Aisling Franciosi: 'I’m at my happiest acting'
Actress Aisling Franciosi attends the premiere of the film "The Nightingale", at 2018 Venice Film Festival
Aisling Franciosi grew up admiring US movie star Sandra Bullock’s films - so when she got the opportunity to work with the Gravity star on a major new project for Netflix, she didn’t think twice.
The Irish-Italian actress is keeping very good company - other co-stars on the untitled thriller include Oscar winner Viola Davis. She completed the project late last year, after production was shut down as the first wave of Covid hit, and was impressed with Bullock’s professionalism and dedication to her job.
“She's lovely,” says Franciosi of her co-star. “She's really intelligent, obviously really talented. She's one of the executive producers on it. There are some times where you'd never see one of the producers of the movie on set, but she was there every single day. And when the new rules came in and we went back to shoot, if you weren't shooting, they didn't want to have you there on set, obviously. We would get notes sometimes that would come in from Sandy, who was miles away from set in her hotel room.
“She was very much a part of the project and very encouraging. I always think it's really important for a lead of a movie to set the tone for everyone else.”
For Franciosi, working with Bullock is the latest breakthrough in what has been a remarkable few years. She has made a strong impression ever since one of her very first acting jobs, as a babysitter fixated with Jamie Dornan’s serial killer in gritty TV thriller The Fall.
A supporting role as Lyanna Stark in Game of Thrones followed, but it was her role in The Nightingale in 2019 that emerged as a game-changer. She was sensational in director Jennifer Kent’s gripping, violent and controversial revenge thriller, set in the Australian Outback and among the Irish convict community sent to Tasmania in the 1900s.
It won her several awards, including the IFTA for the Screen Ireland Rising Star award last year. Now she has four major films set for release with co-stars including Paul Mescal and Kathy Bates. She is also IFTA nominated again this year, for her role as Sister Ruth in the BBC adaptation of Black Narcissus.
“It is lovely to get the acknowledgement from my peers and from the industry at home,” she says of her IFTA, adding there is a sense of confidence and optimism about Irish actors, writers and directors coming through.
“I really think that there's so much talent in Ireland, and I think that we've gone into a new gear now of it being noticed internationally too. Obviously, we've always had actors who paved the way, and writers and directors, but I think what with the advent of streaming and things becoming so much more accessible everywhere, people are realising that we're making good stuff here at home as well. It’s pretty cool to see.
“I think there's a massive shift in the accessibility that's provided by streamers, like Netflix or HBO - they all need content. More so than ever after a year of everyone bingeing their way through everything that's available. I do think that makes a huge difference.” Still, she’s very aware that many in her industry have been badly affected by the events of the last year, and the chaos it initially brought to film and TV production here and worldwide.
“I had been on the Netflix project and it was shut down but then we managed to finish it in September. I was very lucky to be able to go back to work in 2020 and have been hyper aware of that. I always feel lucky as an actor to be working but especially in what was such a tough time I'm for so many people. It's strange, you can never predict when you're going to be busy and when things are going to be quiet. I presumed once our production got shut down last year that I wouldn't be working again until Covid was gone. But I've actually been quite busy the last few months.”
Born to a Meath mum and dad from Milan, Franciosi has always embraced her dual heritage and has an extended family in both countries. There is a love for Italy that she inherited from her mother as well as her father - her mum moved there because of a passion for Italian food and culture.
“My mum loves Italy. She's a really good cook and would cook very much Italian food when we were growing up. I almost forgot that my mum wasn't part Italian because she was very much a lover of the culture as well. I would get over to Italy for my holidays. But obviously, my formative years were spent in Ireland. So that feels like home to me.” Her parents first met while her mother was living and working in Italy.
“She was living in Milan and working as an English teacher. My mum flew home to have me in Ireland. I was born in the Rotunda, you can't get much more Dublin than that! We moved back to Italy for a couple of years, and then we came back to Dublin. I've always been very proud of both sides.”
Nominated for an IFTA again this year for her work in the classic thriller Black Narcissus, Franciosi starred opposite Gemma Arterton in the latest adaptation of Rumer Godden’s iconic novel. She admits to feeling conscious of playing Sister Ruth in the tale of a group of nuns who travel to Nepal to set up a branch of their order.
“There was obviously going to be comparisons made to (the original) movie. I was kind of hyper aware of that because Sister Ruth is so iconic in the original film. I was nervous about consciously choosing to play Sister Ruth in a very different way and so to be nominated for it is very lovely.” She says that she’s often nervous before beginning a new project, but has been able to channel that in a productive way. “I always think that it's healthy for me to have a bit of nerves to keep me on my toes before a job,” she says.
“Whatever way my internal process is, I'm nervous, and then the closer I get to actually shooting I get excited. I have yet, touch wood, to experience crippling nerves before a job.
“But I don't think it goes away. I filmed in India a couple of years ago (for the film Home). Kathy Bates was in it and I was just watching her do her incredible thing. She was kind of looking to the director and saying, 'I don't know, have you got it there?
“I just thought to myself, Oh, my God, it never ends! It never gets to a point where you think: ‘I've got this. I'm totally in the clear. I can do whatever I want and never have to worry’. I've heard it from multiple actors but I'm definitely finding it to be true.
“It's just wanting to do a good job - there are a lot of things that are out of your control and you have to, obviously, do what you can to the part that you're in control of and then really trust the director. And so there are a lot of things that make it a bit anxiety-inducing at times. It's lovely in the actual playing of the roles, because I don't feel anxious while I'm acting. I'm always at my happiest when I'm doing that.”
She has several other projects on the way including a film opposite Russell Crowe, Rothko, in which she plays the daughter of the celebrated US artist. And she has recently completed filming opposite Normal People star Paul Mescal in Co Donegal. God’s Creatures is a psychological drama set in a fishing village about a mother who lies to protect her son, and the impact that has on their community.
“Oh my god that was a special one. I'm smiling from ear to ear just at the mention of it. As with anything you can't ever really know whether something's going to work or not. No matter what, it can't tarnish the experience that we had.
“Paul is just the loveliest guy and again, someone who's just so kind and lovely to everyone, obviously incredibly talented and a really nice guy. Normal in the best sense of the word. We had fun on the job together.”
- Normal People, Line of Duty and RTÉ drama series Smother are among the high-profile TV nominees for the IFTA Film and Drama Awards, taking place virtually on July 4 and broadcast on Virgin Media One. In the film categories there are multiple nominations for Dating Amber, Herself, Broken Law and Wildfire. You can view the full list of nominees on ifta.ie.
