Sasha Lane and Alison Oliver as Bobbi and Frances in Conversations With Friends Image: Conversations with Friends © Element Pictures/Enda Bowe Sasha Lane and Alison Oliver as Bobbi and Frances in Conversations With Friends Image: Conversations with Friends © Element Pictures/Enda Bowe THE TV SHOW Normal People was responsible for bringing a lot of unexpected cultural moments to us in 2020: the silver chain worn by Connell, GAA shorts – and the idea of an intimacy coordinator.
For director Lenny Abrahamson , having an intimacy coordinator as part of the team is a non-negotiable now if you’re making a film with sex scenes. “And then we’ll talk to the actors in advance, about what I want to do. And then we find sometimes it’s really simple stuff about: what are the best mechanics for that? What pads should people be wearing? And how do we get the different shots in a way which makes everybody feel safe?” The intimacy coordinator is there throughout the shoot, “just to make sure that the actors have somebody that they can go to if they have a concern, or a worry”.
It was his 2015 film Room that marked his Hollywood breakthrough, with lead actor Brie Larson winning an Oscar for her portrayal of Ma in the adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s excellent novel. Ireland’s Element Pictures had optioned Conversations With Friends before Sally Rooney had even written Normal People, but they were developing it as a feature, and Abrahamson couldn’t quite see it in that mode, he says.After he read Normal People, the production team conceived of it as a longform project.
Welham says she is a “massive fan of Lenny, his film work in particular”, and that while working together “it always felt like we were making the same show”. “I had kind of free rein really do what I wanted as a director, but I think happily that was very much in the same ballpark as Lenny.” The team behind Normal People proved themselves to have a gift for casting. In Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, they chose the perfect actors to play Connell and Marianne. The pair went from virtual anonymity to household names, something a young actor can usually only dream of.
It was relatively quick to cast Alwyn as Nick, “because, again, from his tape, there was just something so soulful about him.” There is an age gap between Frances and Nick. He’s married, she’s just a young student. Get it wrong, and things could look dodgy. It took them a while to find Sasha Lane to play Bobbi, but she “is so charismatic, but she’s also… the sensitivity is incredible, and the delicacy is incredible”. And then Jemima Kirke was cast as Melissa – again, a great bit of casting as she has to both intimidate Frances, but also be made jealous and show insecurity.