Jodie Comer on her apocalyptic thriller, UK arts funding and feeling marginalised

Jodie Comer on her apocalyptic thriller, UK arts funding and feeling marginalised

It isn’t real anymore hi what you miss doesn’t exist it’s the end of the world as we know it and jod coma is here to guide us through it as she faces the nightmare scenario surviving an environmental catastrophe with a newborn baby in less doomsday circumstances we met the star and the

Film’s ba winning director Mahalia Bellow now in your brilliant film we are confronted with the end of the world it’s a very Punchy start to January um I was just going to ask you what Drew you to the drama of the Apocalypse I think it’s not it’s not the apocalypse I feel

Like it’s a disaster you know or something that goes terribly wrong and I think what is so be beautiful about this film is how this woman is faced with this adversity you know and like her internal world is so transformed by the birth of her son while simultaneously the world seems

Unrecognizable due to the climate crisis The end we start from an adaptation of the novel by Megan Hunter begins as koma’s characters Waters break while Mass floods hit the UK metaphors are happening all around us how did you do that scene cuz i’ we heard you called in The Midwives is that right how do you

How does one create how does one create a scene like that call them in I love it call them in can all of them are waiting to come in I just imagine you saying just kiding you get me a midwife right now get me a

Midwife now no I think we we did a bit in rehearsal didn’t we yeah that was a lot of the prep to be honest like we we spoke with a lot of midwives we got a lot of bir and videos yes we wanted to really depict that in a truthful way so

For me it was like not being a mother myself it was like really get to the bottom of like how you hold your body when you have a baby where you feel the pain the stages of labor what the breath is like you know all those kinds of things to

Really make make that feel as real as as possible I sort of wanted it to feel like it felt like when was giving birth which was probably the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt in my life and the most powerful I’ve ever felt ever so I just

Wanted to kind of give and the flood and we use the flood as a means to kind of really help that experience along um to tell that experience so the surges of it and how Wild it is and how painful it is as well I killed two people last night

After I tried really hard not to okay well that’s not ideal from playing a Russian assassin and killing Eve to one woman plays the star who didn’t go to drama school last year won theater’s most prestigious prize and Olivier to any kids who haven’t been to

Drama school who can’t afford to go to drama school who’ve been rejected from drama school don’t let anybody tell you that it is imposs it was more when I was going to theater auditions I was met with a lot of resistance for the fact that I hadn’t been classically trained

And so I just felt like a moment to say actually you know ignore that like not not take that word for for gospel and think oh actually there’s no there’s no point I would love to see more fun to go into the art especially when I think of

You know like of Liverpool and the Northwest and um which incredibly creative cities and um I would love to see to see more of that while the film’s director Mahalia Bellow has been longlisted for a baa for this her feature film debut there always historically has been a lot of chat

Around you know there not being enough directors um and it being harder for women and I just wondered whether you think that’s still the case there are statistics and reports that are saying yeah it’s still it’s still not good enough but I’m really I feel really excited because this year especially

There are loads of peers who are coming through who are women or you know and and who are making great movies and I feel I feel you know it’s empowering inspiring to see that um but yeah I think I think there’s maybe still more change that needs to happen I think more

Trust that needs to happen if I’m honest I’ve got a feeling that that would be helpful um but yeah it’s a good time and I think I’m hoping that it’s a kind of a surge that can grow and won’t recede and never fear even as the world

Is ending there are moments of Light Relief as jod com’s character sings an ironic song [Applause] Choice there is a fantastic scene which kind of caught me so by surprise when you start singing I’ve had the time of my life basically the world could potentially be ending we had a long list of songs didn’t we that we were like you

CH that one did I was it me it was you is that your karaoke song do you thinking it’s actually notbe it should be I think it should be I was like all right Jody let’s go do you enjoy karaoke do do you eat I Love karaoke yeah that came

Across a catastrophe Thriller with a floor filler now that’s cinematic range

Best known for her BAFTA and Emmy award winning performance as the cold-blooded assassin Villanelle in Killing Eve, Jodie Comer is back and has teamed up with the award-winning British Director Mahalia Belo.

Their new environmental disaster thriller ‘The End We Start From’ sees Jodie’s character giving birth amid the floodwaters of a submerged London.

The End We Start From is in cinemas on 19 January distributed by Signature Entertainment.