Paul Mescal Opens Up About His Anxiety When It Comes To Work

Paul Mescal shot to fame after appearing on Normal People back in 2020. Since then his star power has just kept on rising.

In fact, he’s one of the most recognisable men on the planet.

Of course, that insane level of fame can’t come easy.

Speaking to Conversations with Friends Joe Alwyn, they discussed the anxiety that can come with ending on to set.

Paul Mescal Pic: RTÉ

“It’s that cursed feeling of, once you feel like it’s disappearing, it comes back and hits you like a tonne of bricks,” he said during Variety’s Actors on Actors chat.

“But I was talking to somebody about it. They said, ‘I don’t think it’s ever going to leave you, because it’s a personality type.’ And he said, ‘You’ve got to reframe it to the point that it’s about the fact that you care about what you’re doing.’

“I’m really winging it. But I feel like if you care about something that you’re making it can cause you anxiety because you want it to be good. That can be a cursed thing on performance.

“But for me, it’s trying to use that anxiety or fear or fear of failure — repurposing that to be like, ‘What I’m doing matters to me.’ Might not matter to everybody, but it matters to me at that moment.”

The two men who have both appeared in Sally Rooney adaptations in recent years are clearly close friends. They even revealed that they have a group chat.

And how we would love to be a member!

Joe Alwyn revealed: “It’s the Tortured Man Club, I think. It’s me, you — and Andrew Scott started the group.”

Although Paul was quick to add: “I feel like we’re less tortured now!”

Of course, Paul Mescal will be returning to our screens with Andrew Scott in tow!

They are set to reunite on the big screen for an upcoming film adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s Strangers.

Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal Pic: Instagram/Paul Mescal

The film follows Andrew’s character, screenwriter Adam, as he experiences a chance encounter with his mysterious neighbour Harry, played by Paul Mescal on a quiet night in London.

However, things take a bizarre turn when Adam is brought back to his childhood home where he finds his late parents alive and well…although they haven’t aged a day.

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