Ella Purnell is an unassuming serial killer in new series Sweetpea, but what really pushes her over the edge? She's been telling Melissa Nathoo about what makes her angry, plus what was going through her head in the stabbing scenes. Report by Nathoom. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00You're looking great.
00:01Thanks, it's been two hours of hair and makeup.
00:03I wish I had that.
00:04You look great as well, you do not look like you went to bed at two.
00:06Thanks.
00:07Ella, you always pick such great projects and this is no different.
00:12It's so good.
00:13Do you particularly like projects where you get splattered in a lot of blood though?
00:17I guess so.
00:18I guess I do.
00:19There is a common denominator and it's blood.
00:21It's just like dark themes.
00:23I like a challenge and I like playing complex characters.
00:28Yes.
00:29And I do think that it says more, probably more about what audiences like seeing right now.
00:34Like seeing from you.
00:36Like seeing from young women maybe.
00:38Maybe, yes, supply and demand maybe.
00:40Yes, absolutely.
00:41I think that's how it works.
00:42When I was watching it though, I was like, oh, I wonder what she's thinking about when she's doing the stabbing.
00:47Is there anything that's going through your head?
00:51It depends.
00:52The first couple takes of the first time we ever did it, which was the first murder.
00:59I was really nervous and I was mostly concerned about selling it as a stunt actually in a quite technical way.
01:07You know, I had a, there was sort of a body, a rubber body and blood bags which were in quite specific places.
01:15And so I had to, and I've got terrible aim.
01:18Really terrible aim.
01:19So I was mostly just concerned about hitting the blood bags and making them splat.
01:24And they wouldn't splatter in the way.
01:26And then the knife wasn't sharp, so we had to sharpen the knife.
01:28And then I missed the blood bags and then I went, and then I moved too much and I went out of focus.
01:32And so there is just so much technical stuff to think about that it really actually took a second for me to get where I needed to get.
01:39And then we, you know, we altered the camera angles and made it easier.
01:43And it was also a freezing cold night and every time I'd breathe it would fog up the camera.
01:48So there was just a lot of like sort of technical challenges around it.
01:50I had no idea.
01:51These are things that you wouldn't, yeah.
01:53I literally would have thought, oh I get to take out my anger on, you know, this fake body.
01:58No, it was hard.
02:00And then do you know what it was?
02:01There was one take that we did that Ella did because she's an incredible director and she really knows how to get you where you need to go.
02:05And she was like, I'm going to leave the camera rolling and we're going to do just like ten minutes.
02:09It wasn't actually, but she said it and it scared me.
02:11Of you just losing it.
02:13I want you to just lose it and I want you to just keep stabbing, don't stop stabbing.
02:16And say what you want to say and do what you want to do.
02:19And then I did it and, you know, it's kind of, it's like a weird acting exercise.
02:22And then it just, there's a point and it hit me and it all just came out.
02:25It's like crying and stabbing and out of breath and I felt like I couldn't breathe and it just kind of heightened the emotion.
02:30And that's what they used was just like.
02:33Good job.
02:34Yeah, it all came out.
02:35It was like therapy.
02:36It was crazy.
02:37I don't imagine you make lists about who you want to kill.
02:41Because none of us really write it down, but maybe in our heads.
02:45We don't want to play betrayal.
02:46Yeah, exactly.
02:47What kind of lists do you make?
02:49Oh my God.
02:50I'm such a list person.
02:52I'm like a very perfectionist A1.
02:55I don't know if you're a horoscope person.
02:56I'm not really, but I heard it's a Virgo thing so I'm going to say I'm a Virgo.
03:00I am a Virgo and I love a list.
03:01I've got so many lists on my phone.
03:03What is it?
03:04Shopping list, to-do list?
03:05Oh, everything.
03:06Shopping list, to-do list, you know, things I need to buy, what I'm going to do to this house, how I'm going to decorate this room.
03:12I've actually got lists of like absolutely everything.
03:16Films I love, music I love, directors I love.
03:18I've got a list of absolutely everything.
03:20Just not the killer list.
03:21No.
03:22Just not.
03:23But I also, I'm not really like...
03:25You're not an angry person?
03:26No, I'm kind of a bit, you know, live and let live.
03:29Okay.
03:30People annoy me, but I don't want to kill them.
03:33No.
03:34I get road rage.
03:35That's the only time.
03:36I'm a pretty calm person as well, but I get angry at people who are rude and cut me up.
03:41I know what you mean.
03:42I get flashes of rage when I get scared.
03:45That's my thing, is when I'm, you know, I've got three younger brothers and I'm very protective of them, and when like, you know,
03:51this is just an example, it hasn't happened, but if they were to like rock back on their chair and tip a bit too far forward,
03:55I would get angry and I would snap and I'd probably let rage come out and pull them back down and be like,
04:00what are you doing?
04:01It only comes out of fear and love.
04:03You know, like that's the only time I think I ever really get like properly like, you have a little snap moment.
04:07Yeah.
04:09Or when like somebody jumps in line, like they cut the queue.
04:15Oh, we're British, so if you queue it, we queue it properly, right?
04:18That's so rude.
04:19Yeah.
04:20It really upsets me.
04:21I get that.
04:22I get that.
04:23And obviously the show is called Sweet Pea.
04:25I don't imagine she likes being called Sweet Pea.
04:27I don't think so.
04:28Does anyone or have you been called anything that you don't like?
04:33Listen, I've been called a lot of things I don't like.
04:35I mean, we all get called things we don't like.
04:38No, I don't.
04:39I really don't mind.
04:40I think also part of being an actor and part of having grown up as an actor is at a certain point,
04:46you might not like it, but you do become slightly public property.
04:49People, you know, you just have to kind of get a thick skin.
04:51People on the internet are mean.
04:53People on the street are mean.
04:54People say what they want.
04:55They don't always treat you like you're a human being.
04:57So you kind of have to just let, what is the expression?
05:00Water off a duck's back?
05:01Yes.
05:02So I've been called a lot of things.
05:05Live and let live.
05:06Live and let live.
05:07You know, I hope you're having a good time.
05:09I love that.
05:10The whole thing is just live and let live when the whole show is about die and die some more.
05:14Yeah, no, they're very different.
05:16Very different themes going on.
05:18Ella, great job.
05:20It's so nice to see you.
05:21Yeah, you too.
05:22Always.
05:23Always lovely chatting to you.
05:24You too.