Paul Mescal was left red-faced at the BAFTAs on Sunday evening after host Alan Cumming called him out for using his phone during the ceremony. As Mescal prepared to introduce the next presenter, Stormzy, Cumming interrupted his speech to say, 'Oh, he's on his phone.' The Irish actor, 30, was caught on camera blushing as he quickly put his phone away.
Mescal attended the event at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London alongside his Hamnet co-star Jessie Buckley, with whom he posed for photos on the red carpet. Both actors are nominated for their roles in the film: Mescal for best supporting actor and Buckley for best leading actress, while their co-star Emily Watson is nominated for best supporting actress.
Earlier in the evening, Cumming opened the awards with a speech referencing the distress and anxiety depicted in films this year, including Hamnet, One Battle After Another, and Frankenstein. He joked, 'It's almost like there are events in the real world that are influencing filmmakers,' and suggested a 'collective primal scream.' He also made a pun about Mescal's nominated performance as William Shakespeare, asking, 'Is it 2B or not...?'
Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao, is an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel. It imagines the connection between the death of Shakespeare's son Hamnet in 1596 and the creation of Hamlet. The film explores grief, marriage, and literary greatness.
