Paul Mescal has finally weighed in on that viral moment with Saoirse Ronan during their recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show. If you’re also chronically online, you’ve probably seen clips of Ronan gagging the boys on the couch with some very valid comments about what it’s like being a woman.
The episode aired on October 25 and featured Ronan alongside Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Eddie Redmayne. The conversation took a serious turn when Redmayne shared his experience of learning self-defence techniques for an upcoming role in The Day of the Jackal, mentioning he’d been told to use his phone as a weapon if needed.
Mescal then cheekily questioned the practicality of this advice: “If someone attacked me, I’m not gonna go ‘PHONE’.”
That’s when Ronan jumped in: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right, ladies?” PERIODT!!!
Her words stopped the boys in their tracks and earned well deserved cheers from the audience.
Fast forward to this week, Mescal was in Sydney for a bunch of Gladiator II press and finally revealed his thoughts on the whole situation.
“I’ve known Saoirse for four years now, and she is one of my dearest friends. And as long as I’ve known her, she’s probably been the smartest person in the room,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“For her to be able to make that point so elegantly, I just fundamentally agree with it.”
Ronan also reflected on the public’s reaction to her comments. “The reaction has been wild. It’s definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn’t necessarily set out to sort of make a splash,” she said in an interview with Virgin Radio UK.
“But I do think there’s something really telling about the society that we’re in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives.”
She also mentioned that she’s had these types of conversations with Mescal before. “Paul being one of my very dear friends, I’ve had conversations like that with him before and he completely gets that and completely understands that.”
Ronan realises the impact of the unexpected moment: “It’s opening a conversation and again, hopefully, it’s allowing more and more women to just be like, ‘well, yeah, actually, let’s talk about our experience.”
When the 30-year-old actress spoke about it on the TODAY Show, she took the opportunity to highlight the tragic case of Sarah Everard — a woman who was reported to have been raped and murdered by a police officer.
“She followed all the rules, and she did everything that she was supposed to do to keep herself safe and she still ended up dead,” she said.
So there you have it — Paul Mescal’s got Saoirse Ronan’s back, Ronan continues to be an icon and Mescal can go back to being everybody’s favourite white boy of the month!
