All of Us Strangers: Trailer drops for Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott’s gay love story
Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott still “hang out all the time”, says director Andrew Haigh. (Searchlight Picture/Chris Harris/20th Century Studios)
The trailer has finally dropped for Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott’s gay love story All of Us Strangers, and it already looks set to become an instant queer classic.
The film, written and directed by Weekend creator Andrew Haigh, is based on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 Japanese novel Strangers and tells the story of Adam (played by Scott), a screenwriter in his 40s, who develops feelings for his neighbour Harry (Mescal).
As their relationship grows, Adam returns to the small town he grew up in and, once there, becomes preoccupied with memories of his deceased parents, played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.
All of Us Strangers won rave reviews following its debut at the Telluride Film Festival in August, and now the trailer has finally arrived ahead of the film’s December release.
The trailer follows Adam and Harry as they meet in the London apartment block they both live in, and it shows Adam returning to his childhood home where he is confronted with the memories of his childhood and his parents.
It also shows Adam and Harry falling in love in London as one of the Pet Shop Boys’ most iconic anthems “Always On My Mind” plays in the background.
All of Us Strangers trailer sets social media alight
All of us Strangers is shaping up to be a powerful meditation on grief, love and the passage of time – and to say film fans are excited would be an understatement.
After the trailer dropped, social media chatter quickly turned to potential Oscar nominations and the film’s inevitable significance in queer cinema.
Anticipation has been building for All of Us Strangers for months, with Fleabag and Normal People fans desperate to see two of their favourite actors falling in love on screen.
Andrew Haigh, who built a massive queer following with his 2011 romantic drama Weekend, teased that the pair had immediate chemistry with each other when they started filming in 2022 – and he said both knew just how important their sex scenes would be.
“There was chemistry between the two of them literally the second I saw them together,” Haigh told Vanity Fair.
“Both of them were pretty fearless. There was no sense of them being afraid of approaching those scenes. They knew how important they were.”
Haigh also revealed that he wanted to capture his own experience as a gay man in All of Us Strangers.
“I make no bones about the fact that this is a specific experience I’m telling, of a man in his late 40s who’s gay. I’m trying to tell something that I understand, that is my experience of the world, and that is authentic to me.”
Speaking to Goss.ie, Andrew Scott said the film isn’t a romcom – but admitted it’s both romantic and funny in parts.
He also heaped praise on his co-star Paul Mescal, describing him as a “superstar” who is beautiful “inside and out”.
“It was just a great pleasure to work with an Irish person. Irish boys abroad! We had an immediate shorthand with each other, and I’m very excited for everyone to see it.”
While the film isn’t getting a theatrical release until December in the US and January in the UK, it’s already winning over critics.
In a five star review, Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw described All of Us Strangers as a “mysterious, beautiful and sentimental” movie about the moment in middle age when “you realise you are probably nearer to death than birth”.
All of Us Strangers opens in the US on 22 December 2023, and will arrive in UK cinemas on 26 January 2024.
