Kim Bodnia – Killing Eve

By starrymag | April 26, 2020

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Q) “Killing Eve” is a heavy female-centric show. How has it been being one of the few male actors set?

 

A) Very easy, actually. It’s a great atmosphere and great to get behind so many great female writers. You know, we have always been fighting for this in Denmark. When it happened there, in the United States, I just thought it was fantastic.

 

Q) What’s been the best part of location shoots this season?

 

A) I was very happy to shoot in Barcelona; it is a very beautiful city. I was enjoying the architecture and it’s very beautiful to walk around in. In this case we were so happy to go up in this cable car and have Barcelona all around us. It was definitely not so fun when Jodie [Comer] has to jump around in it! [laughs] That was crazy and absolutely not joyful, but I had a few moments where I could relax and enjoy it. Barcelona was a beautiful view and every building was just incredible to see. I also enjoyed it when we are in Bucharest. It’s kind of a totally different architecture in Europe there and I enjoyed it very much. It’s very beautiful and so I have been enjoying both of them. Of course, for me to shoot in London it is incredible, too. London is beautiful, too.

 

Q) As someone who spends time in this universe, what would you say drives Eve and Villanelle towards each other? Is it obsession? Love? Strictly sexual or a cerebral high? Why can’t these two get enough of each other?

 

A) Yes. [laughs] That’s a very good question. I think it’s all of those things together because that’s what we are discovering through the series, that it is complex for them too, you know? I think you’re right when you mentioned all of these examples. When I see the scenes they’re doing I have, like you mentioned, these different…[pause] I see all of them come through. So, it is very exciting to see what’s going on with them. In fact, they are like developing them though the series and it is always difficult for a character beside them to actually know what’s going on. In fact, every time something is coming up it’s useful for us as the other characters to use that for our goal to act out our situations. Sometimes it can go very wrong, but I think Konstantin is trying to use it as a kind of a way to get through his own problems and use it as a solution to them.

 

Q) The one thing I find utterly captivating, besides Konstantin’s laugh and humor, is his internal struggle between his work with The Twelve and his paternal role in Villanelle’s life. Do you think he has a conscience and cares for her or is that just his strong survival instinct?

 

A) [laughs] Yeah, that’s the case. But you have to understand that Konstantin has trained them, these assassins, in Russia since they were teenagers and it has become a kind of, like you said, used for his own survival. That’s right because Konstantin doesn’t do the killing. So, he has picked out the best assassins for his own cases. So, you’re right, the problem this year I really believe is that Konstantin has a little kind of daughter love relationship to Villanelle and we built that up from the first moment, that kind of daughter feeling was so integrated in their chemistry from the beginning and I think it’s still there.

 

Q) You and Jodie Comer have this incredible chemistry. You dance, she beats you up, you hug, she tries to poison you…it’s a complicated relationship but possibly the most stable in Villanelle’s life. You both seem to truly enjoy yourselves. What has been your most memorable scene to film with her and why?

 

A) All the time we are making new scenes happen. It feels so right together and still it’s so dangerous. I mean, there are so many things that I have been really enjoying doing, so it’s difficult to pick out just one of them because there are so many more coming up when you watch the series. I do remember back in Season Two where Villanelle had to meet with Konstantin again after she thought he was dead and she’s running to him at the corridor in the hotel. I remember why I mentioned this because Jodie, as an actress, she was playing this song for me. I didn’t have a birthday, but she was celebrating it in the first season and she was choosing a song for Konstantin to play so she could have a feeling. And she runs to him and then through this running I see her with a knife. [laughs] That was so, so wonderful and scary at the same time and I had to play that out in a second to show it. I think that scene was exactly them. That scene was always very clear to me because that is them!

 

Q) Fans love your daughter Irina (Yuli Lagodinsky), she is so annoying! Will we see more of her and Konstantin’s family?

 

A) Yes, we are looking more into the character this season and, of course, she is a part of that story with Konstantin because she is my daughter. As we know from episode one with my wife, she wants to separate and I think we are going to see Konstantin fighting to see his daughter.

 

Q) After last week’s episode I got the feeling there is a lot more to Konstantin and Carolyn’s (Fiona Shaw) relationship then they are letting on. Are we going to delve deeper into the connection between these two?

