For the second year in a row, Paul Mescal was part of an Oscar-bait film. Last year, it was Aftersun, and Mescal was a surprise Best Actor nominee. This year, it’s All Of Us Strangers, but there was no surprise Oscar nom for this one. Mescal has avoided the awards season thus far, but that might be a logistics thing – he’s been working on back-to-back projects since the strike ended, and he completely filming on Gladiator 2. Mescal recently chatted with the Times (via Variety) about how he hopes he doesn’t become more famous with Gladiator 2. Hm.

Whether he’s ready for worldwide attention with ‘Gladiator 2’: “I don’t know what the difference will be. Maybe that’s naive? Is it just that more people will stop you in the street? I’d get profoundly depressed if that’s so and hope it isn’t true. I’ll have an answer next year, but if [the film] impacts my life in that way, I’ll be in a bad spot. I’d have to move on and do an obtuse play nobody wants to see.”

He’s baffled by the role social media plays in casting: Mescal told the publication he takes acting “very seriously” and is not in this profession for the clout, which is why he’s baffled that metrics like social media followers now plays a role in casting. “What are we doing this for?” he said. “It scares me greatly. Acting should never be reduced to numbers of Instagram followers.”

Art is not content: “Over the last few years people have been talking about films and TV shows as content. That’s a filthy word. It’s not ‘content’, it’s f–king work. I’m not being snobby, but there are two concurrent industries. One that works with a lack of care and artistic integrity. Go nuts, make stuff with Instagram followers as a factor, whatever … But the other is what’s always been there, the craft of film-making, directing, lighting and production design. That keeps artists alive. And audiences want to be challenged.”

[From Variety]

Mescal is only 27 years old but he speaks like a much older celebrity, the kind of celebrity who knew what the olden days were like before social media. And yes, he IS a celebrity. And an actor. People can be both! It’s actually been a minute before we had this kind of reluctant “heartthrob” – someone who hates every second of his worldwide celebrity. Who was the last one? Robert Pattinson? While Rob was never comfortable with the Twilight stuff, he also tried to have fun with it and he seemed to take himself less seriously than Mescal.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.