Comer: crew told me to stop calming babies

JODIE COMER says she was told to stop soothing crying babies during the production of a new film.

The star, best known for her role as assassin Villanelle in the hit TV series Killing Eve, said that producers told her to stop calming a baby as she plays a mother and her newborn in The End We Start From.

Directed by Mahalia Belo, the film is about a mother fleeing London when an environmental crisis submerges the capital in floodwaters.

Comer, 30, is rarely seen without a baby throughout the movie, with producers having to use several newborns during filming because there are strict rules meaning they can only work 20 minutes at a time. The actress is not a mother and told The Sunday Times Culture magazine it felt like a “huge responsibility” and looking after the children did not come naturally.

“It’s such a lesson,” she told the magazine. “The smallest baby was eight weeks. At first my hands were visibly shaking. My younger cousins have grown up now, so I’m not around babies an awful lot.

“It felt like a huge responsibility. I thought, ‘Wow, they’re so fragile’.”

She added that she later became more confident and would try to calm the babies but was told to let them cry.

“I became more comfortable, sometimes to my detriment! There are scenes where we needed a baby to cry but I was soothing him instead. The crew would shout ‘Stop!’ I was kind of falling in love with them.”

Comer said that as preparation for the part she asked her best friend who recently had a baby questions. She added: “I also spent time with midwives – there is a birthing sequence. Having not had a child myself, I wanted women to see the truth in what they saw.”

The film will be in cinemas from Jan 19.