"They came around with a bucket that you're supposed to spit them into, and that just felt rude to me."
Fresh off his first ever Oscar's nomination, Paul Mescal has reflected on the job that essentially kick-started his career - the Dennys sausages ad.
In it, Paul plays a teenager who, inspired by the life of Mr Denny's sons, decides to travel the world. He spins a globe and promises to voyage to the first place he lands on.
"Bali," his dad beams. And then later as the scene changes to a shot of Paul on a bus, he finishes saying "Haunis. Ballyhaunis."
Now, Paul has reflected on that ad and shared some behind-the-scenes info.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4, the actor was quizzed on the gig.
He admitted that while he took his craft so seriously during his time at drama school, he jumped at the opportunity to appear in a sausages ad when it was offered.
"My agent was like, 'I don't know how you'll deal with this, but we've got a sausage advert that you can go on.' I was like, absolutely. I need to pay my rent."
He then explained that he ate every sausage on set, despite being offered a bucket to spit them out between takes.
"I also didn't know that you're not supposed to eat them all," he said. "They came around with a bucket that you're supposed to spit them into, and that just felt rude to me. But I've learned my lesson that it's better to do that than have to eat 15 sausages in a morning, that was an experience."
Paul is one of five Irish actors who landed Academy Award nominations this year. The Kildare native was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor his performance as Calum in Charlotte Wells' Aftersun. Also nominated in the category is Colin Farrell for his work on The Banshees of Inisherin.
Other Irish actors who secured nominations are Kerry Condon for Best Supporting Actress and Barry Keoghan and Colm Gleeson, all for their performances in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Colm Bairéad's film An Cailín Ciúin also made history by becoming the first Irish language film to be nominated for Best International Feature.
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