The film will likely hit cinemas later this year.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Paul Mescal on our screens.
The actor first exploded onto the scene with Normal People back in 2020, and over a year later, appeared in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Oscar-nominated film The Lost Daughter.
Now, he has taken on his most significant role since Normal People, in God’s Creatures, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week.
The psychological thriller takes place in a small Irish fishing town, where one mother lies to protect her son and must deal with “the devastating impact that choice has on her community, her family and herself”.
Aileen O’Hara (Emily Watson) leads a quiet and isolated life working at the local fish factory. Things suddenly turn upside down for her when her son Brian (Mescal) returns home from Australia as a surprise after a decade of working abroad.
In this small seaside town, most people are born, live out their lives, and die there – so they’re intrigued by Brian and wonder what their lives could have been if they left like he did. But not everyone is happy to see him, including his own father.
Once home, Brian decides to focus on reviving his family’s old oyster business, but things don’t exactly go as planned when that aforementioned lie comes back to haunt the family.
In a tale of secrecy and deceit, Aileen soon finds herself torn between protecting her beloved son and her own sense of right and wrong.
So far, critic’s reviews have been praising Mescal and Watson for their “powerful performances” in this tense and emotional thriller. Deadline called the film a “quietly gloomy story of modest people, but told with majesty”.
The movie is co-directed by Anna Rose Holmer and Saela Davis and rounds off its lead cast with another familiar face, Aisling Franciosi, from The Fall. Game of Thrones fans may also recognise the Irish actress from her portrayal of Lyanna Stark on the show’s seventh series.
It also stars a range of other Irish talents including Declan Conlon (Calvary), Marion O’Dwyer (Love, Rosie) and Toni O’Rourke (Calm With Horses).
God’s Creatures is expected to have a cinema release later this year.
