Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor gay romance film gets release date
Mescal and O'Connor star in The History of Sound which will be released this September after premiering at Cannes earlier this year
By Gary Grimes
The History of Sound, an upcoming gay romance film starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, has finally got a release date.
After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival ealier this year, the film is now officially slated for release in cinemas on 12 September 2025.
The History of Sound focuses on Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor), who, ‘during the WW1 period, set out to record the lives, voices, and music of their countrymen’, as per the film’s official synopsis.
Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film received a six-minute standing ovation at its screening at Cannes, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or award.
The director told Deadline earlier this year that one of the central questions the film asks is around ‘the road not taken’. Mescal told the publication that playing the role of Lionel made him consider this question with regards to his own romantic life.
“I think it’s deeply relatable. I think we all have moments in our life, in romantic and platonic relationships, where we go, Oh, what if I missed that? What if? What would have happened if a certain conversation had gone a different way?” the All Of Us Strangers star said.
“But what moves me so much about the film is that it doesn’t say” – Paul Mescal
“But what moves me so much about the film is that it doesn’t say: I should have done this. It was, what if I didn’t meet him? But instead, I did meet him. It’s a sadness, but it’s also an acceptance,” Mescal went on. “And I think if you could get to the point in your life where you accept the fact that there is pain, you’re also accepting the fact that there was a great love, and I find that concept very complicated, but also very moving.”
In a seperate interview with Deadline, O’Connor spoke of the challenge of needing to learn how to play the piano in order to play David. “I couldn’t play the piano until I did this movie. I still can’t, but I can play it better than I could,” the Challengers star revealed.
“I took a few lessons and I just learned in the end. I’d like to think the truth is I didn’t have an awfully long time to prep for this movie, and I jumped in between projects. He’s a very beautiful character that is so meaningful to me and to the movie, of course, but I didn’t have an awful lot of time, so I just learned those songs on piano.”