Sally Rooney On Seeing The Set Of Normal People For The First Time

It’s safe to say that the TV adaptation of Normal People has been the runaway hit of 2020. The show is based on the best-selling book of 2018, by Irish author Sally Rooney.

The Mayo writer has also been involved in the TV adaptation of the book and has revealed how she felt being on set for the first time. Writing a scene on paper and then seeing it come alive in real life must be a surreal experience.

 

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Speaking to The Irish Independent the Trinity graduate said; “You’re walking past the food trucks and the hair and makeup and it’s just like, ‘Oh, my God’. In a sense, all this work has been generated by an idea that I had in my apartment when I was working part-time in a restaurant a couple of years ago.”

 

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It was the 29 year old’s first time being involved in a screenplay, and it seems most fans of the book were delighted to hear how involved she was in the show. The distinct vision and tone she created in Normal People has translated perfectly to the screen;

“Things that I had in my head are now happening on the screen, a physical house has been designed that looks like the house that I imagined with the pictures on the walls, and people are moving through it who are playing the characters who I invented in my head.”

“I was very much kept involved and I was on set, and it’s almost indescribably strange,” she added.

 

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Sally has also shared that she tries to avoid any reviews, this goes for the TV show as well as her books;  “I don’t really want to open myself to too much about what’s being said about the show.”

“I felt the same when the book came out. I didn’t want to read reviews. I was really lucky. It was all so positive, almost all.”

• Normal People
• Sally Rooney