The Nevers Michael Doherty catches up with Ann Skelly, the Dublin star of a major new fantasy series on Sky Atlantic
Michael Doherty catches up with Dublin actress Ann Skelly, one of the stars of Sky’s new fantasy drama series, The Nevers
A n acclaimed young actor, Ann Skelly first came to our attention as schoolgirl Rachel in the hit TV drama, Red Rock. Her career continues to offer a variety of interesting and challenging projects. These include the lead role in Aoife Mcardle’s dark drama, Kissing Candice (2017); a costarring role with Jamie Dornan in the TV adaptation of Eugene Mccabe’s Death and Nightingales (2018); and the powerful thriller Rose Plays Julie, co-starring Orla Brady and Aidan Gillen.
For her latest project, Ann has been cast, alongside fellow Irish actor Laura Donnelly (Outlander), in the new HBO series, The Nevers. Created, written and directed by Joss Whedon, this supernatural tale is set in Victorian London and follows the fortunes of the ‘Touched’ a group of people, mostly women, who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities that make them targets for those who want to take advantage of their powers. Chief among them is a widow named Amalia (Laura Donnelly), who is quick with her fists, and a young inventor named Penance (Ann Skelly), whose talents are of a more cerebral nature.
Last time we spoke, you had just started shooting The Nevers and you were sporting Penance Adair’s blonde Victorian ringlets. You described your initial impressions of the show as ‘a sense of wonder’. Did that ever leave you, particularly as the lockdowns kicked in?
Ann Skelly: It didn’t at all, which is so funny, because we’ve been filming on and off for the past two years. I think we’re on our third pause now. It’s funny how you can just slot back in and pick it up straight away. That sense of wonder is always there because we were creating a whole new world, not to quote Aladdin! It’s nice to create something that’s hopefully a bit special and is a place where you can escape.
When it opened in the US last month, The Nevers gained the highest ever ratings for an original series on HBO. That must have been very gratifying; particularly since it’s not a story that follows the usual formula?
Yes, it was really gratifying that there was such an amazing audience response. I was confident that if people followed our six episodes, they would love it, because it’s a world full of mystery. The audience is being asked to trust us to provide the answers, and to trust that the story will all come together and make sense.
There’s a strong ensemble cast here, including James Norton, Olivia Williams and Eleanor Tomlinson, but the heart of the story is the dynamic between you and Laura. How did you work on building that chemistry? During my second audition, I met Laura for a chemistry test and a couple of days later, I was offered the part, which was the most bizarre thing to me! It is a very intimidating thing to travel from Ireland to London for a major HBO show, knowing you’re at the centre of it with Laura bloody Donnelly! I don’t know if it’s because she’s Irish, but we do have a natural shorthand between us that’s quite special. People keep telling us we’ve got chemistry, and that’s very nice. It’s a bit of an accident, though we have had a lot of tea and gins together, not mixed in! I wonder if it’s because our acting styles happen to complement one another. Everything feels very seamless with Laura.
You mentioned to me before that you were quite happy to let Laura take the lead in many regards and for you not have the burden of carrying so much of the story…
Oh God, yes, but I don’t think I realised when we spoke then how central my character was to the series until it came out. That was a surprise to me because the whole time I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m pleased to be part of this ensemble’, and they were going, ‘No, your character is actually quite central to a lot of what’s going on’! It makes me sound lazy, but it’s really nice to have Laura carrying so much and then you can come in and play your part. I like that. There is less pressure, and you feel part of a collaborative environment.
So, for the uninitiated, who is Penance Adair?
Penance is an Irish woman in London with a genius for invention but also, as she sees it, a gift to see potential energy. That really helps in the invention of her mad contraptions because she can direct the flow of energy according to her calculations. Penance is a woman of faith, a Catholic, with an innate morality. That gets very interesting as the series develops because you are blending religion and science in this one person. She is Amalia’s best friend, but they have very different world views and somehow, they manage to bring out the best in each other and take on all challenges, side by side.
Were you pleased or disappointed that Laura gets to do most of the kicking and jumping and fighting, while your character is calculating away in her lab?
I did think about that at the beginning. I’ve only done one job before where I’ve had to do stunts and I absolutely loved it. You feel like a ninja! When you see Laura doing those stunts, that’s all her, apart from when she has to jump out of an eight-storey building, which is her stunt double! After seeing what Laura does on set and how much training she puts in, including spending about a week underwater, I now know that she is an amphibious ninja being who I’m very stressed to watch. I’m happy to be person who stands on the side and maybe throws her something and then I can go off and have my porridge!
