Shining Girls Star Jamie Bell Discusses Connecting With a Killer for New Apple TV+ Series

When most actors take on the role of a villainous character, they’ll relay that an “evil” character is merely a matter of perspective and how, from their mindset, they don’t believe themselves to be malevolent. With Shining Girls, however, Jamie Bell’s Harper has been carrying out overtly violent acts for which there’s no real justification, yet rather than being a maniacal villain, Harper still brings with him a vulnerability and grounded, albeit twisted, justification for these crimes, which brought with it unexpected opportunities for the performer. Shining Girls premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 29th.

“Part of me is like, ‘God forbid that this show is successful,’ because then when I’m walking down the street, people are terrified, or people judge me when I’m picking up milk at the store or something like that,” Bell shared with ComicBook.com of the real-world impact of playing disturbed characters. “So it does come with that little bit. I always like to disappear in things. I was trying to really lose myself in something, and I was so thankful that I was given the opportunity to do that by [director/co-star] Elisabeth [Moss] and by [writer] Silka [Luisa] and by [director] Michelle [MacLaren[. They really wanted that full immersion from me, and whenever you get those opportunities as an actor, of course you grab onto them in both hands because you don’t get those opportunities very often.”

He continued, “I thought, if we were going to do this, we’re going have to talk about a guy who has been given this amazing ability, and yet he chooses to do something so abhorrent. Why? What is that? I think, as a culture, we have a morbid fascination with why these people do these things. And I have that, unfortunately, fascination as well, so it was more about exploring what’s underneath this. What is this weakness, what is this humility, the diminished man that he is underneath all this control? Let’s explore that little bit, and that’s what we did.”

Based on Lauren Beukes’ best-selling novel, Shining Girls follows Kirby Mazrachi (Moss) as a Chicago newspaper archivist whose journalistic ambitions were put on hold after enduring a traumatic assault. When Kirby learns that a recent murder mirrors her own case, she partners with seasoned, yet troubled reporter Dan Velazquez (played by Wagner Moura), to uncover her attacker’s identity. As they realize these cold cases are inextricably linked, their own personal traumas and Kirby’s blurred reality allow her assailant to remain one step ahead. In addition to Moss and Moura, the gripping drama stars Phillipa Soo with Amy Brenneman and Jamie Bell rounding out the ensemble cast.  

Even if the audience has disdain for Harper almost immediately, Bell went on to describe how he feels viewers will still stay engaged with the unsettling subject matter.

“I think it’s going to be hard for people to empathize with him, to be honest with you,” the actor admitted. “I think that the show is doing something which shows don’t often do, which is they’re showing you from the very beginning, well, this is the guy, this is who did it. The hook of the show and what’s so clever about it is, but how are these things possible? How is he doing this? It’s a ‘how done it.’” 

He continued, “And what I like is that it’s almost like, this sounds weird, it’s almost like E.T. in the way that my character is connected to Elisabeth’s. We are connected in the cosmos, through time. So my actions affect her life directly, and not only did I assault her and she managed to survive and everything, but that assault … we are connected in that way through these decades. I think that that’s an interesting hook for an audience, is going, ‘How do these people affect each other’s lives?’ They maintain each other in their own orbit of one another, but I think it’s going to be very difficult for people to have any feelings other than repellence for him, to be honest with you.”

Shining Girls premieres on Apple TV+ on April 29th.

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