I first noticed Ella Purnell in the Showtime series Yellowjackets (now on Netflix) and I truly became a fan after seeing her on Prime’s excellent series Fallout. (I’ve also seen her in Army of the Dead with Dave Bautista, that’s so bonkers.) There’s something mesmerizing about her, it could be her giant expressive eyes, but more than that she can act. Ella is promoting Sweetpea, which she co-executive produced and stars in as serial killer Rhiannon Lewis. It’s described as Fleabag meets Dexter, and currently has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reading through some of Ella’s recent interviews, it’s clear that she put in the work to embody this character and get the details right. I was so impressed by how thoughtful and methodical she’s been about her career, but I shouldn’t be surprised since she’s made an impression on me since I’ve seen her work. I was also surprised to learn she’s British! I had no idea.
Here are some quotes from her interview with NME. The part about squirrels comes from her upcoming role in a film called The Scurry, a horror comedy about killer squirrels. Hell yes you know I will be watching that. Here’s more:
On the type of characters she likes to play
“I like the grey area,” she says. “I like a character where I can’t make up my mind, or who’s divisive… maybe it’s a tiny rebellion, that I get to play people who aren’t necessarily likeable, or who maybe aren’t too concerned about being likeable.” There were times she worried Rhiannon was going “too far” for the audience to possibly go with her, but then says that’s part of the attraction. “I love that shit. I love confusing an audience.”On being a child actor
“But teenage girls go through a thousand changes of heart every single day… Sometimes I’d compare myself to others and want to be a normal kid.” Somewhere between the ages of 16 and 18 – she’s not sure exactly – she decided to take a year off acting and look into other possible careers: “A writer or a teacher, possibly both”. She traveled, “but couldn’t stay away [from acting]. I just kept coming back to it”.On figuring what kind of actor she wanted to be
“I made lists,” she says. “I make lists of everything: things to google; food I want to make; actors I like.” Top of that list was Helena Bonham Carter, but also Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, among others. “Women who don’t fit in a box,” she says. “Character actors. You don’t see a lot of character actors, especially women.” She says channeling those women, especially Bonham Carter, helped her “learn to find my voice and come up with my own ideas, instead of just doing everything I was told to do.”On becoming famous
“When Fallout came out, I was filming in Wales,” she says. “I was aware of a change, people recognised me more and I could see my Instagram followers rising (she now has over 1.5million), but I just put my head in the sand.” It’s becoming harder to ignore. “It can be really strange forgetting that you’re being perceived. If you go out and you’re having a good time with your friends, then someone comes and approaches you, my first thoughts are, ‘How long have you been watching me? Have I been doing something stupid? Have I got food on my face?’… You forget people see you…”But even with a gradual introduction to fame, when it’s suddenly accelerated and you’re bumped up from ‘vaguely recognisable’ to ‘genuinely famous’ within a couple of years, it’s a big adjustment. “There isn’t really a filter anymore,” she says. “I sort of am just a bit of public property.”
Squirrels are creepy af
That film she was shooting in Wales when Fallout premiered was The Scurry, directed by Craig Roberts (the Submarine star turned indie filmmaker). This is only her second lead in an actual horror movie – and even the first, Army Of The Dead, was more a zombie heist – and of course it’s a bizarre one. She’ll play a park attendant being terrorised by killer squirrels. “Well, I was like: ‘That’s weird’,” she says, matter-of-factly, when asked why that particular choice. “And squirrels are quite creepy, have you ever noticed?” Can’t say we have. “Even before the film I thought that. Have another look at squirrels and let me know. Squirrels are not ok.”
As a fellow list maker, I recognize and appreciate when someone makes lists to both clarify their thoughts and set goals. Also, I hate squirrels. If you would like to hear my reasoning, check out podcast #70, where Kaiser and I, and the women in our Celebitchy Zoom, discuss this at length. I am so here for a killer squirrel horror comedy, although the humans better win in the end.
Purnell is so smart to model her career after Helena Bonham Carter particularly. I definitely see the comparison. She’s a beautiful freak and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind that description. The first episode of Sweetpea is out in the UK now on Sky and in the US on Starz!
