Jodie Comer is emulating the Geordie superstar in her new role (Picture: Shutterstock/Getty Images)
Jodie Comer will soon be starring in the highly-anticipated threequel 28 Years Later, and it’s now become apparent she has drawn inspiration for her character from an unlikely source.
The Killing Eve star is renowned for her accents with the chameleon-like ability to adapt to whichever character she is, whether a Russian assassin, part of a Midwestern motorcycle gang, or a university student in a homegrown BBC drama.
And her latest role is no less challenging. The actor is set to star in the third installment of Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic zombie drama, 28 years later, opposite Ralph Fiennes and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Although the plot is firmly under wraps the film will take place in Newcastle and the 31-year-old Scouse actor teased a bit of what to expect from her, as yet unknown, character.
In a new interview, she admitted that she had been working on a Geordie accent with her dialect coach and had been watching clips of Cheryl from The X Factor to prepare.
‘I’m excited to get the first day done,’ she added to Elle UK.
The Scouse star navigated several languages and accents as Villanelle in Killing Eve (Picture: BBC)
Cheryl is one of the UK’s best-known Geordies (Picture: Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/REX/Shutterstock)
‘Danny just seems like such a confident, intuitive and intelligent director. The original was so loved, so I’m trying not to think of that too hard. I’m not putting too much expectation on myself.’
It’s no surprise the accent queen went straight to Britain’s most famed Geordie, Cheryl. The 40-year-old TV personality grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne before finding fame with Girls Aloud in the early 2000s.
She then cemented her status in chaotic British culture as a judge on the British singing competition X Factor alongside Simon Cowell from 2008 to 2011.
And fans simply can’t get over the idea of Jodie battling zombies with an accent primed and ready to break a budding singer’s dreams to pieces.
‘When she wins an academy award for this and thanks Cheryl on stage…’ @HarryPhillips15 wrote.
‘Absolutely obsessed with this,’ @discocuri added. While @claudiaasiann echoed: ‘no bc this is so iconic of jodie.’
This is not the first time the Bafta-winning actor has spoken about the process behind absolutely nailing her accents.
In a recent interview, she shared that she ‘never wanted to do accents for the sake of it. I want it to feel real.’
And in 2019 the Liverpool-born star opened up about how it all started.
‘It comes from growing up. Me and my dad, if there was an advert with a silly voice on, we’d always impersonate it around the house just joking around,’ she explained.
‘When I’m doing my own accent, I find it harder to separate myself from the character; I don’t know why. You also don’t see many Scousers on the telly so maybe we need to change that up a bit!’
As for 28 years later, original movie star Cillian Murphy is returning to the project both as zombie survivor Jim and as executive producer with the film set to release in June 2025.
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