Moviegoers seeking a respite from holiday sentiment found a thoughtful alternative in the gay romantic drama “All of Us Strangers,” which hit theaters in December.
Prior to the movie’s debut on Hulu and digital retailers Thursday, filmmaker Andrew Haigh joined actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott to reflect on their on-set experiences in a newly released interview. By all accounts, it was very much a labor of love for each of them.
“I had read the script and I was immediately blown away about it, really,” Scott said in a clip from the interview, viewable below. “It’s incredibly personal to [Haigh], but like great writers, he makes it sort of feel like it’s personal to everybody.”
Added Mescal: “There’s a deep sense of care and love that goes into the characters [Haigh] constructs.”
Watch a behind-the-scenes clip from the “All of Us Strangers” set below.
Based on a 1987 novel by Japanese author Taichi Yamada, “All of Us Strangers” opens with gay Londoners Adam (played by Scott) and Harry (Mescal) having a swoonworthy meet cute in the hallway of a deserted high-rise. Before long, the two men develop a flirtation that seems poised to blossom into a full-blown romance.
When Adam decides to venture back to his suburban hometown, however, he begins to realize that not everything is as it seems. He arrives at his childhood home to find his mother (Claire Foy) and father (Jamie Bell), who were killed in a car crash years ago, going about their day-to-day lives as if frozen in time.
As Haigh explains in the interview, he sought to incorporate many of his own experiences as a queer, middle-aged man into Yamada’s story, which was intently focused on Scott’s character (named Hideo in the book) and the spiritual ties to his long-deceased parents.
“I kind of expanded the story and turned it into something closer to my life, I guess, and my understanding of the world and my relationships with my parents and my own romantic relationships,” said the filmmaker, beloved by LGBTQ+ audiences for his 2011 film “Weekend” and the Jonathan Groff-led HBO series “Looking.”
By all accounts, Haigh’s efforts paid off. The Hollywood Reporter described “All of Us Strangers” as “a thing of beauty, heartfelt and unforgettable,” while USA Today called it “the sort of cinematic balm that not only touches your soul but takes up prime real estate.”