British Vogue - 04.2020

T

here’s just something about a Liverpool welcome, isn’t

there? “Come all the way up from London to go to Penny

Lane Wine Bar?” shouts the cabbie from the front seat,

tearing away from Lime Street station. “F**king hell

lad, what are you doing? She must be very attractive.”

He pauses for a second, taking me in, before adding

diplomatically, “Or he. You haven’t got her off Tinder have you?”

Well no, I say, as the black cab weaves through the Sunday streets,

accompanied by the uniquely delightful soundtrack of an expletive-laden

Liverpudlian’s monologue. Things take a more surreal turn when, pulling

into Penny Lane itself – a road of low terraced houses, shops and takeaway

restaurants immortalised by The Beatles – we crawl behind a canary-

yellow Rolls-Royce done up in psychedelic 1960s fashion and rentable

to tourists by the hour. By the time I’ve tumbled out on to the street and

into the bar, I’m positively floored by Scouse-ness. Perhaps I should buy

an Everton season ticket? Or experiment with a thicker brow?

Actually, the trend is for more natural brows these days, as evidenced

by my lunch companion, and celebrated local, Jodie Comer. In the past

12 months, the 26-year-old actor – best known for playing charismatic

televisual sociopath Villanelle in Killing Eve – has cruised to global

fame, with the Emmy, Bafta and feverish millennial fan base to prove

it. Though, like a good host, she seems more interested in my journey

up. “Did you find it OK?” she says, her accent sing-songing as she jumps

up from the window seat in a quiet side room to bestow a proper hug.

With no little excitement, she explains that the reason we’re here is

because, “They do an amazing roast.” > 161

“THE WAY

I FELL INTO

THIS IS SUCH

A ONE-IN-

A-MILLION

CHANCE”

Talent, charm and Killing Eve made Jodie Comer

Britain’s most bankable new star. As she prepares

for her first major Hollywood release – sci-fi

blockbuster Free Guy – Giles Hattersley

meets the woman with the world at her feet.

Photographs by Steven Meisel.

Styling by Edward Enninful

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