Character Research

Before starting to create our film and characters, I looked at some existing characters from other pieces of media for inspiration. This was so me and Olivia could develop ideas for what our characters would look like, since they do not have any dialogue in the opening, and what kind of first impression we would want the viewer to get of them, without hearing them speak.

Villanelle - Killing Eve

I took inspiration for the female character in our film from the character Villanelle from the British spy thriller TV show 'Killing Eve'. Villanelle is an assassin for a group called 'The Twelve' and is portrayed as being hunted by a former MI6 member Eve as she kills individuals around the world, mostly in Europe. Throughout the show, Villanelle is presented in a number of different outfits, with all of them being quite abstract and unique for someone who's looking for people to kill. I wanted to reflect this in the female character of our film opening, with ideas about her potential costumes centering around the obscure but also fashionable. I looked at a lot of stripe patterns and took inspiration from Villanelle in the costumes shown below, as well as some ideas for possible suit combinations to show power in the character. However, this was not chosen in the end as we wanted the character to present as feminine whilst also being seen as powerful, as it was very important to us that both the male and female characters were equal in power in their relationship; hence why they are often seen side by side carrying items together.

As a character, Villanelle is presented as very seductive and psychopathic, who is mutually obsessed with the 'cat and mouse' game created between her and Eve, with the two women hunting each other throughout the show. She's an extremely broken character with a tragic childhood, but she still manages to find a way to look amazing and be charming when out for the kill. Her name is an obvious variation of the word 'villainess', meaning female villain, therefore highlighting the representation of her as a woman antagonist in the show. She's been described as “exceptionally gifted, completely soulless, and odd-duck hilarious … rude, funny, awful, naughty. She’s twisted and conscienceless, but she is also irrepressible. She’s a proper psychopath.” I think this reflects how we wanted our characters to come off as in our film, with the two of them being cold blooded murderers who also look good and do seem to enjoy what they are doing, even making a picnic to ‘celebrate’ their murder – therefore making them even scarier.

In my film, I would love to cast Emma Stone as the female character because of her recent role in ‘Cruella’ (2021) as the iconic Disney villain. In this film, Emma Stone plays a character who is cold blooded and not afraid to be violent to get what she wants, whilst also being incredibly stylish and the constant centre of attention throughout the film. I think this would work very well with my character as it would make the villain very likeable as well as evil; and Emma Stone would play her very well.

For the male character, I thought that Penn Badgley was a good idea for dream casting, specifically for his role in the Netflix TV Show 'You' (2018-). His character, Joe Goldberg, is a bookstore manager and serial killer who falls in love and develops a deep obsession with a woman he stalks through social media and tracks throughout the show. I thought that this would be a good idea for the male character as Joe Goldberg is a character who is very strong and manipulative, as well as controlling, which is something we wanted to present in him as a villain character.