Paul Mescal has revealed the dating turn off that he says everyone is guilty of, but still sends a shiver down his spine.
The Normal People actor, 27, has been promoting his latest film, All of Us Strangers, alongside co-star and fellow Irishman Andrew Scott, 47.
During one interview, the Aftersun star was asked what gives him the “ick”, a slang term that is used to describe a feeling of disgust or aversion towards something or someone.
In response, he shared: “Do you know what gives me more of an ick, ’cause I think we all do it?
“Is, like, if you were like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to go down and turn off the lights', and they’re being all chill and then you hear them accelerate up the stairs because they’re scared.
“Because I think we’d all do it,” he told LADBible. “But I think if I was trying to impress someone I’d, like, smoothly walk up the stairs, than be dealing with [that].”
All of Us Strangers is loosely based on Japanese writer Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, which tells the story of a man who befriends two strangers who closely resemble his dead parents. His health deteriorates and he realises they are ghosts feasting on his energy.
In Andrew Haigh's adaptation, the film follows Scott's character, Adam, who returns to his rural childhood home from London, where his dead parents seems to be still residing.
Running alongside this story is the blossoming relationship between Adam and his neighbour Harry, played by Mescal, with whom he slowly falls in love.
All of Us Strangers premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in Colorado in late August, where it picked up stellar reviews.
The film has received 94 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been described by critics as “a nuclear-grade tearjerker”, “an enormously satisfying and affecting experience,” and having “piercing insight and arresting performances”.
The Standard gave the film four stars, describing it as "bleakly handsome filmmaking, with a virtuoso cast".
Other reviewers have been just as taken by the film, calling it, "an emotionally wrenching masterpiece", "mesmerising", and a "glorious magic-realist meditation on grief".
Speaking to British Vogue about working with Scott, Mescal said: "We became very close because of the nature of this project – not just because of the sex scenes, but because of the emotional intimacy that these two characters share.
"That was just the perfect climate to fall in love with Andrew as a human being. It’s a very easy thing to do."
