First-Look Photos Land for Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor-Starring 'The History of Sound'

First-look photos for Oliver Hermanus' upcoming queer drama – which stars Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor – dropped this week.

Written by Ben Shattuck (and based on his own short story), the film begins in 1917, when Mescal's Lionel and O'Connor's David meet as conservatory students and "bond over a deep love of folk music," a release from Mubi describes.

"Years later, Lionel receives a letter from David, leading to an impromptu journey through the backwoods of Maine to collect traditional songs," the release adds. "This unexpected reunion, ensuing love affair, and the music they collect and preserve, will shape the course of Lionel's life far beyond his own awareness."

Hermanus helmed the 2019 gay drama "Moffie," as well as serving as an executive producer and director for last year's miniseries "Mary & George," in which Nicholas Galitzine played the lover of King James I and Julianne Moore portrayed his mother, whose ruthless ambition helped chart a course through the treachery and politics of the royal court.

"The History of Sound" comes on the heels of Mescal's starring role in Ridley Scott's sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II," for which Mescal got into coliseum-ready shape by adding pounds of muscle.

Even as he was filming "Gladiator II," Mescal was prepping for his "History of Sound" role by "getting a crash course in Kentucky dialect and studying old folk songs," Vanity Fair reports. He was also trying to drop some of his muscular bulk to portray the Lionel.

"In those last two weeks of the shoot in Malta," Mescal told VF, "my trainer saw a lot of ugly sides to my hungry self."

Fans have been hungry, too.

"The long-awaited film was announced in 2021, with director Oliver Hermanus deeming both stars 'two of the most promising actors of their generation' at the time," IndieWire recalled.

But the delay proved fortuitous, Hermanus told VF, explaining that the years leading to production were "always this groupthink situation of, 'Where can we find the time to force the universe to let us make this film?,'" but noting that "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."

The film's qualities have remained the same during the long lead time, Mescal averred, telling the magazine, "The thing that I'm most proud about is that the feeling I had when I read the script for the first time is what I got when I saw the film for the first time."

Both Mescal and O'Connor have played gay before, with Mescal co-starring opposite Andrew Scott in the 2023 Andrew Haigh drama "All of Us Strangers" and O'Connor commanding international attention as a gay farmer who strikes up a same-sex love affair with a worker from Romania in Francis Lee's 2017 film "In God's Country."

"The History of Sound" is set for a premiere at Cannes, which runs from May 13 - 24, followed by a general theatrical release later in 2025.