Jodie Comer knows people recognize her as Villanelle, the psychopathic killer she played on “Killing Eve” for four seasons. The character was bold and unhinged, and required equally bold acting. But the Liverpool actor, 30, has always felt more at home in more subtle roles. It's what he did before “Killing Eve” and it's why he signed on to star in “The End We Start From” (now in limited release), a small-scale lyrical take on Megan Hunter's 2017 post-apocalyptic novel about a woman who gives birth while a natural disaster is unfolding.
“It's funny that people recognize me from Villanelle,” says Comer, curled up in a chair at London's Corinthia Hotel. “But I love anything that holds a mirror or looks real. I mean, there's a setting for everything, right? Everything has a purpose”.
His new film is a turn toward something more “contained,” he says. “I could feel it was [going to be] naturalistic, stripped down and raw. That can be really eye-opening as an actor, but ultimately very exciting.”
“The End From Which We Start,” directed by Mahalia Belo, imagines a near future in which an ecological crisis literally engulfs Britain. A woman, known only as Mother, gives birth for the first time just as the waters are rising, forcing her and her partner, R (Joel Fry), to flee London for higher ground. The country descends into chaos, forcing the mother to not only survive but also protect her young son in an uncertain world.
“The climate crisis is a very important element of the film and there is no doubt that it is a very real problem that we face,” says Comer. “But I also loved how artistically Mahalia saw it as a symbol of birth itself. There was something very poetic about his exploration of history.”
Jodie Comer, photographed in Pasadena.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Belo doesn't see it as a disaster movie. The Mother faces a real struggle (as does Mother Earth), but “The End We Begin From” never descends into overt violence. Instead, Belo says, “the most important thing the character has to overcome is her own experience” of surviving the chaos of a social collapse with a young baby.
Benedict Cumberbatch's production company, Sunnymarch, acquired pre-publication rights to “The End We Start From,” due in part to the fact that original novelist Hunter is the actor's sister-in-law. Her prose is sparse and fragmented, told in verse-like flashes. Not only did Cumberbatch feel it read cinematically, but the female-led story also reflected Sunnymarch's vision.
“It's such a powerful and controversial piece, as well as poetic and also mundane at times,” says Cumberbatch, speaking via Zoom from London. “It's very honest and raw about early motherhood. The close-up focus of a mother and her child in that first year in this epic context of social and systemic collapse is a very rich mental canvas to draw from.”
Cumberbatch, who plays a small role in the film, adds that the story seemed eerily current. It is no coincidence, he says, that he is speaking about this after two weeks of heavy rain that catastrophically flooded parts of England.
“But it doesn't have to be after a flood of water to imagine this as a reality,” Cumberbatch says. “It is already a reality for people. People are giving birth in crises around the world, whether it's war or environmental disaster. The surprising thing is that it takes it to a recognizably British domesticity.”
Benedict Cumberbatch in the movie “The End We Start From.”
(Photos of the Republic)
Director Belo read Alice Birch's script during the initial COVID lockdown, shortly after giving birth to her second child. The story spoke to her experience of “trying to be there for someone else when you're worried.”
“You're watching the world change around you and you're wondering what kind of world this baby is going to walk into,” Belo recalls. “The journey this woman goes on as she deals with the process of being a new mother was really interesting. I thought she deserved a screen space.”
Comer was cast as Mother about to make her West End debut in Suzie Miller's one-woman play “Prima Facie.” The biggest obstacle, Comer says, was that she hadn't experienced motherhood herself. But she was curious. Belo connected the actor with a midwife and gave him a weighted doll to hold while he went about his daily activities. The couple also continually exchanged videos and poems.
“I was very lucky that my best friend had a baby before we started, so I asked her the real essential questions,” Comer says. “But in the end my lack of knowledge was perfect because the woman also has it at the beginning.”
The film was shot over 30 days in and around London, with a tight schedule and little room for maneuver because the babies could only be on set for 20 minutes at a time. In total, 15 different babies were used for the story, which follows the mother as she separates from R and seeks safety with O (Katherine Waterston), a fellow mother.
“Babies don't take notes,” Comer says thoughtfully. “They are incredibly honest. They just watch and react and you're at the mercy of it, so you have to move on. I think it creates a real spontaneity on set. There are moments within the movie that happened as a result of that, so I think it was a blessing in many ways.”
One of these moments came during an emotionally intense scene between Comer and Fry as the characters face a tragic loss. Both actors felt the weight of pain, but then the baby, lying between them on a bed, smiled, adding a new layer to the emotion. “It is this moment of joy that the woman notices, reacts and feels,” says Comer. “That almost prevented her from being there for him.”
Jodie Comer in the movie “The End We Started From.”
(Photos of the Republic)
Still, the limitations of making an independent film were a challenge. Comer contracted COVID-19 during production and an emotional scene between her and Fry had to be filmed separately due to scheduling. Later, when filming moved to Scotland for five days, time ran out before a pivotal sequence of Mother Walking to the Sea could be shot. Comer insisted on a shot and waded into the icy water with cinematographer Suzie Lavelle. The evocative scene, a turning point for the character, is essential to the final film.
“It was really important to me,” Comer says. “This is the first time I have been so involved in making an independent film. There's no guarantee what the outcome will be, but these are people telling stories that they think are very important, and as a result of that, there's a lot of care that goes into them. “I really felt that in this.”
At the same time, Comer, the film's executive producer, was preparing to play Kathy Bauer in Jeff Nichols' “The Bikeriders.” Off set, Comer practiced her Midwestern accent for the film, which she filmed in Cincinnati just a week after wrapping “The End We Start From.” She admits that it was “not an ideal way to work,” but she loves acting. She is full of questions and uses her characters as a way to search for answers.
“I'm always looking for something different, a part of me that I may not have resolved, or a challenge that seems new,” Comer says. “Just so I can keep growing, you know? I don't want to get into a repeated cycle of, 'Oh, I'm safe here, so this is where I'm staying.' “I think it’s important to feel a little bit afraid of what you’re taking on.”
“The End We Start From” is Comer's first time starring in a film. He co-starred in Ridley Scott's “The Last Duel” and played a love interest in Shawn Levy's “Free Guy,” but here he appears in almost every scene, with the camera very close. She speaks of movie stars with admiration and laughs when asked if she sees herself as one. “No,” she says, “not like a movie star.”
In the future, Comer hopes to do more films, more theater, and perhaps a limited series. She is “happy” with the amount of time she spent as Villanelle; That chapter is already over. She is also aware of the reaction at the end of “Killing Eve,” that she sent Villanelle to her death in a way that angered fans. But for Comer, it's the journey that's important, not the answer.
It's about integrity, he says, when thinking about taking on a role. “[If I know] Because I'm getting into this and I know what I gain from the experience, so if it goes out into the world and people hate it or it goes completely unnoticed or it's a huge success, it doesn't matter,” he says. “That doesn't change my experience or how I felt.”
What he gained from the experience of “The End We Start From” seems immeasurable.
“I never necessarily felt maternal,” Comer says. “I hadn't really discovered that part of myself. And then when I started filming and researching and during the process, I thought, 'Oh, actually, I think that's within me if that's something I choose.' “I really appreciate women and how selfless it is to have a child.”
Like Mother's journey in “The End From Which We Part,” Comer's journey has been unexpected and has often taken her to places she never imagined. And now she is here, about to become one of those movie stars that she talks about with so much nostalgia.
