Paul Mescal was undoubtedly the star attraction on the opening night of the Dublin International Film Festival on Thursday.
The local boy — almost, he’s from Maynooth, 24 kilometers to the west of the Irish capital — marked his first appearance at the event for the curtain-raising Irish psychological drama God’s Creatures, in which he stars alongside Emily Watson. But he also hit the red carpet at Dublin’s Light House Cinema not just as a freshly minted Oscar and BAFTA nominee for Aftersun and one of the most in-demand actors around (Ridley Scott recently tapped him for his Gladiator sequel), but as someone who, the last time the festival was held as a fully in-person event without pandemic restrictions in February 2020, literally hadn’t even been seen onscreen yet. His breakout, Normal People, was released just a few months later.
The first people Mescal greeted at the opener were his parents, who had been waiting patiently with all the other fans. The actor then proceeded to sign every autograph request and pose for every single selfie.
Inside, God’s Creatures — which A24 released in the U.S. last year and is getting its local launch later this month via Volta — received a standing ovation.
“To screen God’s Creatures for you this evening and to bring our film home means the world to us,” said producer Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Lady Macbeth, Ammonite), who co-wrote the story with scriptwriter Shane Crowley.
Watson, speaking ahead of the screening, expressed what a privilege it was for her, as an English woman, to be part of the film — set in a fishing community in the Irish county of Kerry — and at the festival in Dublin.
“It always feels like an incredibly creative experience being here,” she said. “I think this team represents something that’s very exciting about a very bold, wild, free generation of Irish storytellers. I felt so enlivened and invigorated to be part of it.”
The festival, which also includes 16 other Irish features in its lineup, comes in the wake of Ireland’s most successful year in film awards history. The country has a record-breaking 14 Oscars nominations, most for Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, but also nods for Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl, short film An Irish Goodbye and, of course, Mescal.
Last year, The Quiet Girl opened the festival, and would later dominate the Irish film and TV awards and break local box office records, on its way to landing two BAFTA nominations and the first Oscar nomination for an Irish-language drama.
Also at the opening night of the Dublin International Film Festival, tributes were paid to James Flynn, the producer who died earlier this month. Alongside 70-plus screen credits, including The Banshees of Inisherin, Love/Hate, Calvary, The Borgias, Ondine and Greta, he was praised for his contribution to the re-establishment of the Irish Film Board, later to become Screen Ireland, and the mentoring and support he gave fellow producers and the industry as a whole.
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