For Irish audiences, the GAA scenes in Normal People were far from extraordinary but for one of the show’s stars, they took some getting used to.
Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Marriane in RTE drama Normal People, has been speaking about filming the scenes which involve the playing of Gaelic football. Given that she’s a Londoner, it’s no surprise that the world of GAA is a built alien to the 21-year-old, as she told the Irish Independent in a recent interview.
Speaking about observing Normal People scenes in which her character’s love interest Connell (Paul Mescal) plays GAA, she says: “God, I remember this thing happened on the day when we were filming the big football match scene.
“I was watching the guys take to the field and I noticed that there were these two men in lab coats by the goalposts and I couldn’t figure out what they were doing there.
“I thought that these two guys had wandered on to the set and were just watching the game or something.
“I was getting a bit worried and then someone told me that they were referees in the game and I was careful enough not to say that to anyone else.”
She added that she is now a “GAA convert”, explaining that “I loved the game. I have been made to watch soccer from an early age but I never really enjoyed it.
“But I really thought it was brilliant and it is such an amazing game and Paul was actually really good so they portrayed it properly.
“They played a full match to give people a true sense of the sport and, yeah, I just loved it.”
Here’s hoping Daisy gets to enjoy a real GAA game at the height of the Championship sooner rather than later. You can catch Daisy and Paul in a double-bill of Normal People tonight on RTE One from 10.15pm.
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