Jay Duffy describes “pinch me moment” when joining Walsh Sisters cast
Jay Duffy is ready to take on the role of a lifetime.
He is set to play one of Ireland’s leading men of literature – Luke Costello – in the adaptation of Marian Keyes’ beloved novels, The Walsh Sisters.
Jay, who has followed his Boyzone star father, Keith Duffy, into show business is well aware that eyes will be on him. Luke is so incredibly beloved and the books are even more iconic.
Jay acknowledges the pressure when VIP Magazine sits down with him: “Of course there is, massively so.”
He goes on to say: “People have such a history and a deep love for these characters. I mean, I don’t know when Rachel’s Holiday was released, but it’s a long time ago now. I think it’s close to thirty years ago. So everyone has a specific idea in mind of who Luke should be, and I knew physically I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been the number one choice.
“He’s described as a rock and roll punk guy with long black hair and leather pants. And I was all for the leather pants! I was ready to go. But luckily, our adaptation is in a more kind of modern day, so maybe that went in my favour a little bit.”
Each Walsh Sister is dealing with their own struggle, from going through divorce to substance abuse. Rachel’s story with her addiction is probably the most beloved story. And Luke plays her long-suffering partner, who stands by her while she goes through treatment.
However, Marian has always mastered the seriousness of her topics with a refreshing lightness and humour.
Jay admits: “I think it’s uniquely Irish in that way. I think as Irish people, we have a great way of finding lightness and moments of kind of dark humour within really heavy kind of subject matter. But I think we are really good at that, and I think this show has done a great job in dealing with the heavy subjects such as addiction.
“But there’s some real laugh out loud moments in the show that keep it light, and I think that’s a testament to Stephanie’s work, adapting the books into scripts.”
So while Jay brushes off the idea of joining the literary heart-throb canon, he is more than happy to join the incredible lineup of Irish talent on an international stage right now.
“It’s a very exciting time for Irish acting, and Irish actors. I mean Paul [Mescal], Paul’s killing it, and Barry [Keoghan] too, you know there’s a lot of eyes on Irish talent and Irish film. So, yeah, I feel very lucky to be working in that and to be working on a project like
this.
“That’s all I ever wanted, when I started off full time when I was seventeen, was just to be working and hopefully work great actors. And yeah, on this show in particular, I mean getting on a set with Aidan Quinn is a pinch me moment you know? And that’s all I could ever ask for when I started this, so hopefully it continues.”
The Walsh Sisters starts on RTÉ One on Sunday night at 9:35pm
