Paul Mescal made many Trinity College Dublin students very happy this afternoon with a surprise visit to his alma mater. Mescal is in Dublin for the premiere of his newest film, Gladiator II which is being held tonight at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield.
The Oscar-nominated actor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Acting in 2017 from the Lir Academy at Trinity College. The Lir posted a video on their Instagram today with a video of Mescal during his time there. They captioned the post, “We are so very proud of you Paul” celebrating the upcoming release of Gladiator II, expressing their joy at his “amazing journey”.
Mescal was on campus from roughly 2:30-3:30 pm. In a statement to The University Times, a College spokesperson confirmed that he was visiting for an “external filming engagement”. The actor was seen at the College’s Rose Garden, the Old Library, and the Book of Kells. The Trinity alum also met Provost Linda Doyle who shared a photo of them to her X (formerly Twitter) account with the caption “Look who I bumped into on campus just now. Great to see him back!”
Mescal’s appearance comes just hours after a Paul Mescal look-alike contest was held in Smithfield. The contest, inspired by Timothée Chalamet’s appearance at his own look-alike contest in New York City, boasted a prize of twenty euros or “3 pints”.
Trinity students expressed their delight at catching a glimpse of the heartthrob. Student Iris Fletcher shared that she was a “big fan”. Iris told The University Times “I was kind of like, oh, I might not see him, and the crowd’s really big”. However, all hope was not lost with Fletcher stating that she managed to get front row seats as Mescal emerged from a car. “It was quite funny,” she said, “there were people in the post grad reading room who were looking out the window, and then a massive crowd, and then as soon as the doors opened everyone pulled out their phones.” When asked if he was as good looking in real life as on-screen, Fletcher hesitated before saying yes but confirmed her hesitation was due to his lack of GAA shorts.
Another student, Alice, also shared her Paul Mescal experience with The University Times. “I heard he was here in Dublin for the Gladiator premiere,” she said. Alice said she was not disappointed by the actor in person and that she was “very happy to have had the opportunity just to see him”.
Gladiator II is the much anticipated follow up to Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator which earned Russel Crowe an Academy Award. The film will premiere tomorrow and then will be released across cinemas in Ireland on November 15th.
