Normal People director, Lenny Abrahamson has delighted fans of the series, sharing some unseen footage from the show.
The clip comes from the first episode of the series, where main character Connell is supposed to score the winning goal at his school’s GAA match.
The clip shared by Lenny, however, shows off the goalies saving skills, as he stops Connell from having his big moment in two epic saves.
In the tweet, the Irish director sheds some light on the footage:
“Pssst – some rushes from #normalpeople showing the 2 saves the goalie made (first one pretty spectacular) before the take where Connell scores,”
Pssst – some rushes from #normalpeople showing the 2 saves the goalie made (first one pretty spectacular) before the take where Connell scores. As some speculated, I may have had a quiet word with him in advance of the final, used take …. Very fine keeper, tho. pic.twitter.com/VOTOOCcItr
— lenny abrahamson (@lennyabrahamson) May 18, 2020
Continuing on, Lenny admits that he had to take the goalie aside for a word, as it was important for the storyline that Connell scores.
“As some speculated, I may have had a quiet word with him in advance of the final, used take …. Very fine keeper, tho.”
People quickly began to comment on the never before seen footage, praising Lenny for the way he depicted the Irish sport in the series.
“It was great to see the feeling of being at one of those small Gaelic football matches displayed so accurately on-screen Lenny. And that goalie’s surely being scouted as we speak” one fan said.
“That’s brilliant, thanks for that!” comedian Dara O’ Briain wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Lenny made the decision to change the original character of Connell in Sally Rooney’s novel from a football player to a GAA player, after it was revealed that Paul Mescal who was playing Connell was a former GAA star with Kildare.
Speaking about the depiction of the national sport Lenny told The Irish Sun:
“I felt if you’re going to make a show for an international audience, when else are you going to get a chance to put the national game on screen. That was one reason.”
“The other reason was we cast Paul Mescal who it turns out is a great footballer and he was heading towards the Kildare county team had he stayed focused on sport rather than acting.”
