Im sitting in the corridor of Londons Rosewood Hotel when the door beside me opens.
Dressed in leather, he ruffles his hair and gives me a backwards glance, growling, Good luck.
When shes ready for me and I enter the room, its immediately clear that she hasnt.
Photo: Getty Images
What did you make of it?
Was that enough for you to know you wanted to do this?
Jodie Comer:It was.
Mike Faist’s Danny interviews Jodie Comer’s Kathy inThe Bikeriders.
I mean, I was already in, truth be told [laughs].
I wasnt playing it that cool.
I Zoomed with Jeff while I was doing a play [Prima Facie] in London.
Comer’s Kathy with her messy beehive inThe Bikeriders.
Id been sent the scriptit wasnt a formal offer, and he wanted to speak to me about it.
I thought, Dont get too excited.
But then, I read the script and just fell in love with her on the page.
Comer’s Kathy in her pastel-pink knits inThe Bikeriders.
A lot of Kathys real audio is in her dialogue.
You could feel the kind of texture of her.
Jeff and I chatted for over an hour and we were firing on all cylinders.
Comer’s Kathy with her chain-embellished shirt and bright red nails, and Austin Butler’s Benny inThe Bikeriders.
Then he was like, Just so you know, I have 30 minutes of audio of her.
I was like, like, for the love of God, send me that right now.
It just felt so rich.
Comer in Vivienne Westwood at the London premiere ofThe Bikeriders.
And I was like [claps], Okay, lets do this.
And that recording must have been key when it came to nailing that accent.
Shes from Chicago, but her accent was such a contradiction.
In Gabriela Hearst for the Los Angeles premiere ofThe Bikeriders.
I was like, Well, I want to do Kathy.
I can make peace with that, knowing that I wanted to do Kathy.
And Jeff supported that, because he loved her as much as I did.
I read that you broke all your lines down phonetically?
To me, it felt like this was the first time that anybody had asked her what she thought.
And shes like, From the beginning?
It was about trying to get all that energy and life into it, because shes the narrator.
That was something Id never done before.
Kathys an amazing storyteller.
As soon as you listened to her, you leaned in.
And thats what the film needed.
Mike Faists Danny interviews Jodie Comers Kathy inThe Bikeriders.
In that sense, I think youve said that she reminded you of your nan?
Yeah, in the sense of being a storyteller.
I was like,Thats a way in.
Thats something that resonates with me.
The film is, of course, inspired by Danny Lyons photography bookThe Bikeriders.
Her pants were a little ill-fitted.
It was unkempt and messy.
She was like,Here I am.
Another brilliant one was of her on her steps outside her house.
She always had ahotred nail.
I was like, okay, so this is hershe needs these and shes ready to conquer the world.
Those things give you that depth.
You could kind of see where her vulnerability lied.
Comers Kathy with her messy beehive inThe Bikeriders.
I was practicing [laughs].
Because then youre thinking about the prop and thinking about the accent.
But then, at home, I lit my cigarette on a gas hob and singed my eyelashes.
So, I was like, Im not doing that again.
I remember going into the make-up bus with my tail between my legs, like, Ashley!
I have no eyelashes on my left eye!
Im glad you were okay!
Coming onto the relationship between Kathy and Benny, we rarely see them in their private moments.
Its interesting because there is this kind of intoxication and magnetism between them at the beginning.
But I also feel like…I wanted more for Kathy.
Dont get me wrong, Benny showed her who he was from the very beginning.
She chose to see past those things for her own enjoyment.
She wants more and shes not going to get that here.
So, its tricky.
There was a lot of mystery between them.
There were scenes where I was like,What is she getting here?But theres truth in that.
And youre still there.
Sometimes we accept things that arent right for us.
She didnt want to have to worry about him and she wanted a quieter life.
All those things felt very real to me.
Comers Kathy in her pastel-pink knits inThe Bikeriders.
Was it always a riot being on set together?
The first scene I had was around a campfire and Michael Shannon had a monologue.
And I was just like, wow.
That might be the best one yet.
Michael Shannon might be the peak.
Being on a set like this, you just learn and observe so much.
She doesnt change an awful lot.
As much as she likes the excitement of this new world, I think shes a creature of habit.
Kathy wore that in one of the images we had of her.
A lot of Kathys stuff were like jeans that were a bit ill-fitted and her tank knitwear.
There was a lot of bobblingeverything she wore was so loved.
She had these clothes for a very long time, and I adored that.
Comers Kathy with her chain-embellished shirt and bright red nails, and Austin Butlers Benny inThe Bikeriders.
In the end, what was the most challenging thing about the filming process?
And I could feel myself shrinking, like I was making myself smaller.
That was a big learning curve for me.
I needed to be conscious of it, and also embrace that side of Kathy.
The other challenge was the dialogueto make that feel fresh when there was just so much of it.
Its beena long road to this films release.
Are you relieved its finally coming out?
When I watched it for the first time, I felt so invigorated by it.
I think people will enjoy it.
Where do you stand on that?
Im gonna leave that toZendaya[laughs], because I dont think anyone does it like her.
Ive been doing my baby version of it.
Theres a lot of pieces that Im rewearing.
Comer in Vivienne Westwood at the London premiere ofThe Bikeriders.
In Gabriela Hearst for the Los Angeles premiere ofThe Bikeriders.
How much can you tell us?
Yes, all of the above [laughs].
Im doing28 Years Laterat the moment, which is brilliant.
Danny Boyle is the best.
And then Ive gotThe Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde, and thenRobin Hoodearly next year.
And is theBig Swissadaptation, which youre starring in and executive producing, still happening?
Big Swissis in development at the moment.
Its funny, when something gets announced, I think people think its gonna be imminent.
So, thats been really valuable.
But, yeah, hopefully sooner rather than later because I love the book!
The Bikeridersis in theaters from June 21.
