sausage ad was bang on
Mescal reveals €5k payday sorted his rent for a year
I was too old to have said yes to a sausage ad but I was desperate PAUL MESCAL ON LOUIS THEROUX PODCAST
PAUL Mescal has revealed he was paid €5,000 to star in the denny’s sausages advert – which he used to pay his rent for the rest of the year.
The Kildare actor shot to overnight fame in 2020 series Normal People, which earned him a BAFTA award and Emmy nomination.
However, many Irish TV viewers first caught a glimpse of Mescal’s acting ability when he appeared in a Denny’s sausage ad back in 2018. Chatting to Louis Theroux on his podcast, Paul said: “That wasn’t the big break. The big break for me was being told that you can get paid to be an actor.
“But that [Denny ad] was the most money I had ever been paid. I got paid €5,000 which covered the rent for the rest of the year.
“I was too old to have said yes to a sausage advert, but I was desperate. I remember not knowing how the spit bucket works on set. Apparently, you’re not supposed to eat… I just remember feeling so rude to spit out your food.
“A guy came up with the bucket and I was like ‘no, no, no, it’s fine’. I ate probably in excess of 10... too many sausages to be eating at 8am.”
He said the advert is “something that people in Ireland reference a lot to bring me right back down to earth”. Mescal revealed Aftersun has made the most money since he started his acting career, saying the movie made “close to” €10million.
Asked if he thought his upcoming movie Gladiator 2 would make that much money, he said: “I would hope that it would make €10million. That would be fantastic. That would be cataclysmic.
“If Gladiator made €10million, I’d never work again.”
Louis joked €10million “doesn’t even cover what you’re being paid for Gladiator”.
Paul replied: “Shut up!” He added that he “got lucky” that people kept wanting him to work as an actor because he never thought he could earn enough.
The star said: “I was still having to ask my parents to help me with rent. Dublin is absurdly expensive.
“And I was like, ‘Oh god, if this is the thing I love most in the world and I can’t afford to pay my rent’. And I’m not good with money generally as well. That didn’t help things.
“But then I just got lucky that people kept wanting me to work.”