Paul and Andrew also did an interview for Los Angeles Times as part of All of Us Strangers promotion! It’s also another pretty shoot. Check out a snippet of the interview below, and some photos in our gallery. If you’re also not able to access the full article on their website, you can read it here.
Photo Sessions > 2023 > 019: Los Angeles Times
I heard your first scene together was rushed because of technical issues. For a movie as delicate as this one, that sounds nerve-racking.
Andrew Scott: I actually think the clock ticking can be conducive to creativity. Sometimes a lethargy comes on bigger budget stuff, because your imagination is constantly being interrupted. What happens is you have a little bit of momentum, then you’re waiting around for a bit and the momentum is stopped. So a bit of a — pardon the expression — kick-bollocks scramble can be really wonderful. And that scene, which involves all the characters, is one of the most extraordinary scenes in the film, because it’s all in one take.
A hallmark of Haigh’s films is small physical gestures that feel improvised. Discuss.
Paul Mescal: Like, when I’m brushing my teeth and you come from behind [and hug me]. That was directed. You totally forget that one-eighth of a page in the script. But Andrew puts them in at critical junctures just when you need the film to be healing.
Scott: Lots of the improvisation was physical. The sex in the film was very important. The idea that sometimes one person is nervous at some point or just the way you express yourself physically. Mercifully, we were very comfortable with each other from the beginning. We knew the camera was roaming, so it wasn’t as technical. We [had an] intimacy coordinator and [stayed] within the bounds of what we’d agreed to. But within that we were very free.
Did you share your director’s initial concern that audiences might find “Strangers” absurd?
Scott: I think all great works of art have some sort of flourish or audacity about them. Any film that we love has a concept that afterwards you think, “Oh, God, that could have been kind of ridiculous.” “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “2001” or “Dr. Strangelove.” Films we love have a singularity about them. And singularity is always going to be absurd in some way — until it isn’t.
Paul, talk about being the last one cast.
Mescal: I read the script, and without getting into a conversation about sexuality, Harry was somebody I understood innately. I don’t have the same shared life experience. I’m not estranged from my family, etc. But I know who that man is and that the people populating the film were going to tell the story correctly. I desperately wanted to be involved.So I pursued the role to a certain extent. But all you can do as an actor is express interest, put yourself on the line and go, “I hope this director likes me.” I remember being incredibly nervous before the Zoom with Andrew. It’d have devastated me to see somebody else play it. I don’t think I could watch it.
How much rehearsal was devoted to building chemistry?
Scott: We didn’t do anything, really.
Mescal: I feel like you can’t work towards something like that. Imagine you’re on a date and there’s no chemistry. It doesn’t matter how many dates you go on. It doesn’t make you feel any closer to that person. [To Andrew] You’ve said this before, but there’s actors who hate each other who have the most amazing chemistry. So it has nothing to do with whether you like somebody or not. But I think it helps when you do.It’s a trust thing.
Los Angeles Times