From humble beginnings on a bus to Ballyhaunis in 2018, to entering the arena of Gladiator II in 2024, Maynooth man Paul Mescal has rocketed to fame in recent years.
As well as earning an Oscar nomination for his heartbreaking role in Aftersun, and earning global fame for his performance as Connell in Normal People, Paul has become somewhat of an it-boy during his time in the spotlight.
Short-shorts, mullets, green pairs of Adidas runners and cropped hoodies have all entered the fashion scene thanks to his incredible efforts.
Today, those efforts were celebrated in style when a Paul Mescal lookalike competition was held in Dublin’s Smithfield ahead of the Gladiator II premiere taking place in the Lighthouse cinema.
Following on from the recent Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition held in New York, this doppleganger search was organised by DJ and Marcus O’Laoire, all in the hopes of winning a grand prize of €20 courtesy of Lidl.
“We’re in a Paul Mescal era,” Marcus told RTÉ Lifestyle. “You’re looking at a nation who has come together with love for one of our favourite sons. He’s gone from a sausage ad to being a gladiator, and he embodies everything that’s good about the potential of this country.”
We need your consent to load this tiktok contentWe use tiktok to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Initially, it was tricky to tell which people were coming forward as competitors, and which Smithfield locals just happened to be out for a flat white (shorts were aplenty due to the unusually warm weather), but soon a number of Mescal-like figures appeared.
Tall Mescal, Normal People Mescal, Casual Mescal, Journalist Mescal, Other Journalist Mescal, Denny’s Paul, and BAFTA’s Paul were all identified as finalists but, in the end, there could only be one.
Leaving it to a crowd vote, the lookalikes were challenged to deliver their favourite Mescal line, with the winner chosen based on how much applause they could generate.
Having delivered his favourite Normal People quote (“you look really well”) to shrieks of applause, Jack Wall O’Reilly from Ennis Co. Clare took home the grand prize.
Speaking on the impressive victory, he told RTÉ Lifestyle that he was impressed by the level of competition: “I think I had a strong chance but they were all very impressive Paul Mescals, I think they put a lot of work into today.”