 

A) Yes, the secrets behind them are great and I’m really enjoying working with Fiona and the both of us are enjoying our scenes so much. We would love to have more of our scenes integrated into the show… um… but you know, Villanelle and Eve (Sandra Oh) cover everything. [laughs] We have a wish to go deeper into their relationship, but it’s kind of a mystery and Carolyn is a very big mystery. We don’t even know if Kenny is my son. She never really talks about it and so everything has been very, very special to open up with Carolyn, Fiona, and I am enjoying it. We have a lot of conversations and thoughts about what is going on with the two of them but every time new writers come in they have ideas, too. And it’s been very joyful to follow all the writers movements with the characters. We still wish it could bloom into a beautiful story between them. They’re very fascinating.

 

Q) As many fans know, each season highlights a new female showrunner. First Phoebe Waller-Bridge, then Emerald Fennell and now Suzanne Heathcote. What did each new showrunner bring to the table that brought a nuance to each season?

 

A) Together with the producers they’re developing a road map for this show and each of them has a system where we all talk before and us characters, actors, are allowed to talk about our wishes and ideas and then they go home and write. I think they put in their own life experiences into the story and through the work they’re doing it’s kind of our job to fill in the intentions and feelings. Up until now I have been very satisfied with all of them and enjoying the way they are stepping up the character in many different situations. I think it’s wonderful to be an actor in each of their universes, so I don’t feel a very big difference at all. I think they supported each other so well. Also, what you’re saying, as a viewer, they also love the characters and you can see that when you meet up with writers. You see that they are in love with these characters. So, they are just filling in more good stuff for us as actors to do.

 

Q) This season the student wants to surpass her teacher.  Villanelle has her eyes set on becoming a Keeper. Do you think she would make a good one? Likewise, how would Eve do as an assassin?

 

A) [chuckle] Well… I would say I’m very surprised up until now that Eve has been making a very good assassin! She might not believe it, but she’s been doing a lot of killing. I think she would be pretty good. I would say the problem is if Eve doesn’t get rid of her very strong feelings that she has then she would have a problem as an assassin. You have to realize that you have to live with yourself after, so she should definitely train for that. Umm…I MEAN VILLANELLE AS A KEEPER? [laughs] COME ON! I told her from the beginning that this would be impossible. I’ve warned her not to go that way and now we see The Twelve are using her and letting her think she’s going to be a Keeper. But that’s a joke, you know? That’s why Konstantin is always saying, “This is not going to happen. They’re using you.” That’s why she can never be a Keeper and she should never be one. She’s trained to do what she’s good at and she should keep on doing that. I mean, you can’t have Villanelle as a manager. Come on! I think in this world that is impossible.

 

Q) Konstantin often brings a bit of comic relief to this tense crime drama. Are those moments on the page or have the showrunners allowed you some leeway with bringing his humorous side to life?

 

A) Yes, you’re right. They don’t ask me to put it away but to give it this kind of drive that everything around him is falling down and to go deeper into that feeling. One where you have some wishes that are not fulfilled and then you have to go another way and everyone around him is pushing him towards something he doesn’t want to do. He really wants to go home and bring his daughter out of that situation, even if he really doesn’t know what that would bring on. So, they don’t ask me, but in any situation, I always find a way to put in some humor. But I think now he will be feeling like everything is going in the wrong direction. The combination of funny and lethal – that’s what we have been trying to work with. And funny enough, the laugh and the funny stuff, if you really look into what the others are saying sometimes it’s just unbelievably funny in the middle of a very difficult situation. Sometimes, as an actor, just listening to them the other characters in this fantastic drama, you have to laugh!

 

Q) Are you working on any other projects the fans can look out for?

 

A) I am sorry I can’t talk about anything right now. I am sorry, but that’s also part of Konstantin’s life. Isn’t it? [laughs] Personally, I would love to talk about it, but I can’t.

 

Q) What would you like to say to the fans and supporters of your work?

 

A) Oh, thank you, thank you. That’s very nice. The love that you and the viewers and fans of the show are giving back to me when I am walking around in the world is so lovely and I appreciate it. All I want to do is to make everybody have fun and be in the right spirit for enjoying my work. It makes me so happy and leaves with me with a very good feeling. So, thank you.