Paul Mescal says comparisons between Oliver Hermanus’ The History Of Sound and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain are “lazy and frustrating”, following the world premiere of the film in Cannes Competition last night (May 21).
Mescal stars with Josh O’Connor in the film about the romance between two men during the First World War.
“I personally don’t see the parallels at all, other than the fact that we spent a bit of time in a tent,” said Mescal with a smile, at the Cannes press conference for the film. “But each to their own. There’s a bigger question there in the fact that it draws your attention to ‘why do I think that it’s not that film?’.
“Brokeback Mountain is a beautiful film, but it’s dealing with the idea of repression, and this film is fundamentally pointed in the opposite direction,” said Mescal. “To be honest, I find those comparisons relatively lazy and frustrating. The relationship I have with [The History Of Sound] is born out of the fact that it’s a celebration of these two men’s love, not a film about their repressed relationship with their sexuality.”
Adapted by Ben Shattuck from his own story, The History Of Sound tells the story of the two men as they set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.
“We thought the comparison to Brokeback would come, but it wasn’t in our heads at all,” said Hermanus. “Maybe there’s a deficiency in this assumption that films with well-known actors, playing lovers in a relationship – the only previous incarnation of something comparable is 20 years ago.”
Mescal spoke at length in the conference about the film’s relationship to masculinity, and position in his own career, after playing introspective characters in titles such as Normal People, Aftersun and All Of Us Strangers.
“It’s interesting that it came up a lot yesterday [in press interviews],” said Mescal. “It has generally followed the work that I’ve done. It’s ever shifting; maybe in the world of cinema we’re moving away from more alpha, traditional leading male characters.
“I don’t think the film is defining or attempting to define or redefine masculinity,” said Mescal. “I think it is very subjective with the relationship specific to [lead characters] Lionel and David. Whatever relationship the audience has to that definition of masculinity, Ben and Oliver have left the audience space to project.
“Basically, I don’t feel qualified enough to answer that question!” laughed Mescal.
The actor also defined what love means to him, referencing Andrew Scott’s speech in the final episode of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, in which the character says, “Love isn’t something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope.”
“It’s a very hard thing to pin down,” said Mescal in Cannes. “What I found so moving about the screenplay is it’s never really described in words, it’s described in things you don’t see.”
The History Of Sound is South African director Hermanus’s first US film, which he developed over several years with Film4, and which shot in New Jersey, on location in Rome, and in the Lake District in the UK.
First US film
Questioned about casting the Irish actor Mescal and the UK’s Josh O’Connor to play US characters, Hermanus said, “It was my first film in the US so I was green to the pool of actors. I’d met Paul and Josh organically years before. We didn’t even realise we were making a film in America until they started learning the accent.”
“Josh is one of the easiest people to build chemistry with,” said Mescal of his relationship with O’Connor, who could not attend the conference due to shooting Steven Spielberg’s untitled science-fiction film. “[Josh] has a great gift of the person that the general public sees is very close to the person we know – that’s a very difficult thing for an actor to do in today’s age.
“We started this film at an interesting junction – we’d known each other for five years; that foundation of safety and play was there, but the relationship deepened in the three or four weeks that we were filming.”
Hermanus jokingly referred to the pair as “the naughty boys”, with Mescal saying his abiding memory of shooting with O’Connor would be eating large amounts of Jolly Ranchers sweets.
After Mescal noted Hermanus had described the actor’s personality on set as “overwhelming”, Hermanus qualified his comments in a positive light.
“Paul’s the kind of actor, I could be standing on the set, we’d see something, the light might be going… I would break all the rules, just call Paul on his cell phone and just be like ‘run here now’, and he would come running from his trailer. The makeup and hair people would be behind him running because he’s barely dressed… ‘quick quick quick, let’s go let’s go’,” said Hermanus. “It’s an overwhelming love and affection and determination to make beautiful work.”
The History Of Sound is Hermanus’s second feature to play in the Official Selection at Cannes, after Beauty in Un Certain Regard in 2011. It is his sixth feature overall, with previous titles including 2022’s Living starring Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood, and 2019’s Bafta-nominated Moffie.
The Cannes Competition continues today with Saeed Roustaee’s Woman And Child and Bi Gan’s Resurrection; while O’Connor stars in a second Competition film, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, premiering tomorrow.
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