Jodie Comer has always been an actor to fully throw herself into her roles – normally with spectacular results – and for her latest film The Death of Robin Hood, the Killing Eve star went the extra mile once again.
The film, which is now showing in UK cinemas, sees Comer play a character called Sister Brigid, a mysterious prioress who nurses a gravely injured Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) back to health as he reckons with his violent past.
And speaking to Radio Times, the award-winning actress talked about how she had done extensive research into 13th century medicine – something which had been "fundamental" when it came to understanding Brigid.
But the impact also went beyond just helping with her character work.
"It was funny, I felt like Sister Bridgid magnified a lot of things in my own life that I was intrigued by beforehand," she explained during an exclusive interview.
"This role kind of [gave me] the opportunity to delve a little bit deeper, which has been amazing because it's made me a lot more curious, and I've actually taken time out within my own life to study herbalism a little bit more."
She added: "It was so lovely to reconnect to a knowledge that I feel has been a part of us in our ancestry that we've become so alien to, which I think is such a shame. So it was lovely to become reacquainted with that."
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Speaking more generally about the film, Comer revealed that she had been "enamoured" by the interpretation that writer/director Michael Sarnoski had brought to such an iconic character and story.
And Sarnoski – who previously helmed Nicolas Cage film Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One – explained how he had always been fascinated by the legend which the film was inspired by.
"The broad strokes of that are there, but it really became about trying to understand those characters and that story more deeply," he said.
"Like what was that relationship between the prioress and Robin? In the old stories, it was always like... she was sort of an evil nun who betrays Robin Hood and Robin's the godly hero. And I just wanted to understand that a little more deeply. That feels a little too simple, a little too black and white."
He also wanted to further explore what a medieval bandit's life would have actually been like, and the profound impact his antics might have had on his psyche.
"That would have been a rough life, and he would have killed a lot of people, even if it's for good," he said. "He killed a lot of people that had a lot of family members that were not super happy about it, and that sort of has followed him and haunted him. So it was just sort of trying to understand them on a deeper human level."
While much of the film – especially in its latter stages – is contemplative in nature, it opens with some striking scenes of pretty intense brutality. And establishing this contrast between the violent and the tender was extremely important for the director.
"Even in the old ballad, one of the things that struck me was that this man of adventure has this really quiet, intimate end," he explained.
"I knew I wanted that contrast between the intensity and the quiet, but then also, because this movie becomes about Robin dealing with his legacy of violence and what that means to him, I knew I didn't want to be cutesy about that violence.
"I wanted to really land it as this is unpleasant, difficult stuff, because the weight of that is sort of hanging over the rest of the movie. So yeah, I didn't want to shy away from that or make it feel like Hollywoodised, sanitised violence that's meant to be entertaining.
"It's sort of weird that we expect violence to be entertaining. I think that it's fine to have a fun action movie, but for that to be our default state is is maybe not like the healthiest thing. So I wanted to really sort of challenge the audience with the violence so that we can grapple with it in the second half."
The Death of Robin Hood is now showing in UK cinemas.
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