Paul Mescal and the enduring allure of ‘wounded men’

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. If you’re a little surprised by Mescal’s rise to glory, you’re not alone: in casual conversation with friends and colleagues, the same review repeats itself, time and time again: “He mumbles”. I was captivated by the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People during lockdown, like everybody else; it resonated in a way it might not have resonated during more “normal” times. He’s no Love Island blazing veneers-and-bronzed-pecs pin-up, or the classic “hunk” that you might have pulled from the centre of Mizz magazine or Smash Hits to stick on your bedroom wall. We don’t know anything, really, about the “real” Paul Mescal.