KAYA SCODELARIO
ON BLOCKBUSTER TIDES…
Iwanted to be part of something fun and big and silly and crazy and on an epic scale,” says Kaya Scodelario. Leaving no box unticked, next month’s Pirates Of The Caribbean:
Salazar’s Revenge will see the British star at the prow of the megafranchise as kick-ass astronomer Carina Smyth. “My love of movies comes from watching Arnie films and explosions,” she reveals, “so to get to be a part of [Pirates], especially after so many indies and being in muddy fields in Yorkshire, was exciting!”
Breaking her shoulder on set, less so. Remarkably, her accident only put her out of action for a day: “I didn’t want to delay shooting… and morphine’s a great thing!” she laughs. Another obstacle she, um, shouldered aside was doing comedy. “I’m used to handheld, in-your-face, gritty,” she says, evoking CV highlights such as teen telly drama Skins and Andrea Arnold’s windswept Wuthering Heights. “I’m not so used to multiple set-ups and having to be ‘big’.” Luckily, she found her funny bone, with no small help from Johnny Depp. “That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned – the way Johnny completely inhabits his character. I was really inspired by the way he’s sort of, ‘Fuck what anyone else thinks. I’m gonna dive in headfirst and make a fool of myself.’”
Next up for Scodelario is another blockbuster – the trilogy-closing Maze
Runner: The Death Cure (“We’re shooting in Cape Town… we’re really excited to tie up all the loose ends.”). And after that? Having gone ‘big’, she’s keen to downsize. “Definitely! I really want to come back to England,” she says. “I love working with first-time directors and young actors of my generation, such as [Skins alumni] Daniel Kaluuya and Lily Loveless, people I’m inspired by. I want to go stand in a muddy field in Yorkshire again. I really do!”