#i've been literally scouring the internet to find out lol

[roamingbadger]

‘Normal People’s Frank Blake on an actor’s life’ by Liadan Hynes

Full article below the cut (warning, it is long!):

‘I used to worry on set, ‘I’ve just done another mean thing’,” Frank Blake says with a rueful smile. We’re discussing what’s probably his most high-profile role to date, playing Alan in director Lenny Abrahamson’s TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People, a show that went a long way towards getting many of us through lockdown one.

“There’s a bit where I throw water on Marianne. I just felt awful that day,” he says with a laugh. “You know, because I’ll throw water on her, and Lenny’s not going to go, ‘Good man’. They called cut, I stand in the bold corner for a while, Daisy [Edgar-Jones] gets dried off for the next take, where the same thing happens again.”

Alan is central character Marianne’s older brother, a man lost in his own stew of anger and resentment; a threatening character in both the book and screen versions of Normal People. In the past, Blake has commented on how it is necessary to find a way into a dark character, to find some sympathy. Otherwise, you’re just playing a tone, he says.

“You just have to find what makes a person human,” he says now. “Lenny was a great help there in doing the groundwork. Alan’s feeling a bit hard done by in life. He’s obviously got a bit of jealousy going on there — a bit of trauma from the loss of their dad, which is a tough thing to deal with.

“I think it’s symptomatic of a certain rural repression, that character. And a male rural repression, maybe, when we see, unfortunately, that so many young men don’t ask for help, and they go a certain way. I think it’s a nice contrast to Connell in that show, where actually he does go looking for help in what’s such an amazing scene — his therapy scene. So I think, yeah, that’s an interesting juxtaposition in the show.

“If someone just asked him, you might get something out of him, but no one does and everyone’s afraid to. That’s the energy he gives off. So, he’s probably unlikely to get help.”

It’s hard, he agrees, to portray that kind of darkness without descending into pantomime. “Particularly when that show was very much about Connell and Marianne, so you have to be comfortable in the fact that you’re there to serve the story. You have to be there to serve this part of the story, so I don’t have to be liked or whatever.”

Throwing water aside, they had the best craic on set, he says. “I used to always be jealous of the other cast members. I’d get pictures of them shooting a pool party, or all the cool, hot Trinity stuff. It was actually great craic with Aislín [McGuckin], who played our mum, and Daisy. We’d such a laugh in between scenes.”

Blake had come from performing in Louise O’Neill’s Asking For It at the Abbey Theatre before the Normal People auditions began, along with some other actors, including Paul Mescal who later appeared in the show.

“I think it was one of the last weeks of Asking For It that we were all auditioning for it, so it was quite funny actually. Not only were there actors from Asking For It, but there were plenty of other actors in the [Abbey] building, and you could just see people walking around with copies of Normal People,” he grins. “‘Ehhh, why are you reading that?’”

When he found out, months later, that he had landed the part, he was performing in another landmark Dublin theatre, The Gate. His agent let him know on the opening night of Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie that he had been successful.

Blake, now 28, didn’t grow up knowing he wanted to be an actor, but at the same time, he had always been interested in theatre and movies. He hails from Tuamgraney, Co Clare, and is the youngest of three. “I think there was a latent actor in me there, but it was never something I did as a child or anything.”

His family ran an equestrian centre. He and his siblings would muck out the stables before school and get stuck in afterwards. “It gave you a good work ethic, anyway. It gave me a good maturity, in that way. And I saw so much of the country through travelling around to horse shows and stuff. It was a really interesting environment to grow up in.

“I wanted to do that as well, for a long time,” he continues of the world of horses. “It’s kind of a world I liked. I don’t know, I just kind of lost interest in it as I got older. People are always, ‘Oh that’s so amazing’. But I think when you grow up in that kind of environment, it’s almost like a bit of a chore.”

In his younger years, he didn’t know anyone who had made a career out of acting. “There were no stage schools around me. Now, there’s loads of things there, thankfully, for other people. And I think drama is about to become a subject in secondary school as well. If only!”

