‘Damien Molony – Star Of Brassic’ interviewed on RTÉ 2FM Show
Currently filming the second series of Brassic, our fave actor chatted by phone to Jennifer Zamparelli, on her weekday RTÉ 2FM show.
The interview is full of insights into his experience of working on the Sky comedy drama and Damien also shares how he is inspired by show creator and co-star Joe Gilgun, both on and off set.
He also reveals that while Brassic is “wild and wacky”, there is an underlying humanity to the whole show, and how he feels it is raising his own and a wider awareness about bipolar disorder and mental health.
Check out some of the interview highlights below.
On the fun he had filming and is it his dream role?
It’s just so much fun, every single day last year on set I got to do things I’d never ever done in my life before, whether walking through the sewers, trying to break into a strip club from the basement up, or whether we’re being shot at by a local farmer, trying to steal a Shetland Pony, or we’re trying to steal Koi Carp – precious fish from this fish enthusiast from his aquariums – Sex in a portaloo… every single day I got to do something wild and wacky, so it was great fun.”
On whether it is harder appearing alongside the creator of a show:
For me it puts me at ease really, because sometimes when you’re filming something, or I suppose even when you’re doing a play, you’re like, ‘What did the writer mean, when they wrote this?’ And obviously on Crashing with Phoebe and I did a show called GameFace with Roisin Conaty and now on Brassic with Joe, you just knock on his trailer and say, “How do you want me to play that line?” which is really great.”
For me personally it kind of blows my mind how these guys are, you know they’ve been working on these scripts for years and years, they’re also exec producing the show as well as writing it, so they’re making these massive decisions. They’re fully involved, there’s so much to do, as well as worrying about their performance, I just take my hat off to them, because I don’t think I’d be able to do it.”
On the humanity of Brassic:
For all the laughs and wacky adventures that we get up to, there is a real humanity at the base of the show… and this poor guy who is struggling with this illness, he has up days and down days, and in the same way while we’re filming, on a day to day basis, Joe is going through these things, even now. This is coming from someone who knew nothing about bipolar disorder and knew very little about mental health, so it’s been a real eye opener for me. And just to think Joe is also then, he created the show, producing it and writing it, and acting in it, it’s even more amazing that he is able to do all that while suffering from bipolar disorder.
On how the show raises awareness of bipolar disorder and encourages discussion on mental health:
We were doing an interview in Manchester last week and Joe said this incredible thing, he said “I want people who are watching this show, if you find yourself getting lost out there, you better tell someone where you’re going.” That kind of approach to mental health is, I think, it’s just a great thing that people are talking about this.
Hit the play button below to listen to the full interview on Soundcloud!
Since its Sky One premiere on 22 August, Brassic has been extremely well received with incredible reviews and scored the highest viewing figures for a Sky original in 7 years.
If you’ve not seen Brassic yet, the opening episode is available to watch in full online for free, courtesy of SKY here.
In the UK, the show is airing Thursday nights on Sky One, but is also available as a complete boxset on Sky GO, NOW TV (with a free, cancel at anytime trial!) and Virgin GO.
The series is also released on DVD 30 September, making it more widely available to international audiences. Series 2 is currently filming, no air date has been announced.
Watch this space for all the news!
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