Foe writer: 'I've never seen Paul Mescal do anything like this'

But before all that, he stars alongside fellow Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan in the new film Foe, a sci-fi-tinged relationship drama based on a book by Iain Reid and directed by Australian filmmaker Garth Davis.

Mescal and Ronan play Junior and Hen, a couple living on a remote farm in 2065 who begin to question their relationship when a stranger shows up with an alarming piece of news about their future.

And speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the release, Reid teased that the performances from both actors are unlike anything he's seen from either of them – exceeding the expectations he had when he first wrote the characters.

"I mean, it is surreal," he said when asked about seeing his characters brought to life in both Foe and the previous adaptation of his work, Charlie Kaufman's 2020 film I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

"But in both cases, actually, it exceeds what I imagine and think when I first start writing the novel. I'm actually not really imagining sort of real people – they're these nebulous ideas in my mind.

"I know the characters very well, but I'm not so much thinking about them physically or imagining them being embodied in that way."

He added that he "couldn't believe it" when Mescal, Ronan and co-star Aaron Pierre were cast in the film.

"These are such great, talented actors," he said, "and I was so excited to see what they would do, how they would interpret the material and bring something to it, and they exceeded anything I ever thought could happen.

"I mean, they go to places that I wasn't expecting them to go to."

He continued: "I had been a fan of all of them and don't think I had seen them do anything quite like this. So I'm so grateful to them, that they were willing to do that, and really willing to really commit to these roles."

Read more:

• Fair Play asks "if capitalism is compatible with love", says director
• The Great Escaper 'revived Michael Caine in some ways', says director

Meanwhile, Davis – whose previous credits include 2016 film Lion and several episodes of Top of the Lake – explained that the casting was "critical" to the film.

He said that Ronan was the first to sign on, and that she had been top of his list for the role of Hen because he was looking for "someone that emanated this kind of beautiful personality, this kind of inner light".

He added: "And then you’ve got to work energetically, you know, who's going to have the right chemistry with her? And that's when I came across Paul Mescal, who I met in Sydney.

"He was crazy about the film and really wanted to play Junior and really wanted to go into this relationship and all of those different characters he had to play.

"And it was just lovely that they had the shared Irish heritage, it was not something we were planning. So that just made that couple feel so believable on screen."

Foe is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20th October 2023. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who with a special issue of Radio Times. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.