it are pinching ourselves. On a personal level, I’m so thrilled to be working on something at this scale, but also rooted in performance with Sam and great writers. But also just to be living and working in London and to have some sort of stability in what has been like a kind of mad six, seven years since “Normal People” came out.
I don’t want to get into the Beatles thing, not coyly, but actually because I think the world hopefully will benefit from knowing as little as possible going into it. We’re a while away from finishing. That’s my job for all of 2026.
The directors you’re working with this year — Sam Mendes and Richard Linklater — that must feel like a pinch-yourself moment.
That’s another reference to a pinch-yourself moment. The directors that I’m going to be working with this year — Sam Mendes and Richard Linklater — I’m like, I’m happy. At least I’ll be working on one thing for the next 20 years.
What do you want people to know about your collaboration with Chloé Zhao and Jessie Buckley on “Hamnet?”
It’s very difficult to express adequately the public side of this job, but there’s a real love and camaraderie between us. It’s not even camaraderie. It’s like I love — and it’s a collaboration, and it’s not even just to do with work anymore. We’ve kind of seen a lot of the inside of each other — me, Chloé and Jessie — and I feel very protected by them. I feel very protective of them, and I’m very proud of what we made together.
