Paul Mescal: Comparing my film to Brokeback Mountain is lazy

Telegraph

23-05-2025

has said that comparisons drawn between his new gay romance film and Brokeback Mountain are 'lazy'.
The 29-year-old Irish actor labelled comparisons of The History of Sound to the 2005 Oscar-winning Western romance starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as 'frustrating', adding that the only thing in common is 'time in a tent'.
Speaking at a press conference at Cannes film festival, the Gladiator II actor said: 'I personally don't see the parallels at all with Brokeback Mountain, other than we spent a little time in a tent.
'[Brokeback] is a beautiful film but it is dealing with the idea of repression… I find those comparisons relatively lazy and frustrating.'
Mescal added: '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.'
The History of Sound follows the relationship between Lionel, a Kentucky farm boy played by Mescal, and David, a composition student portrayed by The Crown's Josh O'Connor, in the summer of 1919 as they travel to New England to record the folk music.
Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film is based on the First World War love story of the same name by Ben Shattuck, who adapted it for the silver screen.
Comparisons with Brokeback Mountain, which follows the intense romance between two cowboys working on a ranch in 1963, have been made in the film's reviews as both movies are period dramas centring on a same-sex relationship.
Masculinity is shifting
Mescal said he believed the portrayal of masculinity is changing in Hollywood movies.
'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 Lionel and David.'
Mescal described O'Connor as 'one of the easiest persons' to build a connection with.
He said: '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.
'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.'
He added that despite the film's heavy subject matter, their set was 'very light and boyish and nonsensical at times'.
Mescal was also asked if the film had changed how he looks at romance in his personal life, to which he responded that he was 24 when he first read the script and doesn't think he 'would have been able to play the role in the same way' had he filmed it then. He was 28 when the film was shot last year.
'Love is very complicated,' he said, adding: 'It's a very hard thing to pin down.
'What I found so moving about the screenplay is that it's never really described in words, it's described in actions and things you don't see…That's something I've learnt in my own life, kindness is wildly underrated in romantic relationships and should be celebrated.'
The History of Sound received a six-minute standing ovation at Cannes when it premiered on Wednesday night. The film also stars Chris Cooper, Molly Price, Raphael Sbarge, Hadley Robinson, Emma Canning, Briana Middleton and Gary Raymond.