If you're curious about the Falling age gap this is how old Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu really are
'Everyone fancies the pants off of Keeley'
Falling centres on a nun and a priest, played by Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu, who fall in love – but there’s a substantial age gap between them.
Hawes plays Anna, a nun who’s spent her entire adult life in a convent. She leads a simple existence; looking after her cabbages, baking, and devoting herself to God.
However, everything changes in Falling with a visit from Father David Hicks (Essiedu). Their hands touch, and she’s smitten – but will she be able to reconcile her feelings with her vow, and will her priest feel the same way?
No spoilers, of course, but you may end up wondering both about their characters’ ages and how old Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu are in real life.
How old are Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu?
Keeley Hawes is 50 years old, while Paapa Essiedu is 35.
More specifically, Hawes was born on February 10, 1976, and Essiedu was born on June 11, 1990. They were technically born two decades apart!
Speaking to The Guardian, Hawes said the “most difficult thing” was portraying a character with no societal experience or social know-how. “She just went in at 18. And that has been her life. But I wasn’t aware I was pulling a face,” she said.
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In an interview with Virgin Radio, Essiedu was asked what it was like to have Hawes “fancying the pants off him”.
“You can talk to Matthew Macfadyen [her husband] about that. Well, I mean, everyone fancies the pants off of Keeley,” he said.
Hawes was “thrilled to bits” when she found out she’d be playing opposite Essiedu.
“He was so different to who I imagined might play that part, because I’d thought of an older priest, which is maybe the more obvious casting of that part,” she told Channel 4.
“So, when they told me, it made perfect sense – such a brilliant piece of casting. He has such gravitas and depth but also funny bones, which is really helpful because he has that twinkle.”
Are they the same age in Falling?
The age of Essiedu’s David is never explicitly said, but it’s presumed he’s around the same age as the actor in real life.
Hawes’ Anna is slightly younger. We know she went into the convent when she was 16 years old, and her mother says that was 26 years ago, making her 42.
However, their ages aren’t really relevant. Ultimately, they’re both adults who start to discover their own agency, and they have plenty in common.
Plus, it’s not as big as the age gap between Father Ralph de Bricassart and Meggie Cleary in The Thorn Birds (an obvious reference point for Falling).
They were around 18 years apart, and he knew her since she was a child, which is far more worthy of an eyebrow raise than anything going on in Falling.
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