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She may be starring in a new horror movie but you won’t catch Jodie Comer queuing to see too many of this year’s other scarefests. ‘My whole life, I've been like: ‘Yeah, I'll watch a horror film!’ and then I just look at the corner of the TV screen,’ says the 28 Years Later actress. ‘I’m not really into it.’
Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated return to the rabid, post-apocalyptic world he last visited with 2002 classic 28 Days Later sees Comer playing a waning woman who’s holed up with her family on a coastal island, as infected roam mainland Britain. It’s another memorable performance in a career packed with them.
Surprisingly, it’s the Liverpudlian actress’s first bona fide genre movie. She’s been a major presence on our stages and screens for long enough to feel like a veteran. Since her 2010s TV work on a range of telly shows, culminating in Killing Eve and coronavirus drama Help, the 32-year-old has broken through in a big way – and on the big screen and the West End stage, too.
She was the best thing in Ridley Scott’s period blockbuster The Last Duel, and has won awards and praise for her one-woman theatre turn as Tessa, Prima Facie’s working-class Liverpudlian defence barrister. Next year, she revisits the character for a UK tour of the sexual assault drama.
In person, she’s smiley and down-to-earth, even with a small team of stylists buzzing around making imperceptible tweaks to get-up. She takes her work super-seriously, but seems to take herself a lot less so.
Time Out caught up with her to chat about working with Danny Boyle, fan encounters and whether she plans to direct one day.
You must have been nine or 10 when 28 Days Later came out. What’s been your relationship with the film?
A friend had the DVD, which helped, but I definitely didn't watch it when it first came out. I remember being very aware of the camera work and being struck by the levity, humanity and emotion. When Brendan Gleeson becomes infected and he’s telling his daughter to stay away... it was so bold and multifaceted. To hear that Danny [Boyle] wanted to meet me for this role, I just thought, wow. Especially having never really done a genre like this before. What a filmmaker to explore that with.
Are you a zombie purist?
No (laughs). I’m not a horror person. I’m not an adrenaline junkie when I go to the cinema.
Which film has freaked you out the most?
The Sixth Sense really freaked me out as a kid. And The Exorcist. But also the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Like, that’s enough for me (laughs).
The tunnel sequence in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory feels scarring too.
(In fierce agreement) Yeah! Even The NeverEnding Story had elements of that. It affects you in a different way when you’re young.
So what gets you out to the cinema?
I love a cry – I love to be taken in an emotional way, and I usually find that with straight drama. And I love a comedy. I thought Better Man was amazing. I would never not go and see a horror, but it's definitely not my first choice.
Do you have a favourite London cinema?
I really like the Everyman in Hampstead. Do I order food to my sofa? No, I stick to the classic popcorn. Keep it simple.
Your character, Isla, has an unusual introduction in the film. We’re not quite sure if she’s infected with Rage virus or she’s just really pissed off with her husband.
Yeah, there’s a ferociousness to her rage – it feels dangerous. She's unwell, she's been isolated and I think she knows that people have given up on her on some level, and her son is the only person who hasn't. That scene in the bedroom was one of the first I had to do. Danny is great, he loves to let scenes run.
Do you think cinema is afraid of female rage in a way that it isn’t with male rage?
Perhaps. I can only relate to that with my own relationship with my own rage, which goes to quite an emotional place very quickly. I don’t want to speak for all women, but I do think generally we feel uncomfortable expressing ourselves in that way. [We don’t] feel comfortable standing in it without feeling like we have to diminish it. But with this role and Prima Facie, there’s been avenues for me to explore it. I admire Jessie Buckley so much – the way she’s able to harness and express rage, wow, it’s so powerful.
Tell me about opening the script and reading that opening scene with the kids watching Teletubbies.
Yeah, it’s so disarming, isn't it? It’s a perfect reintroduction to the world we left in 28 Days, and it's something that we all connect to in some way from our childhoods. I feel like everyone could be dressed as Teletubbies for Halloween this year.
Do you like to keep props from movies you work on?
I definitely kept something from this, but I don't think I can say what it was [for spoiler reasons].
Anything from Killing Eve?
On Killing Eve, it'd be so heavily associated with that character that you'd be like, 'I don't want to wear this in the street.' And you just end up with a cupboard full of stuff you don't use. I'll keep little pieces of jewellery and I've got a beautiful picture from Bikeriders... I kind of love keeping things like that, as opposed to clothing and that kind of stuff.
The movie is set in the present day but technology stopped 28 years earlier. What would you miss most if the clock stopped now?
I think what I’d miss is the live music, the theatre, the movies, the culture. That would feel like a huge absence.
Do you have a favourite gig venue in London?
(Thinking) I feel like I've been to Brixton Academy a lot. And Alexandra Palace. I went to see Yussef Dayes at the Royal Albert Hall. That's a beautiful venue. I like small venues. I went to see an amazing artist called Lynda Dawn recently at the Deaf Institute in Manchester. It’s so intimate, lots of red curtains. I can’t remember the last time I went to an arena. I’m already thinking about how long it's gonna take me to get home – which probably says a lot about my age.
Prima Facie has been a big part of your life, but you’re not playing Tessa in the movie. How do you avoid feeling proprietorial about the role?
It existed before me is how I'll simply answer that. I wasn't the first to explore Tessa and she lives on in many different ways. It means a lot to me and when the opportunity came up to tour it, that resonated with me. I felt like I had more to give, and more to explore. And it's amazing that Suzie’s (Miller, the playwright) work is travelling the way that it is.
Were you interested in exploring the role on screen?
It’s Cynthia’s (Erivo) role. I’m so happy to explore it in the theatre. That feels like where I’m meant to be.
Do you have filmmaking ambitions?
I can see the workload that it demands (laughs). Maybe way down the line my brain will open up and work in that way, and I'll feel inspired in that way, but at the minute I want something to make me feel something and stretch me in some way. I think it's healthy to be nervous about something you're undertaking.
You have a famously passionate fan base. What are those interactions like for you?
I’ve had some really lovely interactions with fans, especially when I think about doing Prima and meeting people outside the theatre. It's always lovely to hear that people have connected to you and your work in some way. That doesn't happen all the time.
And Killing Eve?
That still comes up, too. To think that we finished filming however many years ago, and it's a character that still lives with people. Villanelle made quite an impression on people!
28 Years Later is in UK and Ireland cinemas on Thursday Jun 19. Read Time Out’s verdict here.