Trust Andrew Haigh to bring together two of Ireland's greatest acting assets, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, for his upcoming feature film, All of Us Strangers. The acclaimed queer filmmaker behind such gems as Weekend — perhaps the greatest gay love story committed to celluloid this side of the century — 45 Years, and Lean on Pete is deep into work on his next inevitably beloved indie, which is a loose adaptation of Taichi Yamada's award-winning novel Strangers. But it's not just that dynamite duo: Haigh has also recruited Rocketman actor Jamie Bell and The Crown alum Claire Foy, rounding off an all-star ensemble that emanates prestige.
Here's everything we know about All of Us Strangers.
What is All of Us Strangers about?
Two years on from his TV breakout with Normal People, Paul Mescal is making the leap into movie stardom with quiet, emotionally obliterating indie Aftersun, and relearning how to exist in the public eye
According to the official synopsis, All of Us Strangers follows screenwriter Adam (portrayed by Scott) who, one night in his vacant tower block in present-day London, shares a chance encounter with Mescal's character, Harry, that punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. It describes Adam and Harry as getting “closer” — which, if we read between the lines with the knowledge of Haigh's wider filmography, would imply some body exploration — before the former returns to his childhood home. There, he finds that his long-dead parents, portrayed by Foy and Bell, are both very much alive, and looking the same age as the day they died over thirty years ago. Spooky, potentially sexy stuff.
When will All of Us Strangers be released?
Praise be! Because after months of waiting, we finally have a first-look image and a release date.
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The film will be released on 22 December, just in time for Christmas. Not that there's anything particularly festive about this story, but maybe you can treat it as a gift from you to you. In the first-look image, we see Mescal's Harry draped over Scott's Adam in what appears to be some kind of pub. The bisexual lighting is also working overtime, cascading pink and blue light all over them.
The film will be released before Mescal's next big screen feature, as the lead in Ridley Scott's Gladiator sequel, which we'll have to wait basically a whole year for as its due to hit screens in November 2024. Scott, for his part, took a little break from big screen roles until he appeared opposite The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey in last year's Medieval coming-of-age comedy, Catherine Called Birdy. All of Us Strangers may mark his next return to the screen — that or the Netflix action-comedy Back in Action, alongside Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Glenn Close, Kyle Chandler and Jamie Demetriou. That's what we call an… eclectic release slate.
