Jamie Bell is taking a turn for the terrifying in new Apple TV+ series Shining Girl, as he plays a serial killer from whom Elisabeth Moss’ lead character, Kirby Mazrachi, previously made a narrow escape.
However, when on set for the new thriller series, Bell wasn’t just acting opposite Moss, but being directed by her too, since she stepped behind the camera for two episodes, much like she did for three instalments of The Handmaid’s Tale season 4.
RadioTimes.com spoke exclusively with Bell, who had nothing but praise for Moss’ work in the dual roles.
He joked: “I find acting really hard, you can probably tell! There’s a lot of effort that goes into it, so I cannot imagine having to do two or three or four jobs on the set like she does. It’s unbelievable, I don’t understand how it happens.”
Bell continued: “I’m always fascinated by actors taking on directing jobs, because I’m always kind of looking at them in the scene going, ‘Surely your mind is thinking about 10 different things?’ And it is, it’s just they happen to be able to also give an incredible performance and do these other things at the same time.
“So I’m in awe of her really, it’s incredibly inspiring to see her do that. I had a great shorthand with her, with some directors you kind of want to guard yourself about how you are represented or the work that you’re doing, but with her I was just so willing to go, ‘That was a mess, let me try it again’. So if she asked me to do anything else again I would obviously jump.”
Shining Girls is based on 2013 novel The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, and tells the story of Kirby, an archivist who learns that a recent murder is linked to an assault she suffered years ago, which left her in a constantly shifting reality.
She teams up with reporter Dan Velazquez, played by Narcos’ Wagner Moura, to try to uncover the truth.
The genre-bending series is made up of eight episodes, and also stars Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo.
Shining Girls premieres on Friday 29th April 2022 on Apple TV+. Sign up to Apple TV+ now. Visit our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide.
