{"id":638237,"date":"2026-10-06T16:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T16:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/638237\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T16:52:12","slug":"paul-mescal-boards-irish-thriller-mary-is-missing-as-exec-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/638237\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Mescal Boards Irish Thriller Mary Is Missing as Exec Producer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlongside playing Paul McCartney in The Beatles films and juggling the occasional Bond rumor, Paul Mescal<\/a> has lent his support to a short film from his home town. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Oscar nominee has become exec producer on the Oscar-qualifying short \u201cMary Is Missing,\u201d an Irish psychological thriller directed by Aisling Byrne and produced by Killian Coyle for Run of the Mill and Arcade Film and created through a collaborative writers\u2019 room with learning-disabled artists. The film was made in Maynooth, where Mescal grew up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are films that remind you just how exciting cinema can be when it opens itself up to new voices. For me, \u2018Mary is Missing \u2018is one of those films. It\u2019s bold, surprising and unlike anything else I\u2019ve seen, and what stayed with me most when I first saw it was the collaborative spirit behind it,\u201d said Mescal. \u201cThe film has been shaped through the imagination and lived experience of artists with intellectual disabilities, and that originality is there in every frame. Knowing it was created in Maynooth, where I grew up, makes it feel especially close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMescal added that in coming on board as executive producer, he wanted to help bring the film to the \u201cwidest possible audience and championing such a distinctive piece of Irish filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMary is Missing\u201d follows care worker Mary, who vanishes without a trace from the Yellow Tree Day Service. When Garda Foley arrives to investigate, the attendees who were among the last people to see Mary become key witnesses. But as their accounts begin to contradict one another and take increasingly fantastical turns, Foley must determine whether they are telling the truth, protecting Mary, protecting themselves, or whether the reality is something far more complicated.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s ensemble includes Mark Smith, alongside Derek McSweeney, Eoghan Ashe, Ella-Jane Moore, Jackie O\u2019Hagan, John Egan, Keith Foley, Maurice Coll, Neil Coffey, Teresa Flood, Wesley Fairbrother, Lucy Smith and Conor Begley. Lloyd Cooney plays Garda Foley, alongside care workers Lauren Larkin and Craig Connolly, with Danny O\u2019Connor, Clare Monnelly and Kamilla Fenger also featuring.<\/p>\n

\n\tThirteen of the 19 cast members are artists with intellectual disabilities, with the story developed through a 12-week writers\u2019 room hosted by Run of the Mill. The ensemble contributed ideas around characters, themes and storytelling.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Byrne and Coyle, \u201cMary is Missing\u201d marks their third Oscar-qualifying short as a filmmaking team, following \u201cHeadspace\u201d and \u201cTurnaround.\u201d \u201cHeadspace\u201d won the Grand Prix Irish Short at the Cork International Film Festival and became Ireland\u2019s short film candidate for the 2023 European Film Awards, while \u201cTurnaround\u201d won qualifying awards at both Galway Film Fleadh and Foyle Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tByrne\u2019s subsequent short \u201cMisread,\u201d an RT\u00c9\/Ardan commission, won Best Irish Short at Catalyst International Film Festival, while \u201cTurnaround\u201d was nominated for an IFTA and later acquired by Disney+. Byrne, Coyle and Arcade Film are currently developing her debut feature, which is among the final 10 projects selected for Screen Ireland\u2019s Perspectives scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alongside playing Paul McCartney in The Beatles films and juggling the occasional Bond rumor, Paul Mescal has lent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,17404],"class_list":["post-638237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-paul-mescal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}