Actors Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor have lathered each other with praise after starring opposite each other in gay romance film The History of Sound.
Aftersun star Paul Mescal, 29, and Challengers star Josh O’Connor, 35, play singer Lionel and musicologist David respectively in the drama. Set in early 20th century America, the film follows the duo from their initial meeting at Boston music conservatory, where David is playing on the piano.
They embark on a hidden whirlwind romance, before David is courted off to serve for the US armed forces in the first World War. Upon their reunion, they travel across rural America, collecting folk songs from townspeople in cylinders, and deepening their connection.
Circumstance leads to their separation once again, and their love affair seemingly ends too.
While The History of Sound is light on sex scenes, there is no dearth of emotional intensity between Mescal and O’Connor.
Speaking to PinkNews on the red carpet ahead of the film playing at the 69th BFI London Film Festival, Mescal said he found it “very easy” to have chemistry with O’Connor as he “loves” his co-star.
“He’s a very easy person to have chemistry with. I adore spending time with him. I love him as a person,” he said.
“I love the way he thinks about art and the consideration that goes into his work. That wasn’t the challenge of this film.”
According to O’Connor, the feeling is mutual. “He’s a joy and a great friend already,” the Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery star told PinkNews.
“An actor as good as Paul, you just really have to listen and respond in the moment and it comes about.”
The History of Sound director Oliver Hermanus recently confirmed that “there are moments” of sexual intimacy between Mescal and O’Connor’s characters, but stressed that those scenes are not “pivotal” to the film.
“That’s not the film. They stick together from the first day they meet. What I love is the moments that bring sex about, and then the moments after,” he said.
“Josh’s character has this amazing thing where he keeps collecting all the feathers that are falling out of Paul’s pillow and stuffing them back in. That’s romance.”
That said, there is one particularly key moment between the duo which led to an on-set blunder by O’Connor. While attempting to film a moment where the characters are in bed together, O’Connor accidentally spat in Mescal’s mouth.
“We were kind of keeping ourselves separate, and really in the characters, and then we did the first take, and it was the spit, and I just – it just dribbled down me,” he said.
The History of Sound divided critics when it premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with some comparing it unfavourably with the seminal, Oscar-winning queer drama film, Brokeback Mountain.
Paul Mescal responded to those critics during a press conference at the time, dubbing the comparisons “lazy”.
The History of Sound will be released in UK cinemas on 23 January 2026.
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