Dramatic outlets may have been limited, but from the age of four Blake had attended the annual amateur drama festival circuit each year — the plays were staged in the school hall. “My neighbour used to bring me. Every single night, there’d be different drama group doing a classical play. I’d seen every John B Keane play, Conor McPherson — I’d seen all of that stuff by the time I was 12.”

Eventually, aged 17, Blake performed in the community musical. “I was in the ensemble of Jesus Christ Superstar,” he laughs, adopting grand tones. “It wasn’t a school thing, it was the whole community. They used to let some schoolkids be part of the ensemble, so myself and a few of the lads just said, ‘Sure f**k it, we’ll throw ourselves in here.’ We were pretending that, ‘ah, this is just a bit of a laugh’, but I was secretly absolutely loving it. Nailing Jesus to the cross — that was my big role!” He grins at the memory.

Previously, he had planned to study psychology in university, but this experience pushed him to look into acting as a career. “It’s a bit of leap to be making,” he chuckles. “That sorted of turned my head a bit.”

He did an arts degree in NUI Galway, studying drama along with German and philosophy. It rapidly became clear though where his true interests lay. “I did eight plays in Dramsoc that year, and I think it quickly became apparent that that’s what I was into. I was still kind of in denial a bit — ‘Oh, that’s for the people over there’.”

Who are the people over there, I wonder? He’s not sure, he says, then jokes: “People in Dublin.” He adds: “The biggest obstacle is probably yourself, really, for a long time.”

Towards the end of that first year, Blake applied for a place in The Lir Academy, Ireland’s National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College, without telling anyone. “In secret. Because I still didn’t know what I was at. You did three auditions over three months. I was skipping lectures, saying I was going to the doctor — stuff like that. And then I got in there.”

That felt amazing, he recalls, although he quickly realised he would have to tell his mother, and braced himself. “I remember getting ready to ring my mum, and be like, ‘I’m dropping out of college,’” he adopts, at this point, a sort of urgent, I won’t be dissuaded, tone. “‘I’m going to be a dropout.’ And expecting this big blowout, and being like, ‘Well I’m going anyway’.”

When he did ring, his mother was nothing but supportive and very proud. “I didn’t get to do any of the big arguments I’d practised,” he laughs.

Drama school was a somewhat different pace from an arts degree. But he relished it. “A lot is asked of you. But it pushed you so much outside of yourself that I loved it.” He particularly enjoyed the intensity of the schedule. “Looking back, you spend so much time waiting around as an actor, even if you’re busy, you’re still doing nothing. And to think that you got to go in there and you got to do something from morning until night, every day, that you loved. It’s just the best.”

Ending drama school can be a time of pressure — not everyone gets an agent. Blake did, however. “And then… you think you’re going to be a rock star,” he says with another laugh. “For most people, 99pc of people, you realise, ah, things are a bit different when you finish. You realise how hard it is. You’re just auditioning and getting no’s. Not even getting the no’s — not hearing back at all. It was just that for ages.”

He worked as a doorman in a hotel in Ballsbridge. He never considered giving up on acting, but he did begin to doubt himself. “And [I’d start to] think, ‘This isn’t what I thought it would be’. I did worry and think maybe it wasn’t for me for a while.”

Eventually, things began to pick up. “I started to realise then it’s about building a career, and it’s building blocks. Like, some people come out and they’re movie stars after a week. But I kind of realised you just chip away, doing small bits in theatre, and doing small bits on telly, or whatever is coming along. You eventually build up relationships. And after a couple of years, I could see that starting to pay off.”

Resilience is key for actors, he agrees. And the knowledge that this is a long-haul game. “Everyone finds it hard. You talk to people who you think are doing amazing, and the goalposts always move. And it’s always hard. You have to find the comfort in that.”

That said, it can be difficult. “It’s something I still find really, really challenging. Because you’ll always go through bouts of not working. Or things just being a bit different to how they were before, or how they will be. You just have to find the ease in that.”

