Paul Mescal is still "chasing the feeling" he got when he performed in school plays.
The 28-year-old actor performed the title role in a school production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic musical 'The Phantom of the Opera' when he was a teenager and even though he has gone onto Hollywood superstardom since then, is still craving the "adrenaline" he felt when he made his debut on stage.
Speaking on 'CBS Sunday Morning', he said: "I'm still chasing that feeling again [from high school], nothing has ever really come close to that feeling. I know that sounds absolutely bizarre. I think because it felt physically dangerous in my body to be exposed to an audience of people who knew me as somebody who played sport. The adrenaline was extraordinary."
The 'Gladiator II' star grew up in County Kildare, Ireland with a police offer mother and a father who worked as a schoolteacher.
Asked if he has ever become used to the attention that fame has brought him, he admitted: "Within reason."
The 'Normal People' actor explained that he wants to keep some distance between himself and the characters that he plays on screen, and noted that his relationship with his celebrity status is "ever-changing" as time goes on.
He said: "You don't want an audience to know you innately. [My relationship with fame] is ever-changing, I think."
Paul recently admitted that when his new epic historical action film comes out, he will be "profoundly depressed" if he simply becomes even more famous.
Asked how life may change when the film comes out, he told Sunday Times Culture magazine: “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.
“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.”
