Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers trailer

Jordan Hirst 22 September 2023

The first trailer for Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal’s intriguing new queer fantasy romantic drama All of Us Strangers has arrived, ahead of a premiere screening in Brisbane next month.

Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott play neighbours-turned-lovers in the fantasy romance helmed by Weekend and Looking‘s Andrew Haigh.

The film is an adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s 1987 Japanese psychological novel Strangers.

Andrew Scott plays screenwriter Adam, who meets his enigmatic neighbour Harry (Mescal) in his nearly-empty London apartment block.

As the two men’s relationship evolves, Adam reflects on his past, returning to his childhood home.

There the gay man discovers his late parents, played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, are seemingly alive just as they were the day they died 30 years earlier.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Andrew Haigh explained he’s reluctant to call the film a “ghost story”.

“I wanted it to all feel very integrated, like our memories do and like how we go through life,” he said.

“The pain we carry around is always just there, hidden, and it can come up and feel incredibly real.

“It was always about that feeling when you’re just about to fall asleep or you just wake up from a dream – when everything feels a little bit strange.”

Andrew Haigh on film’s ‘fearless’ gay sex scenes

As well as his mysterious journey into the past, Adam also shares an intense physical relationship with Harry.

“I’ve been more objective in how I’ve shot sex scenes in the past,” Haigh told Vanity Fair.

“Here, I really wanted to feel the subjective nature of having sex and what it feels like.

“The nervousness and the excitement and the physical sensation of being touched by someone else, and what that does to you.”

Andrew Haigh said both lead actors “were pretty fearless”.

“There was no sense of them being afraid of approaching those scenes. They knew how important they were,” he said.

“There was chemistry between the two of them literally the second I saw them together.”

All Of Us Strangers premiering in Brisbane soon

The first reviews for the film have been glowing, with The Hollywood Reporter noting Haigh gives the film “a keen perceptiveness about human nature, desire, fear, loss and the restorative power of connection”.

All of Us Strangers is out in Australian cinemas on January 18, 2024 but you can see it early in Brisbane next month as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival.

Watch the trailer for the film below: