Richard Linklater and his future musical: “Paul Mescal sings really well!”

His parody of Gladiator 2 is just a taste. The Irish actor is indeed preparing a musical: Merry We Roll All Along.

The parody of Gladiator II Did you like it? Good news, a real musical comedy with Paul Mescal is about to become reality. On the other hand, we will have to wait a long time before discovering it on the big screen… Here are the details.

The successes of Wicked And Moana 2 inspired Saturday Night Live this weekend, which gave the Irish comedian the opportunity to have fun singing and rapping! Here is the video, followed by the first information on Merry We Roll All AlongRichard Linklater's next film for which the actor will actually have the opportunity to sing in the cinema.

Paul Mescal, the revelation of Aftersun: “Suddenly, my life changed…”

At the very beginning of 2023, even before discovering Aftersun in French cinemas, Mescal was announced in the casting of this famous musical by Stephen Sondheim dating back to the early 1980s, itself based on the 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Har, which tells the story of three friends pursuing careers in various facets of the entertainment industry – and how their lives change over the years. What’s special about this show? Its story is told in reverse chronological order, tracing the disintegration of the trio's friendship, as Franklin abandons Charley and Mary to become a successful film producer in Hollywood.

As for Boyhoodhis lovely Oscar-winning success in 2015, the director of Rock Academy and the trilogy of Before wants to turn Merrily We Roll Along over twenty years. He has already started shooting, then will resume them episodically for 20 years, he said about this ambitious project, with nine filming sessions over this long period.

“I saw Merrily for the first time in the 1980s and I fell in love, explained Linklater about this extraordinary project in 2019. I can't imagine a better place to spend the next twenty years of my life than in a Sondheim musical (…) I'm not embarking on this multi-year adventure lightly, but it seems to me to be the best – and perhaps the only – way to do justice to this story on film.”

Whenhe was announced at the castingwe learned that Paul Mescal would in fact reprise the role of composer Franklin Shepard, which was initially to be played by Blake Jenner for his second collaboration with the director after Everybody Wants Some!. Facing him, there will be Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect) as Charley, Franklin's creative partner and lyricist; and Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird) as Mary, the duo's good friend and theater critic.

Mescal, trained in theater (he won a Laurence Olivier Award for his role in A Streetcar Named Desireplayed in England), will push the song well into Merrily We Roll Alongpromised the American director.

“He has a wonderful talent, Linklater said at Times last May, confirming their collaboration on this project. And he sings really well! I'm so happy we were able to connect before he became a star. A supernova, even.”

We know that the team has already put together the finale of the film, including a reinterpretation of“Our Time”one of the key pieces of the musical. This version with Paul Mescal is obviously not yet available, but here is a recording made by Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez for a recent performance of the show on Broadway. In 2023, he is the flagship actor of the series Mindhunter who played Franklin.

Paul Mescal thinks he can make Gladiator 3 and “not in 24 years”