Normal People’s Paul Mescal felt ‘empowered’ during ‘honest and truthful’ full-frontal sex scenes
NORMAL People actor Paul Mescal has said he and his co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones felt 'empowered' filming the show's 'honest and truthful' full-frontal sex scenes.
The Irish actor, 24, plays Connell Waldron in the coming-of-age BBC Three series based on the wildly popular 2018 novel of the same name by Sally Rooney.
The drama, directed by Oscar-nominated Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie McDonald, features realistic and relatable sex scenes between Connell and Marianne (Edgar-Jones).
Despite the initial awkwardness of shooting the intimate scenes, first-time TV actor Paul explained that with the help of intimacy coordinator Ita O'Brien, he and Daisy felt a sense of "security with the nudity required" of them for the roles.
He told : "[There was a] sense of security and safety that the nudity required on the show wasn't going to be used perversely or feel pornographic."
Praising series directors Lenny and Hettie, Paul said he and Daisy felt "empowered" throughout the shoot to openly discuss their limits when it came to the intimate scenes.
He continued: "It was always Lenny's intention for it to be honest and truthful. When you trust people of Lenny and Hettie's calibre, you trust what they want to do with the film.
"Ultimately, both Daisy and I felt incredibly autonomous within that process and I think that's really important, especially for young actors when there is a desire to please a lot of the time.
Adding: "We felt incredibly empowered throughout to discuss things that might make us feel uncomfortable if we were to see it back on screens."
Normal People, which is set in a small town in Sligo, Ireland, is a romantic drama series which tells the story of two teenagers from different backgrounds who fall in love.
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At school, Connell is a popular star athlete while Marianne is an awkward loner who can also be quite intimidating.
The couple soon realise their love will not be an easy one as they have to battle obstacles along the way.
Normal People continues on BBC One next Tuesday at 9pm and is available to watch in full on iPlayer now.