Actress/Executive Producer Ella Purnell talks to The Inside Reel about psychology, approach, physicality and perspective regarding her new dark satire: "Sweetpea" on Starz.
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00:00She's not who you think she is.
00:17Someone's been a naughty girl.
00:21It's always the quiet ones.
00:29Do you see me now?
00:33I'm just planning to murder my school bully and hoping you could help me.
00:3829.59.
00:40With something like Sweet Pea, I mean, it takes you off in a whole different direction.
00:44And I think that's part of the allure.
00:46But it's about control and chaos in certain ways.
00:51Could you talk about that, that notion?
00:53Because that psyche of Rihanna is very specific.
00:56And the way you play her intellectually, emotionally, physically sort of encapsulates that.
01:02Oh, good.
01:03I'm glad.
01:04Thank you so much for saying that.
01:05Yeah, I love that.
01:06Control and chaos.
01:07I hadn't thought of that.
01:08But you're absolutely right.
01:09And in so many ways, it's the loss of control.
01:12It's, you know, Rihanna at the start of the series is invisible.
01:18You know, nobody sees her.
01:19She's this wallflower.
01:20And I think that's actually something that she has subconsciously seeked as a way to hide from her childhood bully.
01:27And so as much as she resents being invisible, it is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that way.
01:32And she, throughout the series, as she becomes more confident, she seems like she's in control.
01:38And she's making very calculated choices and calculated decisions.
01:41But she's losing control.
01:43And that's where that sort of unhinged sort of raw animal chaos comes out, I think, that you pick up.
01:49And then obviously, by the end of the season, she's just like, it all falls apart, really.
01:56Hi, I'm Rhiannon Lewis.
01:59Sometimes I make a list of people who make me feel invisible.
02:03I mean, yeah.
02:04Donna in the mini market, who is never happy to help.
02:08How big is it?
02:09Norman from work for failing to acknowledge my potential.
02:13Julia Blankensop, the bully who ruined my life.
02:18Sometimes I make a list of people I'd love to kill.
02:25Don't push me.
02:35Serious bit of kit you got there.
02:38I've got a scoop for you. It's a murder.
02:41Wasn't expecting that.
02:43I mean, the primality, you know, there's one thing she seems like a feral animal.
02:47I mean, I think it's in the back room of the house when you're with another person who, yeah, I won't get away too much.
02:54But there's a primality and almost you see the light go out behind her eyes, which is sort of weird place for you to put yourself as an actor.
03:03Can you talk about that?
03:04What did it take to get into her mindset?
03:07Yeah, I mean, that scene you're talking about, it was so tough.
03:11The whole shoot was tough, to be honest.
03:13You know, it's incredible.
03:14And the hardest thing I've ever done and the most rewarding thing I've ever done.
03:18But definitely difficult to, as you say, put yourself into that mindset and stay there for five months.
03:25I did a lot of research.
03:26I love prep.
03:27I love research.
03:28Did a lot of research into serial killers and also trichotillomania, the pulling of the hair and trauma.
03:35Really, she's gone through so much trauma.
03:39This story is so many things.
03:41It's a story of grief.
03:42It's a story of loss.
03:43It's a story.
03:44It's a coming of age story.
03:45It's quite sweet, actually, without the murders.
03:48And it's also about female rage.
03:50And there's this sort of, I don't know, there's this very clear shift that happens with Rihanna.
03:57And as she does, you know, change physically, she sort of has that Jennifer's body thing.
04:03The more she kills, the more alive she looks, the more alive she becomes.
04:06And she finds her voice in that way.
04:09But, yeah, it's definitely tough to play that.
04:15But very therapeutic.
04:16You know, that snap moment at the end of episode one was the most animal I have ever been.
04:24And it was hard.
04:26I really wasn't getting it the first few takes because I wasn't letting myself go there.
04:30You know, there's this self-consciousness that humans have because we have to live in a civilized society where you can't go crazy, you know, if you want to get by.
04:38And I really had to shed all of that embarrassment and self-consciousness and just let the animal out, so to speak.
04:45And actually, it was very therapeutic.
04:47Kind of how I imagine, like, going to a break room and just, like, smashing stuff, you know, those break rooms that they have.
04:53Kind of how I imagine that would feel.
04:55But bigger.
04:58Have you done something different?
05:03I'm not a victim.
05:04Not anymore.
05:07You made me feel invisible.
05:09You didn't exist to me then, and you don't now.
05:12You ruined my life.
05:17Don't underestimate me.
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