Ella Purnell on filming bloody scenes in 'Sweetpea': 'It's like a dance'

Ella Purnell was very comfortable with the large amounts of blood on screen.

Earlier this year, the actor played a sheltered young woman who ventures into a violent wasteland to save her father in the first season of Prime Video's Emmy-nominated post-apocalyptic video game adaptation Fallout. Now she's in “Sweetpea” – the six-episode limited series premiered on Starz on October 10, with new episodes released weekly on Fridays – Rhiannon Lewis, a mild-mannered wallflower who reaches a breaking point after the death of her father and commits murder Spree. The main target of Rhiannon's wrath is her childhood bully (Nicôle Lecky), now a real estate agent in charge of selling her father's house.

Though she's been working since she was a child, Purnell's star has risen exponentially in recent years, thanks in part to her work in Yellowjackets as queen bee (and eventual cannibalized corpse) Jackie. But “Sweetpea” also represents a step forward for Purnell, who has ambitions of becoming a writer and director: It is the first series on which she has also served as an executive producer. In this edited interview, she talks about her ambitions and how she prepared to play someone who kills.

Why was Sweetpea a show you wanted to produce?

A story about a female serial killer is fascinating enough, and then it's a dark comedy, my favorite genre. The way they wanted to tell this story was to create a sense of conflict in the audience. Trying to get the audience to engage with their feelings and not necessarily their actions… that sounded challenging and I wanted to be a part of it. I've always wanted to direct, produce and write, and over the last few years I've been doing more and more of it. I was just waiting for the right project because I want to do it right and feel like I can actually contribute something, and I wanted to wait for the project that I felt like I really understood. With “Sweetpea,” I really connected with the character right away, and I also felt like I really knew what they wanted to do with it, and I felt like I had ideas for her.

Ella Purnell executive produced “Sweetpea” and also starred: “A story about a serial killer is fascinating enough, and then it's a dark comedy, which is my favorite genre.”

(Sophie Mutevelian)

You mentioned that your favorite genre is dark comedy, which I think is very consistent with what we've seen from you over the last few years. “Yellowjackets” has a dark comedy to it, “Fallout” definitely has a dark comedy to it. What attracts you to it?

I think, first and foremost, it's just the way I cope with life, by laughing and joking about it. The way I heal and process negative emotions is by laughing (and finding things to laugh at). I think it's something very British, this self-deprecating, slightly twisted sense of humor that we all share in some way. I think you actually need moments of levity when you're dealing with quite dark and heavy topics, so that the audience can breathe when you're watching something heavy. And I also think that you laugh harder when you've just cried, and you cry harder when you've just laughed. It takes you on a rollercoaster ride. Sometimes it can also help make these heavier topics a little easier to digest. It almost makes them hit harder because it actually makes it more human.

With all of these projects, You can also laugh at the bloodshed. It seems like you're fine with projects that get pretty violent.

I would say that. When you're working on the project and you have limbs flying around, blood and diarrhea and whatever else you have to do, it's very technical. It's like any stunt scene: in front of the camera it feels so shocking and so fast, and you get swept up in the moment. But really, when you film it, it's like a dance.

In “Sweetpea”, Rhiannon's body language begins to change as she commits murders. How did you deal with your physical changes?

I'm mostly interested in character transformation. And that's maybe why I love television so much and have been doing so much television lately. I feel that the scope for this progress is even greater. I love not really knowing what happened and being informed a little by what's in your head, but especially by the scripts that you probably don't get until a week before you start shooting.

When I came to “Sweetpea,” I told (director) Ella (Jones), “I like where we're starting with her, and I imagine the story you're telling is about her becoming less invisible .” “She becomes more visible the more she develops this intoxicating desire to murder, because what can be more visible and lasting than taking a person's life? And how does the way you interact with the world change when you're really seen for the first time? When you like the way you look, you will perform with more confidence, and that will change the way your voice sounds because when your diaphragm is open, you have a louder voice, you are clearer, and you don't swallow your words so much , like you would if you were hiding.

Ella Purnell on Rhiannon's transformation: “It becomes more visible as she develops this intoxicating penchant for murder, because what can be more visible and lasting than taking someone's life?”

(Sophie Mutevelian)

How did you prepare to play someone driven to murder?

This was definitely the most challenging project I've ever done because I didn't know how to put myself in the mindset of someone who kills people. I did a lot of research on female serial killers and the psychology behind them, and that helped to a point, but I still couldn't really relate to it. So I actually looked up people who have played villains and how they talk about it. One of the things I've learned is that I forget who said it, but the bad guy never thinks he's the bad guy. And never judge your character either. It's hard sometimes when your character does these unspeakable, unthinkable things. But it really helped me understand that you don't have to understand how and why she can stick a knife into another human being because Rhiannon doesn't even understand that. She can't even stand it. She didn't sit down and write a diary and ask herself, “Why do I like killing?” In fact, the entire series is about her running from the truth. Instead, I focused on the emotional component – it's not the anger that makes them kill. She doesn't kill because she feels anger at that moment. She kills because she is addicted to the feeling of being seen, I think because she was invisible for so many years. This led me to the root of her feelings of invisibility, which was her childhood trauma of being bullied. Rhiannon's perspective may be distorted by her victim mentality. Not all of the people she kills are completely evil. Their moral code can no longer stand.

You portrayed complicated female relationships in both “Yellowjackets” and “Sweetpea.” Why are you interested in these?

It's more interesting to show this in female friendships than in a heteronormative relationship, because for me female friendships are the most important thing in my life, and maybe that's why I'm looking for them.

Did you learn anything new about working with blood from “Sweetpea”?

By the time I got to Sweetpea, I had quite a bit of experience with the blood gags. I learned this from Fallout, but it's a good trick. The only way to remove fake blood from your skin if it's been there for a few hours, is really soaked and leaves stains: shaving cream. Apply shaving foam and leave it on for about 10 minutes. You may have to do a few passes, but that's the only way to get this out of your skin.

What was the experience like this year with “Fallout” and “Sweetpea”?

It's been a strange year for me. It was great. I feel very lucky and often feel like I don't deserve it. Which person deserves it? It's a crazy lottery game that I happened to get lucky with this year. I've been doing this since I was a kid and have been around the industry long enough to understand that moments come and go. My personal philosophy is that this is not a sprint. This is a marathon and I hope my career will be long and enjoyable and I won't put all my eggs in one basket.