Paapa Essiedu on Alex Garland’s Hugely Divisive ‘Men’ and Attending the ‘Pretty Weird’ Met Gala
variety.comK.J. Yossman Paapa Essiedu has appeared in fare as varied as Michaela Coel’s critically acclaimed drama “I May Destroy You” and crime series “Gangs of London” but his latest turn, as James in Alex Garland’s latest feature “Men,” may be his most unusual role yet.
The opinion-splitting film – described by Variety as a “folk-horror bizart-house offering” – sees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”) as a woman trying to get over the shocking death of her husband (played by Essiedu) after he falls out of a window, a scene rendered in the film in painstaking slow motion.“Men,” which also stars Rory Kinnear and Gayle Rankin, will premiere in Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight strand. What attracted you to this project?I was attracted to the film by the script, really.
Alex sent me the script over a couple years ago and I remember the experience of reading it, I kind of inhaled the whole thing in one.
And I usually read scripts in bits but this took me by the scruff of the neck. I read it and imagined the whole thing in one.
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