Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
As an older director I didn’t want to make the two young actors feel pressure to do things they weren’t comfortable with...
istic note. And Lenny said he resisted the urge to turn the setting in to a glitzy American high school.
He added: “One of the reasons Sex Education is so successful is they just went for it entirely when creating an American-style high school in Britain.
“That’s what they are doing and it is a brilliant mash-up. We are in a different space and it is more natural and they are not particularly pretty or sexy places.
“If you were in your typical average American high school and you were playing it in a non-high school drama way, you would probably find they are not too sexy either. I was actually impressed with schools now versus when I was a kid.
“Plus, Ireland has changed so much. I can imagine trying to make this in the 80s and it would have been tricky with all the religious groups involved.
“The school was fantastic and a lot of the pupils ended up being extras.
“But we did imagine there would be times when our partners Hulu – would come to us as they had no idea what was happening on screen.
“Asking us to translate into a more accessible piece but that never happened.
“I hope we managed to preserve the Irishness of the piece without damaging its broader appeal.” While a Normal People sequel seems unlikely, Lenny said production company Element Pictures have bought the rights to Sally Rooney’s first book Conversations with Friends.
And the director told how he has a plan to revisit his two favourite characters.
He added: “I have a fantasy of seeing where they are 10 years down the line. If I am not too decrepit at that point to do it justice.
“Sally is in the sets and had been watching it remotely and thankfully her response has been really positive. So, who knows, time will tell.”