Paul Mescal has said he will never escape one of his first ever TV roles.
The Kildare native shot to fame in 2020 for his role as Connell in the TV adaptation of Normal People alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones.
However, the Oscar nominated actor first appeared on our screens in a now famous TV ad for sausages in 2018.
In his first interview since the nominations, Mescal told Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the ad has become “a little bit of folklore in Ireland now.”
Mescal recently opened up on his screen debut, admitting that at the time he was a recent drama school graduate and “had no money.”
“If I ever feel like I get too big for my boots, it kind of pops up somewhere that we shouldn’t forget that I was promoting sausages when I got out of drama school,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I trained in drama school for three years and took it so seriously. It was like, I loved the craft of it, and then I was poor.
“My agent was like, ‘I don’t know how you’ll deal with this, but we’ve got a sausage advert that you can go on.’ I was like, absolutely. I need to pay my rent.”
In the ad for Denny sausages, Mescal plays a teenager who is inspired to do some globe-trotting after his father tells him over breakfast that the sons of Denny founder, Henry Denny, travelled the world to teach people how to cure bacon.
However, after spinning a globe to decide where to travel to, he ends up in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.
Mescal revealed the grisly behind-the-scenes details of how sausage ads are made.
“I also didn’t know that you’re not supposed to eat them all,” he said.
“They come around with a bucket that you’re supposed to spit them into, and that just felt rude to me.
“But I’ve learned my lesson that it’s better to do that than have to eat 15 sausages in a morning, that was an experience.”
The 27-year-old also shared his reaction to being in the running for best actor at this year’s awards alongside Colin Farrell for his role in Banshees of Inisherin.
“It’s all a bit overwhelming, especially for my family. I don’t think anybody, or even I, was expecting this,” he said.
“I always knew I was willing to work hard, but when the nominations came out, and the Baftas the week before, something felt slightly absurd about it all.”