Paul Mescal is becoming something of a muse for the filmmakers at A24. This month, the actor appears in the studio's rural Gothic drama, God's Creatures, from directors Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, and next month, he stars in filmmaker Charlotte Wells' feature debut, Aftersun.
The latter casts Mescal as Calum, a young father on a holiday to a Turkish resort with his 11-year-old daughter, Sophie (newcomer Francesca Corio). Twenty years later, Sophie (played by Celia Rowlson-Hall) looks back on the vacation through adult eyes, reconciling the dad she knew with the man she didn't.
Wells' debut counts Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (Best Adapted Screenplay for 2016's Moonlight) as a producer, and while the film is deeply personal, the Scottish filmmaker notes it is not autobiographical. "Calum is not my father, Sophie is not me," Wells says. "But over the course of writing it, the film becomes more personal, more emotionally autobiographical. It is still fiction, but it also expresses something true of me, of my relationship with my dad."
Aftersun had its world premiere during this year's Cannes' Critics Week, where it won the 2022 Cannes Film Festival French Touch Prize. Following screenings at the Telluride Film Festival, TIFF and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, it opens in theaters on Oct. 21. Watch the trailer below.
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