Lenny Abrahamson said Joe Duffy should be ready for another Normal People-style saga on Liveline when Conversations With Friends' steamy scenes air.
Two years after Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones shot to superstardom in the TV adaption of Sally Rooney hit novel Normal People, the adaption of her top seller Conversations With Friends has arrived on screen.
Like its predecessor, the Irish-based drama tells the story of a erotic love affairs between star-crossed lovers.
Read More: Everything we know about Conversations with Friends and its leading stars
And after the intimate scenes in Normal People sparked a huge debate on RTE’s Liveline, returning director Abrahamson teased that host Joe Duffy should be prepared for the possibility that history could repeat itself in this series due to the complex intimate relations.
“I would say perhaps not this week,” the Oscar-nominated director teased, “but there are other weeks where I have said and joked recently that Joe might need to have his Ready Brek.”
Streamed more than 62 million times in the height of the pandemic in spring 2020, the Dublin-born filmmaker said he could have never imagined the worldwide phenomenon the show would become.
And whilst Connell’s chain and GAA shorts emerged as the most surprising stars of the hit series, the mastermind behind both series’ feels Dublin could be the biggest talking point of the show this time around.
Speaking on The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM ahead of its debut on Wednesday night, he said: “The thing is, we couldn’t have predicted the chains and the GAA shorts, nobody could have predicted that so god knows what people will pick out of this one.
“I would say actually, if anything, Dublin features even more in Conversations than in Normal People. Francis is living smack bang in the city centre, just off O'Connell Street.
“And so we spend a lot of time there, there is loads of Dublin in there.
“But what people will pick out, I have absolutely no idea. That totally took us by surprise.”
Corkonian newcomer Alison Oliver, 24, plays the lead role of Frances alongside Taylor Swift’s actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, 31, Girls star Jemima Kirke, 37, and American actress Sasha Lane.
Tommy Tiernan also stars in the series, in a role like we have never seen him perform before, according to the Room hitmaker.
“Tommy is amazing. Unlike his character in Derry Girls, this is like Tommy playing deadly serious. He is brilliant in it. He plays Francis’ father, who has got a drink problem and kinda estranged from his ex partner, and in a way his daughter.
He added: “He is a great actor Tommy, and takes it incredibly seriously. And when he is on set, he is really working.
“I have to say I really admire him greatly as an actor.”
The Irish Mirror has reached out to Joe Duffy and RTE for response.
Conversations with Friends airs on RTE One and the RTE Player on Wednesdays at 9:35pm.
It will run for six weeks, with two episodes each Wednesday night.
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