It’s been a busy season for actor Kaya Scodelario, whose most recent role, as the impeccably clad crime boss Susie Glass on Guy Ritchie’s crime series The Gentlemen, has netted her a bevy of praise (not to mention a recent Gotham Award nomination). The attention is nothing new to Scodelario, of course; she landed her breakout role as Effy Stonem on the teen drama Skins when she was only 14. But The Gentlemen cements the reputation that she’s gone on to build through films like the Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and Alexandre Aja’s horror-drama Crawl—signaling to the world that the 32-year-old former child actor is more than ready to enter the next phase of her career.
Vogue recently spoke to Scodelario about the success of The Gentlemen, her goal to produce film and TV projects featuring “unique, interesting women,” the designers she favors off-camera (think Molly Goddard and friends), and the two biggest lessons she learned from portraying Effy.
Vogue: Where are you based these days?
I’m in London. I live in north London.
Oh, lovely. And you’re filming the series Adulthood right now?
Yes, I’m about to leave for Ottawa, Canada, on Wednesday. It’s an indie, so I’ll be on set 18 hours a day and really involved creatively, which I love. The director, Alex, is also an actor, so he kind of understands how actors work, and it’s always great to work with a director who allows us to be part of the creative process. I’m also so excited to work with Josh Gad; I think he’s immensely talented and I’m hoping that will finally make me cool with my kids, because he’s the voice of Olaf.
Do you feel like motherhood has changed anything about your relationship to Hollywood or performing?
I mean, logistically, my kids definitely add another layer to it. When I’m working I have to always think about if they’re going to come with me, or how I’m going to juggle all that. I’ve kind of never let it be an excuse for producers, though. I never wanted producers to turn around and say, “Well, she’s a mom, so she won’t be able to do this shoot.” You know, I love my job, and I tell my kids, “I really love my job.” It’s important that I work. My mother was an immigrant who worked her whole life, so I kind of have that work ethic, and I’m really lucky to do a job that I actually enjoy. There are moments where I think it’d be great to do a kid’s film so they could sit and watch it, but I think my son’s almost old enough to watch Pirates [of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales] and The Maze Runner, so maybe one day he’ll sit down and watch those.
This may be a boring question, but what does an average, non-working day look like for you right now?
My days are always structured really weirdly, so it usually starts with everyone sat in the kitchen discussing what the day is going to look like—who needs to be where, and how we’re going to get through it. My best friend works with me and kind of helps me figure all that out, and I’ve got two kids, so the day usually starts with hectic breakfast, getting to school, and all that kind of boring-but-wonderful mum stuff. Then I usually take my dog for a walk for an hour, and then I’ll do admin and emails and all of that. I recently got into hot Pilates, so I go and do that in a local studio down the road, which I really love. A non-working day probably doesn’t exist, because there’s always something to do right? It could be reading a script or doing notes on a future project or remembering to pay a bill from six months ago because I was in Canada for six months and forgot about it; little things like that. I’m always trying to do one work-related thing if I’m not filming, so that will usually be going through the scripts that have come through that week. I annotate everything on the page, so I kind of write down my thoughts, which I then discuss with the director. If they want me to audition, it will be a self-tape here at home because I’m in London.
Have you read anything you’ve really loved lately?
Well, it’s been a really exciting time because The Gentlemen has done so well, and I’ve been openly discussing in interviews how much I’d love to work with up-and-coming directors and more female directors. Championing writers and directors who maybe haven’t had the door open for them before, who have unique, interesting stories to tell about unique, interesting women, is something I’m very passionate about. So I’m kind of making my way through all that right now. I’m also aiming to produce in the long term, so I’m just sort of doing as much research as I can on what’s new, what’s exciting, what’s out there, what stories have been told, what podcasts and articles are interesting, all that kind of stuff.
To circle back to The Gentlemen, congratulations on your Gotham Award nomination! What initially drew you to the project?
I got sent an audition request, so I got an email that had the title and an explanation of what they were going to do in a TV format. Then there was a small logline of the character—Susie Glass, the head of her father’s crime business, goes toe-to-toe with the new duke—and I just kind of fell in love with that. I loved the idea that she was going to be the one in the room who knew what was going on at all times, and that she would have the biggest balls out of everyone. I read the scenes that they had, which were kind of different to what we ended up shooting, and she just seemed really interesting and unique in a way that I personally don’t remember seeing [from] a female character in the Guy Ritchie universe before. She seemed a lot more fleshed-out, and because it was a TV format, I knew there would be more time to spend with her and to really get under her skin and find her vulnerabilities and the interesting stuff about her, which is something that you don’t always have the luxury of doing in a feature because of how [little] time you have. For actors, we kind of never get sent all the scripts for the whole season; we usually just get sent episode one, and that’s what you have to decide off of. I really wanted to make sure that Susie was going to have an interesting journey and that I would have something cool to do, and the writers reassured me that they really did want her to be this badass, fully evolved woman who is at the top of her game, and who’s intelligent and unapologetic about it, that got me excited immediately.
Scodelario as Susie Glass in The Gentlemen.Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
How has the press journey surrounding this project been for you?
I think Susie being such a uniquely stylish character has been really exciting, because I’ve kind of been able to dip my toe into the fashion mode again, and I love that. I really missed going to London Fashion Week and doing all these things as I’ve been traveling for work. Because I’ve been in London since the show’s come out, we’ve really made the most of all that and I’ve been lucky enough to attend really great shows and events.
Are there designers you’re particularly drawn to when you’re offscreen and dressing for yourself?
I mean, at the moment I’m completely obsessed with JW Anderson. I think what he’s doing is so interesting. I actually met his family at a show a couple of seasons ago, and they were lovely. I think it’s always really nice when you connect with a designer artistically but also know that they’re a cool person; that’s really quite important to me, especially when it comes to brands. I want to feel like they’re headed by people that I’d love to hang out with casually and socially. I also think Molly Goddard is doing really exciting stuff at the moment. I’ve been following Harris Reed for four years now, and seeing their trajectory has just been really amazing. I think they’re making fashion fun and artistic and loud and brave and bold again, and I adore seeing everything that comes out of that.
I have to ask one question for all those still-loyal Skins fans out there: Is there anything you learned from playing Effy that you feel still serves you as an actor?
Yeah, definitely. I think it was the biggest education in acting for me, because Effy was essentially mute for two seasons before we really got to know her in Season 3. I really took that opportunity to observe the other actors around me and to learn on the job; I’m not formally trained, and I was 14 at the time, but it was really a great way of quickly learning what it’s like to be on set, how the mechanics of that work, how the technical stuff works, and also learning to sort of emote and tell a story without using dialogue. If Effy was always listening, she was always aware of everything that was going on around her, and people overlooked that. They thought that she wasn’t paying attention, when really she was, and that’s something I try and bring into all my characters. There are times where there’ll be a piece of dialogue and I’ll say to the director, “I don’t think that needs to be said out loud. I think we should be able to see that in the eyes. She should be thinking that, and that should come across onscreen.” Oh, and Effy also taught me how to wear fishnet tights [laughs], which is obviously a very important skill that I’ve carried with me my whole life.
Styling: Rebecca Ramsey
Hair: Johnnie Sapong
Makeup: Kirin Bhatty
This conversation had been edited and condensed.