Photos credit: Laurent V /Avalon, Olivier Huitel/Avalon, Norbert Scanella/Panoramic/Avalon, Getty
That first season of yellowjackets is AMAZING. The 2nd was pretty good too. It is a bonkers show.
That whole young version of the cast – every one of them were magnificent. (not that the adult versions were anything less than brilliant).
I didn’t think i would like fallout- so violent on that videogame level- but i found like sin city, the stylized nature of it diffuses the horror of the violence and well, horror.
I will be watching sweet pea – which means dammit- i have to subscribe to starz for a bit. Their overall content never intrigues me.
Fallout is really great, right? The second season of Yellowjackets had dream sequences that were like 10 minutes long and were misleadingly shown as true at first. I hate when shows do that! It felt like the second season went downhill, but I want to know what happens to the characters and will surely watch the third season.
If you like Ella, check out Sweetbitter. It’s a two season show on STARZ and I loved it. It’s a show that I frequently rewatch.
My best friend also hates squirrels so this cracked me up! I think they’re adorable and she looks at me like I’m crazy
My son and I were just discussing whether ants or squirrels would win in an apocalyptic world takeover. My money was on the ants, but maybe this movie will sway me.
I was introduced to her in Sweetbitter and fell in love. Of course Helena has been my love since mid 80s so it all fits lol.
Squirrels are rats with prettier tails and better pr.
I really like EP.
A lot.
Because she’s gifted, talented, and I don’t feel like it’s watching someone acting.
But we have to disagree on squirrels. We have quite a lot of cute little reds around here, and on a bad day I like nothing more than being distracted by them chasing each other around the oak and beech trees on the property while lying on the sofa.
I love them too, and feed them whenever I walk through our large park here in my city. It’s full of them. I don’t even know who this woman is. I’ll have to Google her.
We had a neighbour who was so freaked out by squirrels that she had her kids terrified of them. They would run into the house if they saw one in the yard. I am not a fan either but it’s my yard and I’ll be damned if a squirrel is going to be the boss!
Story from my MIL: She had an older (about 12) Shih-Tzu mix who had always been quite healthy. Never needed to go to the vet for anything but shots and check-ups. However, he was turning into kind of a dick in his old age, getting a little snappy and barkier with other animals, particularly small ones, when he hadn’t been in the past. He started harassing the squirrels that frequented their backyard, which they had feeders for, barking at them and chasing them back up the trees so much that they began to be afraid to come get the food. One day when my MIL let the dog out, after he got mouthy and sent them scurrying back up the tree once again, she heard the squirrels chittering. She’d never heard them do that before, or since. About a week and a half later, the dog got sick. Very sick. They took him to the vet and were told it was his pancreas, and that there wasn’t much to be done. To this day, my in-laws half-jokingly say the squirrels murdered him as revenge. They still feed them, of course, because would YOU wanna piss them off?
I have a squirrel in my yard who pelts nuts at me, pelts nuts at my dog, and chitters at full volume until we leave the patio or the 10 foot radius around his tree. I throw them back, reminding him it’s my house and he needs to find another tree, but he is a pugnacious little sh*t. Anyway, I love Ella Purnell. Yellowjackets and Fallout are both amazing and I want to see her in all the things✨
Squirrels are only rivaled by raccoons in their a$$-holery
If you like Ella do yourself a favour and listen to her “interview” on the Off Menu podcast this week. Excellent banter! She’s hilarious!
Squirrels are actually rodents directly related to rats but squirrels don’t go in sewers nor bite people and they have nice fluffy tails.
We have a lot of squirrels in our neighbourhood. They are making a come back after one of the cats on the block passed. He was the ultimate squirrel hunter and was extremely successful. I love them, they crack me up. I talk to them whenever I am out in the back yard and they are walking the fence. There is one super fluffy-tailed one that loves to come up to my kitchen window when I am cooking and he natters away at me. They can be pests, for sure, but they are hilarious.
You’re missing out if you don’t watch WILDLIKE with Ella and Bruce greenwood.
This was my introduction to Ella. She played 14-year-old Mackenzie.
It’s a serious drama but you’d be missing out on something if you don’t view it.