A quickie with... Daisy Edgar-jones & Paul Mescal

Had either of you read the book before you were cast?

Paul: No. The audition came through and then I read the book after that. Daisy: I was the same. I’d had my first audition and then I read the book, so I was reading the book imagining playing the part. P: Yes, I was thinking, “Oh, that bit would be a great scene, I wonder how they’d shoot it?”

Would you guys say that you’re quite similar to your characters, Marianne and Connell?

P: Generally, I wouldn’t say I’m the mirror image of him, but I think there’s a lot of things that are similar. I think that’s the power of the book – a lot of people see themselves in it. D: I was going to say the same. I feel I relate to Connell more, actually, in quite a lot of ways – in the way he kind of navigates the world – whereas Marianne kind of pretends to herself that she doesn’t care so much about the social hierarchy, and I definitely did care at school. I wanted to fit in and I wanted to be liked.

How were the intimate scenes to film?

P: Before we had done any of them, I was like, “Oh, God what’s that going to be like?” But then I think the fact that we actually are great friends and we do enjoy each other’s company made it so much more palatable. D: Because you can just have a laugh. And also we had a wonderful intimacy co-ordinator, and it’s her job to choreograph that stuff, so she just shows us what to do and we do it, so it kind of means we were just able to get the giggles. It is ridiculous that you’re in a room full of people you don’t know that well, fully naked doing all these scenes – that’s mad. P: For 12 hours of the day.

Will you watch it with your parents?

P: I have already. D: I actually have, too. Initially, we had a big plan where me and my mum would watch it beforehand and then when we’d watch it with Dad, so we’d know where to pause, so he could go to make tea, but then my mum thought it would be a good idea if she kind of just showed him, so that he was less scared by the thought of it. He was like, “It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t you, it was Marianne and Connell, and it’s fine and I can kind of forget about it.” It’s just the thought of it, I think, that’s scarier than the actual thing, so I think it will just be my boyfriend who will be making tea now.