‘A Murder at the End of the World’ Interview: Emma Corrin

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Emma Corrin stars in FX’s ‘A Murder at the End of the World.’

Premiering on FX on Hulu beginning November 14th is the new series ‘A Murder at the End of the World,’ which was created by actress Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglij (‘Sound of My Voice,’ ‘The East’) and stars Emma Corrin (‘Deadpool 3’) and Clive Owen (‘Children of Men’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Emma Corrin about her work on series ‘A Murder at the End of the World,’ discovering her character, collaborating with series creators Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglij, and shooting in Iceland.

Emma Corrin as Darby Hart in ‘A Murder at the End of the World.’ Photo: Chris Saunders/FX.

Moviefone: To begin with, how did Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij pitch the character of Darby to you when you were first in discussions for the role?

Emma Corrin: It came about in a quite strange but beautiful way where I was sent the script ahead of meeting them. I love reading scripts and you must do it a lot for this job. But sometimes I do find it hard to fully get lost in them. I don’t think I’ve ever read a script and not been able to put it down, just because of the format of it and the way that all works. I honestly couldn’t put these down. I was tearing through them, and I finished three and I was like, “Please, will they send me more?” They were like, “We don’t know if we should.” I was like, “Please, I need to know.” That was an amazing feeling. So immediately I felt so connected to the character. I felt compelled by her. I found her really refreshing. I just thought it was incredibly clever storytelling. So then when I met Brit and Zal on a Zoom, we just talked about storytelling. We talked about childhood, play, writing stories, what stories mean for us, why we tell them, why Darby tells them, and who she is and how that informs her. After that, they offered me the role. We hadn’t done the normal thing of going through scenes or reading through them. We’d really talked about her and her spirit, and that felt beautiful in some way to be offered it off the basis of that.

(L to R) Emma Corrin as Darby Hart and Harris Dickinson as Bill in ‘A Murder at the End of the World.’ Photo: Christopher Saunders/FX.

MF: How did you personally connect to the character of Darby?

EC: I think her look, and I think what really helped inform me was exploring the younger Darby and the older Darby, and doing work on how those people are different. I think with any character, even if a younger version of them isn’t in the piece you’re doing, I think that it’s what you explore. How has what this person has been through, even if it’s not in the script or in the story, how has it informed who they are today? I think it was a real gift to be able to have that person scripted, have that youthful part of her scripted, and be able to talk to Brit and Zal about that. Obviously, it’s a unique upbringing. Her dad’s a coroner. She’s grown up on crime scenes. There was a lot to explore there.

Related Article: TV Review: ‘A Murder at the End of the World’

(L to R) Emma Corrin as Darby Hart and Harris Dickinson as Bill in ‘A Murder at the End of the World.’ Photo: Lilja Jons/FX.

MF: Finally, what was the most difficult aspect of shooting on location in Iceland?

EC: Shooting in that environment is so challenging because it is freezing and I’m not good in cold temperatures. I have terrible circulation and it was really demanding. But also, I found that incredibly rewarding because you feel like you’re working hard, and you feel like you deserve your bed at the end of the day. You know that feeling? It was a beautiful place to shoot. Even if you were absolutely freezing and thought you were going to die of hypothermia, you looked around and it was just breathtaking. So, it was sort of a double-sided thing. I honestly found the shoot in New Jersey hard on the stages. It’s a really demanding series. I’m in every single frame. I think that’s one of the things that excited me when I read the script. But then in actuality it was insane, and amazing. I was so supported by an incredible cast and an incredible crew who were always there for me when it got hard. But they built this hotel in the stages, and I was rattling around there every day for about four or five months. I really felt like I was starting to get mad by the end of it.

(L to R) Harris Dickinson as Bill, Emma Corrin as Darby Hart in ‘A Murder at the End of the World.’ Photo: Eric Liebowitz/FX.

What’s the Plot of ‘A Murder at the End of the World?

‘A Murder at the end of the World’ sees Gen Z amateur sleuth and tech-savvy hacker Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) and eight other guests invited by a reclusive billionaire (Clive Owen) to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location.

When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must use all of her skills to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life. She’ll gave to deal with both the human element and the complicated technology that runs the facility.