‘Sweetpea’: Ella Purnell talks deadly transformation in new role

What causes someone to snap?

In ‘Sweetpea,’ Ella Purnell’s new killer comedy, the idea of taking rage and revenge to the ultimate level is examined, but through the eyes of a seemingly shy girl who’s pushed to her limit by the end of Episode 1.

Rhiannon (Purnell) has spent her life in the background, except when she was front and center for her adolescent bullies. The leader of said high school gang, Julia (played by Nicôle Lecky), and her return back to their hometown is essentially what causes the now-adult Rhiannon to spiral, and the results become deadly.

“What initially drew me in was the challenge of playing a female serial killer,” says Purnell. “I sat down with [executive producer] Patrick Walters, he was the first person I met on the project. He pitched ‘Sweetpea’ and the way he described it was we’re telling this story of a female serial killer, but we’re telling it from her perspective. We’re doing female ‘Dexter’ meets ‘Fleabag’, and it’s going to be a dark comedy.”

The show is based off the 2017 book by C.J. Skuse, and its catchy notion of “the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder” is certainly seen in the show. But, as Purnell says, the show is very different from what’s written on the page.

“I read the book and loved it. The book is sort of like Season 2, while the show is the making of the book in my head, but I loved how funny it was and how witty it was. And then I read the pilot and I thought they did a fantastic job. And what they did, which I really admire, is they tugged up on my heartstrings. They made me relate to Rhiannon and feel quite sorry for her…I related to her emotions but not her actions.”

Purnell continued: “When I read and got to the end of Episode 1 and saw the way that she finds [her] power is through murder… I thought that was a really interesting concept. It’s a good base behind a character transformation and I’ve never done anything like that before. I really wanted to transform into this character that didn’t look anything like me and didn’t ask anything like me, and then see if I could conflict the audience the way I wanted to. I just wanted the challenge of doing something different.”

Rhiannon’s journey to the dark side kicks off as the actress says right at the end of Episode 1, and we see her somewhat boring life working a desk job at a newspaper, going home alone, and having no social interactions transform with the power she gets from killing. Soon, her career, love life, and personality shift, and that was something that needed to be seen and heard to work.

“It started actually with the hair, makeup and the costume. That’s something that has always been a really useful tool for me as an actor. Usually when I get a job, the first thing I want to do is talk to costume, hair and makeup because how you look, it informs how you hold yourself. It informs how you navigate and interact with the world and the people around you too, I think,” says Purnell.

For Rhiannon, that meant showcasing the rebirth of her personality from start to finish visually.

“I was an EP on the job, I got to get involved very early and have all those conversations very early. We talked about ways that we could make a human woman invisible, especially somebody who wants to be invisible. Subconsciously, yes, she resents that nobody sees her, but [also] subconsciously, she has made herself invisible as a result of the childhood trauma that she experienced.”

In the beginning it meant wearing darker tones, finding make-up that was lighter than her own complexion, accentuating the dark circles under her eyes, and even finding a hair color that would ultimately wash her out. Then, as Rhiannon expands, so do her options.

“As the show progresses and she finds her confidence, finds her voice, and people begin to see her, we warmed up the foundation color. We added a little blush, made the hair a little more voluminous to take up more space, and wore brighter colors,” says Purnell.

“That influences the way that you hold yourself, the way you walk into a room, the way you talk, like speaking with a bit more volume or more diction. Or maybe trying to change yourself in ways to appear more self important. Or, the way your shoulders are, the way that you walk, and then you throw a little hip sachet in episode six and see what happens… it was definitely very fun to play with that.”

Rhiannon’s journey over the course of six episodes is an interesting ride, and audiences will get to see the impact of the femme fatale when it premieres on Starz this week.

‘Sweetpea‘ debuts on Starz Oct. 10.