Daisy Unchained

Normal People made her a lockdown superstar, and now Daisy Edgar-Jones is carving out intense new roles, starting with provocative genre-blender, FRESH. Total Film meets the rising British talent to talk chemistry, catering and career ambitions.

- MATT MAYTUM

Nothing about Daisy Edgar-Jones’ ascent to stardom has been normal. The now 23-year-old had been steadily getting supporting work in mid-size TV shows like Cold Feet and War Of The Worlds, until the 2020 TV adaptation of Normal People came along, transforming her and co-lead Paul Mescal into instant stars.

We’ve eagerly awaited their next moves (Mescal recently appeared in The Lost Daughter), and now Edgar-Jones is gearing up to release her first major follow-up project. Her new film, Fresh, played to gasps at this year’s (online) Sundance Film Festival. While on the surface it might look like a standard next step for Edgar-Jones, the twisted reality is anything but.

Chatting to Total Film in February 2022 - when she’s in Manchester to celebrate her grandma’s birthday Edgar-Jones is palpably eager for Fresh to be unleashed on the wider world. “It’s really fun now to see these things come out… to be able to kind of enjoy people watching it,” she muses. “I’m so curious to see what they’re going to think.”

She can expect strong reactions: cult interest and watercooler moments beckon. For the first act, it’s in pretty straightforward romcom territory as Edgar-Jones’ West-Coaster Noa suffers through one more dreadful date with a subtly toxic bloke she’s swiped right on. Her love life seems like a non-starter in today’s app-based world, until a chance encounter with charming plastic surgeon Steve (Sebastian Stan) sees them go from the supermarket fruit aisle to a bar to bed. Of course, it’s not long before Noa comes to learn of Steve’s “unusual appetites” (as the official synopsis puts it) and the film takes a hard left swerve.