Is there anything Rebecca Ferguson can’t do? Over the years, she’s saved the world multiple times alongside Ethan Hunt as Mission: Impossible’s Ilsa Faust. She’s taken on sand, Spice, and Sardaukar warriors as Dune’s powerful Lady Jessica. She’s been an astral-projecting immortal (albeit one who siphons life-force from murdering innocent children) as Rose The Hat in Doctor Sleep. But, as she enters the world of Peaky Blinders, playing a brand new character in feature film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Ferguson was clear: there actually is something beyond her talents.
“Basically, I said, ‘I can’t do a fucking Brummie [accent], mate, so what are we going to do about this?’” she laughs, speaking to Empire in our The Immortal Man issue. “‘That ain’t happening. Could she be Swedish?’” That was her response to Cillian Murphy, who had suggested her for the role of Kaulo – a mysterious new figure, an acquaintance of Murphy’s Tommy Shelby, whose exact function in the story is yet to be unveiled. Accent worries aside, it all worked out – the role is Ferguson’s, and you can see a world-exclusive first image of her above.
For all that Ferguson has appeared in some of cinema’s biggest franchises, the prospect of stepping into Peaky was still daunting – as a beloved show with passionate fans, and one that has the constant attention of the press. “I try and stay away from thinking about all the people who [love it], because that’s just going to freak me out,” she says. “It’s enough to know that once Cillian is on a horse, the paparazzi are taking pictures. You understand how big it is.” Whatever role Kaulo plays, she exists in a lineage of Peaky Blinders’ formidable female figures. “I was also very much aware of the characters that have been there, that are no longer around, and paying homage to it,” Ferguson teases. Just, don’t expect a Birmingham accent.
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