Paul Mescal reflected on masculinity in film during the Cannes press conference for “The History of Sound,” saying that he thinks cinema is “moving away” from alpha male roles. Mescal stars in Oliver Hermanus’ gay romance alongside Josh O’Connor, with the two playing musicians who travel to New England together in the summer of 1919 to record the folk songs of their rural countrymen.
“It’s ever shifting,” he said. “I think maybe in cinema we’re moving away from the traditional, alpha, leading male characters. I don’t think the film is defining or attempting to redefine masculinity, I think it is being very subjective to the relationship between [their characters] Lionel and David.”
The actor also spoke out against comparisons of the film to “Brokeback Mountain,” calling them “lazy and frustrating.” Several reviews of “The History of Sound,” including Variety‘s, drew a connection between the two films.
“I personally don’t see the parallels at all with ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ other than we spent a little time in a tent,” he said, eliciting laughs from the room. “[‘Brokeback’] is a beautiful film but it is dealing with the idea of repression … I find those comparison relatively lazy and frustrating, but for the most part I think the relationship I have to the film is born out of the fact that it’s a celebration between these men’s love and not the repression of their sexuality.”
When asked about his chemistry with O’Connor — who was unable to appear at the film’s premiere or press conference as he’s finishing production on Steven Spielberg’s next movie — Mescal said he’s “one of the easiest persons” to build it with.
“Josh has a great gift… the person who the general public sees is very similar to the one that we know and I think that’s very difficult for an actor in today’s age to do,” he said. “We’ve known each other for about five years and we were definitely friendly so that foundation of safety and play was there, but that relationship really deepened in the three or four weeks we were filming.”
Mescal added that despite the film’s heavy subject matter, the set was “very light and boyish and nonsensical at times”
“I felt very lucky that myself and Josh knew each other well enough to begin with but we had a canvas to keep painting on during the filming process,” he said. He also shared one of his favorite memories from set, saying that he and O’Connor became obsessed with jolly ranchers and would eat eight per day.
“It sounds kind of coy but Josh is just incredibly silly to me,” Mescal said. “We got fixated on this diet drink during the shooting process but we would also become fixating on having eight jolly ranchers a day … There’s a microcosm to our relationship that I think of Josh and I think of jolly ranchers.”
“The History of Sound” made Cannes sob at its premiere on Wednesday night, where it received a warm six-minute ovation. Mescal teared up during the applause, though O’Connor had to miss the premiere due to his filming schedule for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming movie.
Alongside Mescal and O’Connor, the film stars Chris Cooper, Molly Price, Raphael Sbarge, Hadley Robinson, Emma Canning, Briana Middleton and Gary Raymond.