Normal People‘s producers have revealed that they didn’t have to think too hard about casting Paul Mescal.
The television adaptation of the beloved novel picked up four Emmy nominations, including one for Mescal for his portrayal of Connell and one for casting director Louise Kiely, who received a nod in Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series, Movie or Special.
Speaking in a BBC Three featurette ‘How We Made Normal People‘, the show’s producer Catherine Magee revealed: “Connell was actually cast really quickly. We had heard about this actor Paul Mescal, pretty much as soon as we met him, we were just completely convinced that: ‘Okay, we have Connell!’”
In order to win the parts of Connell and Marianne (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones), the two actors had to ace countless auditions during an exhausting casting process.
Mescal was confirmed first and then Edgar-Jones after a succesful “chemistry tests”. Speaking to NME Mescal said:“It comes down to the right person coming into the room and the right dynamic being achieved.
“At that point, I don’t think it’s a question of talent – it’s about the right fit, and that was very apparent when Daisy walked in.”
This comes after it was revealed that Killing Eve and Normal People are the two most streamed shows on BBC iPlayer so far in 2020.
Both shows were named the top performers, with the former’s first episode ‘Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey’ watched over 6.95 million times.
They also helped attract a record 570 million programme requests in May 2020 – 72% higher than in May 2019, according to the BBC.
Every single entry in the top 10 most popular episodes across the BBC iPlayer from January to June 2020 also featured Killing Eve and Normal People.
Dramas The Nest, Dracula, The Split, comedy series This Country and reality show Race Across the World also proved popular across the first six months of 2020.
