Paul Mescal didn’t land his breakout role in Normal People without telling one fib. During an interview with W Magazine, published Jan. 3, Mescal admitted that he lied about having a driver’s license to get cast as Connell on the Hulu show.
“I said I could drive for Normal People, and I could not drive,” Mescal told W. “We’d signed the paperwork, I’d gotten the part, and then I’d forgotten about doing my driver’s license.”
During filming, Mescal had to make do with what he could. “So I ended up doing Normal People on a provisional license. I could only drive the car if there was a fully licensed driver beside me,” he said.
“I do all my own stunts. I did the best driving — and we have this on record — that anybody’s ever done on-screen in Normal People,” Mescal joked. “Yeah, I’m in Formula 1.”
This isn’t the first time Mescal has confessed this lie. In May 2020, he explained the situation to the UK’s BT TV. “I lied to the casting director essentially at the start. I said that I had a full driver’s license — my agent and I had to concoct little white lies,” he said at the time, per the Irish Mirror.
“I should now do my driving test because there was a lot of driving on that job, and I think Daisy [Edgar-Jones] would say I was a good driver. Saying that, there was one day where we had to do a hill start, and I couldn’t get my biting point, and I couldn’t get the car up the hill,” Mescal added at the time.
The lore surrounding Mescal’s driver’s license also extends back to his driving school, Leinster Driving Campus. In August 2021, the driving program shared posts about the actor’s skills — and yes, he did end up taking that driving test. “It’s not every day you have the pleasure of teaching a BAFTA award winner and worldwide superstar, how to drive and pass his test. But that’s what we did,” the account wrote. “Congratulations to Paul Mescal, who passed his driving test recently in Naas, with only a handful of minor issues.”
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