#paul Mescal #josh O'connor #oliver Hermanus #the History Of Sound #I Am Already Seated, And The Workers

Watching All Of Us Strangers last night reminded me that I love two Irishmen. Their chemistry in the film was amazing, and I adore their friendship. 💚🤍🧡

#I just watched Gladiator II for a third time.

#Paul is unbelievably sexy in this film.

#I would volunteer to be his slave, and to worship his muscles, not necessarily in that order.

PAUL MESCAL Gladiator II (2024)

Paul rehearsing for SNL

I love both Paul and Pedro, and their characters in Gladiator II. 😍

#paul mescal #pedro pascal

PEDRO PASCAL ⏤ Gladiator II | Training 

#paul mescal

#he is a Greek statue brought to life fr

#handsome

#beautiful smile #a beautiful smile to hide the pain

Paul Mescal | "The History Of Sound" Red Carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival | May 21, 2025

#paul mescal

How Paul Mescal won no awards for Gladiator II is beyond me. He understood the assignment, and he ate, and left no crumbs.

"No, if anything, he's just trying to tear the establishment down, but actually not for kind of political reasons. It's personal reasons. It's the fact that Rome to Lucius represents everything that has taken his wife away from him. It's the the reason that he doesn't feel connected to his mother anymore. So it's an exciting thing to get to excercise that anger against an establishment in film."

"I think he attempted [to separate his personal agenda for the greater good of democracy]. I think he attempted up to the point that there's a certain responsibility thrust into his character's journey. Of course, it depends on the context, but I think where there's conscience, there comes a responsibility, right? I think that's what the film is saying with lucius."

"They're both questions. It's the moment that it stops being about him. He's asking the thousands of people around him a question. He's like, the line is, 'Is this how Rome treats its heroes?', and essentially it's Iike, 'If that's how they're going to treat him, how do you think you're going to be treated just as a simple citizen? This is a celebrated Roman general.'"

"I think he probably flips. He think he acts without constitution for the most part, for the first two acts of the film, I would say, and then when he finds out about his bloodline, he sees the state of Rome and what Fred and Joe's characters have done to Rome, and suddenly he's got the birthright to kind of succeed them, his constitution is somewhat forced upon him, but I don't think it's to fair to say that he takes that in his stride, like the film ends on a question where he's seeking guidance. I would describe him in the latter half of the film as somewhat of a reluctant leader, but does have a constitution. We don't really know how far he gets with it, but I think he probably would make a good leader. "

"He recited the poem in an attempt to subvert the power because Denzel's character at that moment is trying to protect Lucius by saying, 'Oh, he doesn't understand English. He's from the Provinces, etc.' But by Lucius reciting something in English, he's letting the emperors know, 'It's not that I don't understand the question. I'm choosing not to answer it. So, instead, I'm going to recite a poem to you.' But it's a political decision. It's a charged decision. It's an exciting moment for an actor to get to play because anything can happen in a story context from that point."

Paul Mescal on Lucius: IAMMIKEMUSE

Sunrise on the Reaping

I just finished reading 'Sunrise on the Reaping' by Suzanne Collins, which is the fifth book in The Hunger Games series. Suzanne Collins really knows how to break her readers' hearts.

This book is told from the point of view of 16 year old Haymitch Abernathy, who competes in the 50th Hunger Games. This book answers many questions as to why Haymitch is the way that he is, when we first meet him the first Hunger Games book, barely functioning as a mentor for Katniss and Peeta for the 74th Hunger Games. Once again, Collins has crafted another excellent novel, which expands on the lore of Panem.

I am mentally preparing my tears for the upcoming film adaptation. I wonder if Kiefer Sutherland will be cast as President Snow. It would be perfect, as he is the same age as Snow in this novel (58 years old), and Kiefer's late father, Donald, played Snow in the first four films of the series.

Added: I just read that Ralph Fiennes has been cast as President Snow, an excellent choice!

Holding The Man (2015)

For pride month, the fourth LGBTQ film that I watched for the first time is a 2015 film from my country of Australia, called Holding The Man. The film was directed by Neil Armfield and is adapted from Timothy Conigrave's 1995 memoir of the same name.

This is an exceptional and devastating film, with terrific chemistry between Ryan Corr and Craig Stott in the leading roles. In 1976, two students at an all boys Catholic school in Melbourne, Timothy Conigrave (Corr) and John Caleo (Stott) fall in love. This is of course is a problem for the school when this is discovered, and disapproved of by the boys' parents. This was a time when homosexuality was illegal in Australia.

This is also a story about AIDS, and as the story is devastating, you can probably guess where it's heading. Much like All Of Us Strangers, Holding The Man broke me, and I will think about this film for a long time.

Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I still get chills when I think about the masterpiece that is Gladiator. 💯

Gladiator (2000) + quotes