He dislikes the nature of having to wait for someone else to give you a yes that comes with acting. “But it’s the reality of it. I’ve tried writing and stuff, as a way of taking back a bit of control, myself. I found great joy in that.”

He wrote a short film a few years ago based on Donal Ryan’s short story The Passion. “It was one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done, because there was so much control in that. Being part of every aspect of a production, not just being told what to do. It was great, I loved it.”

It also demystified parts of the process, he reflects. “You think that’s for the people over there, and then you just do it, and you go, ‘Oh, right, I just had to do it’. So, I’ve gotten more into that now. I’ve written a few screenplays that are in development.”

Since Normal People, he has appeared in PBS costume drama Sanditon. He moved to London last year, having wanted to for years. “I love it. But I’m doing that classic thing of moving over to London and hanging out with a load of Irish people.”

He also appreciates that many of his friends are not in acting. It is good to have people who are not in his professional world. “When things aren’t going well, the last thing you should be doing is talking about all of the acting ever, when you could go out and kick a ball against the wall.”

For now, though, things are going well. Already this year, Blake has worked on film and in theatre. He is currently between jobs. “I’m doing that waiting thing,” he says, smiling. “I did a few bits this year. I’m just waiting for the next thing. There are a few things floating around.”

[yeont4n]

i don't know like... i think u commented on how this idol culture idealization doesn't really make sense i have ALWAYS thought abt that and now i'm like... dang.... cause it really hit me???? so i feel like i'm growing out of all the groups i stan lol not really sure i'm making any sense but i've been thinking abt how i feel silly for liking all of these groups for quite some time so in resume i just want to bury myself in a beach

(Warning: this is super unnecsarily long and I typed it out on mobile so I can’t add a read more… apologies in advance)

Okay I’ve wanted to write more in depth about this kind of thing for a while but I feel like my thoughts aren’t very linear or even…. comprehensible… but anyway I empathise with you a lot. I think I’ve mentioned in the tags before how idol culture/fandom culture in general can really be boiled down to that sort of -modern age Huxleyan dystopia- in the sense that we (as a collective societal body, not just ARMY or kpop fans lol) have dissolved into this massive black hole of entertainment.. our self perception, our belief systems, the nature of communication, of public discourse, etc…. have all changed as a result of… first the printing press, then the television (shout out Neil Postman!!), and finally the internet. Idol culture, I feel like, is an especially…prominent… reflection of such cultural shifts and I definitely do experience some kind of personal tension with my contributing to it… as I do just attaching the word idol to a person… like a real human person lmao. With the label idol comes all those uncomfortable connotations… I mean if it was asked of me, I could probably argue at least to some degree of realitive… success… that what we do to these Korean celebrities could (or maybe should???) be considered a form of modern day worship!! I’m half joking tbh. (But of course the concept of idol-worship is parallel to the concept of material worship… I sound preachy at this point.. but I digress) I sometimes have these moments of intensely unpleasant self awareness in where I’m doddling around on my computer scouring for bts content to binge consume only to realize how much my life truly… pathetically revolves around…. these 7 boys… 7 literal strangers???? (That is not to say armys are pathetic, I will chalk my word choice up to playful self deprecation lol) But what is it that they’re SELLING me, you know? Laughter? Hope? Manufactured love? Manufactured fun? Yes, they are musicians, (and damn good ones at that) but in the kpop industry, you are a performer before you are an artist.. it’s just how it is… almost nothing about the way a group is packaged is unintentional hahha, including bts. But these are things to keep in mind even outside of the context of kpop groups- our world is dictated by this ruthless rubber band ball of consumerism lol and navigating it requires a certain level of healthy cynacism. I find myself sometimes in the position of needing to (or feeling like I need to) justify my dedication to such “hobbies” even just to **myself**…which is incredibly sad and disheartening to me. so I understand your disillusionment with kpop and …. honrstly ?distancing yourself from it all, even just to organize your thoughts more (as I need to do apparently) …. is something I would encourage, though i will stay behind on here….. being a hypocrite and indulging to my hearts content….