Did Joe Alwyn & Paul Mescal Form A ‘Tortured Man Club’?

The revelation came during a December 15 interview for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, where the two stars, both of whom starred in TV adaptations of Sally Rooney’s emotionally charged novels, swapped thoughts on their introspective art. You know, Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal were just a couple of sad boys trying to navigate life, love, and anxiety.

So how did these two get to the name “Tortured Man Club”? It started with a cheeky question from Mescal. “So what’s the name of the WhatsApp group that we’re in?” he asked Alwyn. To which Alwyn deadpanned, “It’s me, you—and Andrew Scott started the group.” Yeah, that Andrew Scott—the Fleabag Hot Priest himself. And according to Alwyn, Scott is practically the group’s unofficial leader, the most frequent texter, and often found messaging himself “good mornings.” Is there any other way to exist in a club dedicated to tortured souls?

But the whole “Tortured Man Club” vibe totally tracks. Both Joe and Mescal are dating musicians who are known for their deeply emotional, often confessional music—Alwyn with Taylor Swift and Mescal reportedly engaged to Phoebe Bridgers. The pair’s bond goes deeper, though. They both have a lot to say about their struggles with anxiety and how it creeps into their art and on-set experience. Mescal even went so far as to admit that fully embodying his characters often brings about “that cursed feeling of, once you feel like it’s disappearing, it comes back and hits you like a ton of bricks.” In other words, very intense.