Following the success of his latest modern non-love story Anora, Daisy Edgar-Jones has been completing something of a Sean Baker marathon. 'I went on a deep dive of Sean Baker because I loved Anora, so I watched Red Rocket, Florida Project — I absolutely loved that,' the self-professed independent film lover tells ELLE UK over Zoom from her London home. Among her other independent film favourites are Annie Baker's Janet Planet and Twinless, which first caught the actor's attention with its critically-acclaimed premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
The Normal People star, whose breakout role was in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney's bestselling novel, is speaking to ELLE UK about the latest initiative she's lent her name to: EE and BAFTA's newest joint initiative, Set The Stage, which challenges teenagers to join a film crew and produce a short film under the mentorship of Edgar-Jones and BAFTA award-winning industry experts. 'There are so many ways to express your creativity, and when I first walked onto a film set, I was so shocked by just how many jobs there were. I didn't know that there was such thing as a focus pillar, or a grip, or prosthetic specialists,' she says.
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It's not only the virtues of educating oneself on the opportunities available within a creative industry, but also building strong networks within that world. Normal People, Edgar-Jones notes, set the bar high for her in that regard (she is notoriously close with her former co-star Paul Mescal). 'I was so spoiled by Normal People, just with how wonderful the team was, and how much I felt I learned from it,' she says. 'Now, in every job I've done since, that's the kind of standard I want to be working with.'
Normal People might have been the project with which she began gaining recognition, but it wasn't all plain-sailing before Edgar-Jones got the job of playing Marianne in the series. 'I was auditioning for years without getting much movement, and it was only through kind of sheer belief that I kept going,' she says. 'I think that's what I would say to young people who are wanting to pursue the arts: be open to failure and learning from it. It's a really valuable part of the process.'
It's precisely that sense of fearlessness that Edgar-Jones encourages young people wanting to pursue creative careers to embrace: 'The most difficult jobs I've done, or the things that have been the most trying, I have valued the most in my later life, as they've taught me the most.'
Head to EE’s website to find out more on Set The Stage.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.