Everything We Know So Far About Paul Mescal & Josh O’Connor’s New Film

This historic queer drama has been on our minds ever since it was first teased back in 2021. Fast forward to 2025 – skipping past lockdowns, strikes and meteoric rises to fame – and The History of Sound is finally on the horizon. Here’s everything you need to know about Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor upcoming romance, including when it will premiere.

The History Of Sound: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Directed by Oliver Hermanus (who has most recently directed the Oscar-nominated Living [2022] and episodes of Sky’s Mary & George) and penned by Ben Shattuck, The History of Sound has been in the works for many years. In fact, when lead stars Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor first signed onto the project, they were riding high off their newfound TV success – the former in Normal People, and the latter in The Crown. But in 2025, these are two bonafide movie stars, and filming for The History of Sound came right off the back of Gladiator II for Mescal; from a huge-budget mammoth of a movie, and then a 180 to a difficult-to-finance historical drama.

But with their new fame – Mescal shining in indie flicks like The Lost Daughter, Aftersun and All of Us Strangers, and O’Connor impressing critics in Lee, La chimera and Challengers – came new hope for this backburnered historic drama. ‘Their lives were literally changing, and it was always this groupthink situation of, “Where can we find the time to force the universe to let us make this film?”,’ director Hermanus tells Vanity Fair. ‘We probably wouldn’t have been able to make this film when we wanted to, in 2022, because they weren’t the Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor that we now know today.’

Paul Mescal is Lionel and Emma Canning is Clarissa Roux in THE HISTORY OF SOUND, directed by Oliver Hermanus. (Universal Pictures)

What Is The History Of Sound About?

The History of Sound is a historical drama centring on two men, Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor), both students at the New England Conservatory during WWI. They meet at a piano bar, where David sings a folk song Lionel recognises from his youth, whisking him back to his childhood. They lock eyes, smile, drink together, and Lionel is swept off his feet, instantly infatuated with David. They connect, discussing their upbringings and their dreams for what’s next. They plot and plan when they can next see each other, and how often – until life starts getting in the way.

Narrated by an older Lionel (Chris Cooper), the seismic impact of their fleeting romantic encounter unfolds across their lives. ‘We all have people who define us, but we don’t realise they defined us until it’s too late,’ Hermanus summarises.

Despite being set in an era when queer love was still defined by danger and secrecy, and despite admittedly being a melancholic romance, The History of Sound isn’t your typical historical LGBTQ+ drama in that the love itself isn’t problematised. ‘I’m a gay man,’ director Hermanus says. ‘I would love to go to the movies and watch a movie about a same-sex relationship that maybe makes me cry, but feels fulfilling. So much of queer cinema – and I’ve made queer cinema like this – is about the struggles. For me, this has always been about wanting it to be accessible to everyone. We’re not going to make a movie about the problematising of their relationship or their sexuality.

‘I didn’t want the sex of it to be the transgression, or the big idea,’ Hermanus adds. ‘Like, “Oh, it’s 1917, and these two men are taking the risk of being sexual.” Ben wrote it in a way where there was no hesitation, no moment of fear.’

Josh O’Connor is David in THE HISTORY OF SOUND, directed by Oliver Hermanus. (Universal Pictures)

The Cast

Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor lead The History of Sound as Lionel and David respectively, joined by Chris Cooper as our narrator (an older Lionel reflecting on the story), plus Molly Price, Raphael Sbarge and more. The full cast list is as follows.

• Paul Mescal as Lionel
• Josh O’Connor as David
• Molly Price as Lionel’s mother
• Raphael Sbarge as Lionel Sr.
• Chris Cooper as Older Lionel
• Hadley Robinson as Belle
• Emma Canning as Clarissa
• Briana Middleton as Thankful Mary Swain
• Gary Raymond as William
• Alison Bartlett as Samantha
• Michael Schantz as Bob

Paul Mescal (as Lionel) with Director Oliver Hermanus on the set of THE HISTORY OF SOUND. (Universal Pictures)

Where Was It Filmed?

The History of Sound was filmed in New England (specifically Hoboken and Freehold in New Jersey) and Tarquinia, an ancient city in Lazio, Italy.

Is The History Of Sound Based On A True Story?

The History of Sound is not based on a true story, although it is based on a short story by Ben Shattuck, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. The History of Sound (2024) is a collection of 12 short stories exploring generational patterns of love and loss across three centuries, including the titular story following Lionel and David.

Paul Mescal is Lionel in THE HISTORY OF SOUND, directed by Oliver Hermanus. (Universal Pictures)

Release Date

The History of Sound will premiere at Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2025, where it will compete for the top prize, the Palme d’Or, against the likes of Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme and Midsommer director Ari Aster’s Eddington. Intriguingly, this isn’t O’Connor’s only flick competing at Cannes in 2025: he also leads Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind.

The cinematic release date is still TBC, but we know Universal is distributing the film here in the UK, with MUBI in charge in North America. Check back here for updates.