Laura gets all the stunt action, but you get to drive that cool Victorian steampunk motor. I believe, however, that driving isn’t one of your strong points…
Driving is definitely not something I’m legally allowed to do. That’s actually where my stunt person, Jessica, comes in. She’s a racing driver, overqualified to make me look cooler than I am. I mean, they don’t let me drive through the streets when there are lots of people around and they don’t often let me drive with other people in the car. Actors are expensive and I break enough
props, so they don’t want me to break an actual person! So, yes, driving is not one of my strongest points. Even during my most con dent day driving that car, I did crash into a kerb and gave everyone a heart attack!
How does the period costume inform your performance?
It’s funny, Laura says that the corsets actually help her when it comes to her ghting posture. In my case, I do stumble over a bit with my modern, weak spine, so the corset provides a little jolt of energy that I don’t naturally have myself. ey make them for our body shape so if there’s any weird little bone of your own poking into the bone of the corset, they’ll replace the steel with a bit of plastic so it’s slightly more comfortable. But I also think that the period clothes in general look beautiful. e long skirt is probably the worst of it, but I like that, too!
I’ve been interviewing a lot of actors over the past 12 months, all with their own lockdown experiences, so how has the year been for you? Lots of script reading, or are you just watching
Bargain Hunt?
Not Bargain Hunt, but e Real Housewives! When I’m watching an apocalyptic lm, I always assume I’ll be the one hanging o the helicopter and saving the world. In truth, I’d probably be the rst person to accidentally walk into the crater that has split the Earth open. It has been a kind of a let-down to realise that I’m the kind of person that just eats cereal for three meals a day and watches reality television! I have found it hard. I thought I would absolutely love being in lockdown, but I was on my own in London. My family were far away, so it would have been a di erent story had my family been around me.
“I never thought I would get to play lighter, comedic roles, so that’s been a huge relief
In a short time, you have already taken on a rich variety of roles for both the big and small screens. Is this the way you foresaw your career developing?
It’s hard to say. I’ve de nitely been lucky. I had no clear idea in my head about career direction so it’s always surprising what comes up. It’s funny, a er watching Sharp Objects, I wrote that my dream in ten years’ time would be to work on an HBO show. You don’t expect it to happen four weeks later! ere are always better actors than you out there, but it just so happened that this character was very like me. at has taught me valuable lessons for when I don’t get roles. ere are people out there, exceptional in their own ways, who just are that character.
So, in that case, what do you look for in a script?
It’s only recently that I have been thinking about this. I want to veer away from sexual assault type stories where a woman is forever changed by a horrible trauma or violent event. I did Rose Plays Julie a couple of years ago with the most thoughtful and considerate people [Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy] who were interested in how trauma a ected one’s identity. ey didn’t exploit the violence and I would nd it hard to nd any project that could live up to the way they’ve written that drama. I never thought I would get to play lighter, comedic roles, so that’s been a huge relief. I never thought I would get to play anything other than a kind of tortured, troubled person. I’m very interested in that still, but I’ve been loving the lightness of e Nevers. at has made me more excited about other things, especially the character parts that are starting to come my way.
With so many Irish actors and lm-makers currently making their mark on the world stage, does this feel like something of a Golden Age?
I think it does. I remember when I was younger, Irish actresses were always compared to the one very famous Irish actress, and we were always asked, are you the next... I remember having conversations with other young Irish actresses at the time and saying, do you get this question a lot? I feel like male actors don’t get that question. It did kind of play into that kind of historic Hollywood trope of actresses having to walk in a single le. You can be replaced and there could only be one at a time. It’s brilliant now to look at the likes of Aisling Franciosi and Niamh Algar and all of these incredible actresses, not to mention those great lm-makers behind the camera, too. I don’t know about myself, but thinking of those Irish artists, it feels that we are defying any kinds of limits by sheer talent and persistence. at gives me a great sense of pride.
As a nal question, Ann, you mentioned that one of your ten-year plans was to appear in a major HBO series. at box has now been ticked, so what would be in your next ten-year plan?
I ticked o another one recently because I always wanted an American agent and I now have one. And I always wanted to play an Irish part in an international production, so that box has been ticked, too. I think the real hope is to be able to read more brilliant scripts then ‘meh’ ones, but that’s not something I can control. Put simply, I want to do more good lms.
eatre is further down the line and I’d probably work my way up to that in small doses. When I hear Laura talk about it, it feels accessible and not as intimidating, so theatre is something I would love to do in the future.