Growing Pains

It’s the film everyone’s talking about and we spoke to the stars everybody wants to know. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio lead Aftersun – and Rafaela Sales Ross was lucky enough to witness their chemistry in person.

There are many laurels to be placed upon Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ stunning feature debut about a father-daughter holiday. You could dwell on its exploration of the labyrinthine nature of memory, or the quietly devastating way in which it portrays the strain between parental responsibility and inner emotional turmoil.

Today, however, we focus on the most serendipitous of all of the film’s many qualities: its stars. Wells brought in Normal People’s Paul Mescal to play Calum, a ’90s dad, tucked-in t-shirt and all. To find Sophie, his daughter, the Scottish director held country-wide auditions, ultimately landing newcomer Frankie Corio. 

The chemistry between the pair anchors the film’s central relationship, a contagious shot of joy that can be felt equally between Calum and Sophie and Paul and Frankie. As the duo sat down with MASSIVE to discuss all things Aftersun, the longest giggle-free stretch was a swift minute. 

Frankie, how did you find the audition for Aftersun?

FC: I will always continue acting because acting is my career for the end of my life. 

What is your favourite memory of travelling with the film?

FC: After watching the film in Cannes, because everyone was crying and it was great and then we took photos.

How did it feel to see everyone crying?

FC: I liked it. “Oh, that person is crying! Oh my god, so is that person!”

Paul, just a couple of years ago you broke out in your first major role and now, very quickly, you are in a position of mentoring someone new. Did you feel any pressure?

PM: I would never say that I mentored Frankie. Maybe I had a responsibility insofar as if Frankie hadn’t been able to do it it would have been mentoring, but Frankie was able to do it from day one. I think graduating into playing a more adult character was a bigger transition than working with a child. I suppose I was nervous, up until the point I met Frankie…

FC: Then you found out I was actually really cool.

PM: You were strikingly cool, that’s the first thing I noticed. 

FC: He was like, “Oh my god, she is so cool! I have been outcooled!”

How was that first meeting? 

PM: It was an audition and I think me and Frankie got on, it was playful…

FC: And amazing.

PM: It was amazing, it was wonderful, all of the superlatives. 

FC: And then Paul became my best friend.

Is there anything you learned from Frankie that you’ll take with you for life?

FC: He needs to be more energetic and sleep less! 

PM: Frankie doesn’t really understand the concept of lunch break being quiet time. The first couple of weeks I’d entertain it, but when we got towards the end of the shoot I was like, “Okay, Frankie, I am going to sleep now.” 

FC: Every lunch break he’d be like, “Right, I am going to have a great time sleeping!” 

Charlotte said she was very adamant about having you two hold the mini DV camera, to have your point of view whenever the camcorder footage was used. How was that for you? 

FC: Great, but I knew nothing about it. It was great to be taught how to use it. I enjoyed it, it was really fun to feel like a blogger. It felt like I had my own YouTube channel.

PM: I feel like a boomer when you say YouTuber! I feel like I missed the YouTube channel craze…

FC: There are a lot of videos on YouTube of people like, [American accent] “This is an interview with Paul Mescal!”

Paul, was there any point of Calum’s emotional building that was particularly hard to navigate? 

PM: Myself and Charlie didn’t want Sophie to see that. The whole point is that he is trying to have a good time and have a holiday that is memorable for Sophie, and he achieves that. It is only with the benefit of hindsight…

FC: Yeah, to hide his depression. 

PM: That’s the sad thing, I found the scenes where they are having fun, weirdly, to be the most upsetting because you know that this other part of him exists. In the moments where the overall picture comes to your head, you think, woah, this is a profoundly sad man — who’s a really good dad — just trying to navigate his own life.

How was it for you, Frankie, to watch the film and Paul’s work in it for the first time? 

FC: Watching it was de-pres-sing! Sad, but also exciting, great, and amazing.

PM: How was it like for you to see the whole thing together? Did you remember it all?

FC: When I saw all the depressing Paul scenes, I realised what he was actually doing. In the scene when he’s on the balcony, the costume designer told me he was just taking in the view. 

And now you get to share it with your friends and family. How does that feel for you?

FC: I feel like a movie star.

PM: You’re in a movie and you’re the star of the movie.

FC: I am so happy that I get to share it with everyone and that everyone will get to watch it and then everyone will come back crying, they will all go onto Twitter and say, “Oh my god you guys should r-e-a-l-l-y go and watch A-f-t-e-r-s-u-n!” 

PM: I love how everybody on the internet has an American accent! The internet is American.

What do your friends think about you being in a movie? 

FC: They’re excited. They’re always looking me up and going, “Oh my god look at this photo! Who’s this guy? Who’s that guy?”

Do they ask you about Paul?

FC: Yeah, they asked me about Paul. They keep thinking he’s my brother or something. 

PM: That’s nice. That’s what is like in the film as well. 

Paul, music is very much at the core of Aftersun and I know you love music, you have dabbled a little bit in singing and such. Do you think this is something you’d like to explore a little more onscreen?

PM: For sure.

FC: You should be in a musical.

PM: I think music is kind of like an emotional cheat, and not in a bad version of that word, it’s a quick insert into a feeling. So if it was the right thing I’d love to explore it further. 

How was it for you to see the film’s emotional apex coming together through the use of certain songs?

PM: We didn’t have ‘Under Pressure’ when we were filming, it was a different song, just beats. Oliver’s score is so brilliant and the last shot, with the 360 and the strings coming in, is my favourite. One of my favourite parts of the process is after you’ve finished a film and get to see everybody else’s work, when you have a second to step away from the film and think, “Woah, it really takes a village to make a film.”

What is your favourite memory of making Aftersun?

PM: The time we spent making it.

FC: The karaoke scene because I hated it.

Why?

FC: It was horrible. But it was also kind of my favourite because it was funny. I don’t have favourite scenes, but one of my favourites was when I jump into the pool with the teenagers with all my clothes on. I was soaked and I loved it! 

PM: I really loved jumping into the sea and that long shot down into the beach. That was a fun scene to do. Well, not fun – but a good memory.

Aftersun is in UK cinemas via MUBI from November 18.