Aisling Franciosi Talks About Jamie and 'The Fall'

By the end of the second season, I was so angry with your character, Katie. Did she frustrate you too? 

It was more of a question of why — Why are you doing this? You want to shake her. I saw some people say on Twitter that they wanted to give her a good slap, which made me laugh. You want to say, "He's harming so many women; he's manipulating you. Why are you allowing him to do this?" Even though she is damaged and vulnerable, she's also in her own twisted way very strong-willed. Because she doesn't give in, she doesn't buckle under pressure. She's completely devoted to Paul [Dornan's character].

I think that was such a smart move to cast Jamie. Jamie's a brilliant actor and I always get protective of him in interviews because it's like, Oh, he's so good-looking. And I'm like, Yeah, but he's an amazing actor. But it is interesting to have such a good-looking person play such a horrible, twisted man. People attribute certain qualities to people for the way they look, and it's almost worrying how you sometimes almost find yourself going, "Quick! They're coming closer. Get away." And then you're like, "What am I doing? I'm egging on a serial killer …" It really made me question how we attribute good qualities to good-looking people.

Did Jamie getting cast in Fifty Shades affect your working experience?

I was kind of aware that I would probably get some hate or some reaction, shall we say, particularly from female viewers [laughs]. But, generally, when I was working with him, no. We just got on really well, and we worked together very well, and once you know a person, you know them, and you're aware that it's just another job. It's just that they're in the limelight. I mean, there were minor things, like if we were doing an outdoor scene, there'd be some people waiting around wanting to take a picture. And in the restaurant scene, when he walked in, there were definitely some urgent whisperings from the female extras. After the hotel room scene, my brother was like, So, do you think you're going to break Twitter tonight? And I was like, Oh god, I hope not.

Well, he does tie you up with a tie in that scene — it was practically begging for a Fifty Shades comparison. Did you guys acknowledge that?

Someone cracked a joke about it. There were a few jokes like, "You should be real good about tying knots at this stage, yeah?" Other than that, the joke kind of got old. It's so funny, because when I watched TV or films when I was younger, I'd be like, "Oh my god, that scene, it's so romantic" — anything that involves kissing or any of those kinds of things. And then it's all so technical on set that's it's never sexy in any way. But I did think, There are definitely gonna be some female fans who are going to want my guts for this.

Were your girlfriends among them?

When I did season one, I actually didn't audition with Jamie, but the night before the read-through, someone said to me, "You know who's playing Spector?" And I said, "No, I auditioned with some guy, but I'd don't think it was him." And they were like, "Uh, I think you'd definitely know if you'd auditioned with him." But actually I don't talk about work with my friends — I kind of leave it at the door and talk about other things with them. But then they saw it, they were like, "What? What? Jamie was kissing your neck?" And I was like, "Oh yeah, that feels like ages ago now." It's just another day at work.

Have you read Fifty Shades?

No, I haven't read the books.

Do you plan to?

I have a long list of books that I'm planning on getting through first, before Fifty Shades pops up, so … maybe one day.

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