Killing Eve: Jodie Comer on the "complex relationship" of the series

Actress Jodie Comer, winner of the Bafta Award, talks about the unusual dynamics of Killing Eve's two main characters … and explains why her accent leaves people perplexed.

Hearing the real voice of Jodie Comer is a confusing experience for anyone who was used to seeing her as the ruthless murderer Villanelle.

While his character on the screen speaks with a severe Russian accent in Killing Eve, that of Comer is clearly Liverpudlian.

"When I open my mouth, people look really confused," the actress told BBC News. "It's usually the faces that are the best.

"My own voice is so wavy and sharp, I think it's what's shocking people, the way it sounds. [My tone is] Musical enough, but Villanelle is more rooted.

"It's definitely the Scouse too," she adds. "I think in the north of England, the accents are so strong, even though many people in America think I'm Scottish or Australian."

A recent opportunity for Comer to speak normally was during his acceptance speech at the Bafta TV Awards last month.

Comer won the award for best actress in one of the most contested categories of the evening: beating Keeley Hawes and co-star Sandra Oh.

It has been a phenomenal year for Comer, who has become one of the country's most critically acclaimed actresses through her role in Killing Eve.

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The show is based on Luke Jennings' original novel and the first series has been adapted for the screen by Fleabag's creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Oh plays Eve Polastri, MI5 agent, who is obsessed with Villanelle, a seemingly emotionless serial killer.

In the first series, the two women gradually became more familiar with each other as they involved in a cat and mouse chase around the world.

The new season sees Waller-Bridge give way to Emerald Fennell of Call The Midwife.

It has already been warmly welcomed by critics after its broadcast in the United States.

"Oh and Comer are superb and captivating to watch," said Jo Berry in the first episode of Digital Spy.

"And although much of the new season remains pleasantly familiar, as these two women surround one more time – parallel to the return of the brilliant stalemate Fiona Shaw as Carolyn – a new direction is also suggested. "

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone said, "The first one is mainly devoted to rebadembly of parts and organization of the board, regardless of the story Fennell thought about.

"But Eve and Villanelle still feel like themselves, just as Killing Eve herself feels relatively untouched, despite the shuffle behind the scenes.It's a promising start to the season that worried me a lot. "

Ed Power wrote in The Telegraph that Comer's on-screen presence was enough to present some of the less than perfect aspects of the show.

"Comer, who should have won a Golden Globe and all the other prizes to which she was eligible, has remained hypnotic as a crippling killing machine, draped in glamorous, glamorous ruffles," he writes.

"Everything else – the fuzzy plot, secondary characters very often drawn, an intrusive retro soundtrack – was out of place."

Waller-Bridge remained a producer on the new series, which immediately resumed where series 1 was stopped.

Viewers follow Eve and Villanelle in the seconds following the dramatic climax of the first series as a new adventure begins.

Comer praises Waller-Bridge ("It's a girl, she's already one of the biggest"), but also salutes what Fennell has brought to the new series.

"Emerald really captured the heart of the series," said Comer.

"The writing is absolutely different [this series]Phoebe and Emerald are so similar, but they are full-fledged writers. "

The producer of the show, Sally Woodward Gentle, highlights a particular difference between the first and the second series.

"Phoebe likes sausage gags," she explains at the launch of season two.

"So, I think Emerald probably stayed away from the sausage gags, because that's a Phoebe affair.

(Sausages appear or are mentioned in four of the eight episodes of the first season.)

"But Emerald has a brilliant impbade and a sense of dark humor, and the more she plays impbadively, the more funny she gets."

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Being the star of one of the biggest hits of television has allowed Comer to count among a rather ranked fan base.

Anne Hathaway praised her on Graham Norton's couch in April. And Taylor Swift told Comer, at their Golden Globe meeting, how much she loved him.

"Reese Witherspoon is a fan, it was major," adds Comer.

"But I think everyone of us who was part of it was surprised [at how successful it was].

"We believed in Phoebe, loved the scripts, the team was fantastic, but there are so many things you do not know.

"And then, watch it grow from week to week, and I think it's been seen by fans, word of mouth, I think that's how things are going now, recommendations from your friends It's spread like wildfire Stop. "

A particular aspect of Killing Eve that has been well received by critics is the unusual dynamics of two women involved in a violent pursuit of cat and mouse.

Rosie Knight, of the Hollywood Reporter, said the new series "does not stand in the way of exploring the vulnerabilities of strong women at the grbadroots level".

Sending to Radio Times, Oh said: "The focus is on the relationship and psyche of these two female characters.

"There are a lot of shows where two women run things, but the purpose of this series – how deeply our characters are involved in a deeply psychological way – is what's different."

"We have investigated and lived in the white, male psyche, and suddenly, when something else comes up, you think," Wait, it looks more like me. "

Comer agrees, describing the couple as a "relationship between two women so complex and something we could not explore.

"This mutual fascination and obsession that we all experience with people in our lives, I think that's what Phoebe was so amazing at and what people liked to watch, because I think that's what's going on. they can understand what this has to say. "

As a newcomer in this level of glory, we conclude by asking Comer what is the thing that the public does not know yet that can surprise her.

"Oh my god, is that something I want to share ?!" She laughs before returning to her Scouse roots for the answer.

"It's never an old news that I'm from Liverpool … everyone is like … what ?! Perhaps we could add a disclaimer to this interview so everyone knows it."

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