Shining Girls’ Jamie Bell talks “inspiring” director Elisabeth Moss

By James Hibbs

Published: Wednesday, 27 April 2022 at 12:00 am

Jamie Bell is taking a turn for the terrifying in new Apple TV+ series Shining Girl, as he plays a serial killer from whom Elisabeth Moss’ lead character, Kirby Mazrachi, previously made a narrow escape.

However, when on set for the new thriller series, Bell wasn’t just acting opposite Moss, but being directed by her too, since she stepped behind the camera for two episodes, much like she did for three instalments of The Handmaid’s Tale season 4.

RadioTimes.com spoke exclusively with Bell, who had nothing but praise for Moss’ work in the dual roles.

He joked: “I find acting really hard, you can probably tell! There’s a lot of effort that goes into it, so I cannot imagine having to do two or three or four jobs on the set like she does. It’s unbelievable, I don’t understand how it happens.”

Bell continued: “I’m always fascinated by actors taking on directing jobs, because I’m always kind of looking at them in the scene going, ‘Surely your mind is thinking about 10 different things?’ And it is, it’s just they happen to be able to also give an incredible performance and do these other things at the same time.

“So I’m in awe of her really, it’s incredibly inspiring to see her do that. I had a great shorthand with her, with some directors you kind of want to guard yourself about how you are represented or the work that you’re doing, but with her I was just so willing to go, ‘That was a mess, let me try it again’. So if she asked me to do anything else again I would obviously jump.”