Interview with Viola Prettejohn (Finn)

23 October 2024

Interview with Viola Prettejohn (Finn)
What were your first impressions of Generation Z?
I got given four episodes and read them back-to-back on one flight. I came out of it thinking: What on earth did I just read? I was texting my friends, going, “This thing is bananas!” But I was excited. I knew exactly how I wanted to say all of Finn’s lines, exactly how I would do all of it. That doesn’t happen often.

So Finn was an easy person to relate to?
Definitely. As I got to know the character more and was on set more, I realised she’s quite close to a part of me. She’s a bit all over the place and hyperactive, which I'm not, I'm quite level at all times. But there's a touch of know-it-all in me that she has, and like her I can be quite sharp with people. She also has a propensity towards darkness and the Gothic that is very much like me.

Do you like to be scared, then?
I really love horror, and I grew up with Tim Burton. Coraline is one of my favourite films, along with The Shining, so I like horror that’s a little bit different: Gothic, quirky, weird stuff is more my vibe.

How would you describe Finn?
She’s the outsider of the group and a lone wolf in the school, but she knows who she is. She's doesn't really care about what other people think or that she doesn’t have any friends – or at least that's what she's projecting to everyone. Finn’s okay being by herself, which I guess is partially the result of her parents leaving her, so she’s grown up in care: she’s very self-sufficient, she can handle herself and she’s accepted she's just going to be alone. She's a bit of a nerd, an emo freak who loves watching snuff films and horrible videos from war zones, but she's also very funny, incredibly intelligent and very sharp. She’s the first to dig deeper and not just accept what's they're being fed by the government about the virus – I like how relentlessly curious she is, how open to other possibilities. She won't stop until she finds out what's actually going on.

What are her theories about what is behind the infection?
She’s permanently online, so she's very of that generation and prone to blaming the deep state – not in a MAGA way, but more that she enjoys the fact there could be something more sinister going on. It appeals to her emo Gothic side, the idea that there's something freaky going on, so she immediately jumps to some massive conspiracy. But she doesn't really panic and she wants to get involved instead of step away.

What was your favourite scene to film?
When I was vomiting and then eating my vomit out of the loo. It was kind of tasty! I could have eaten way more of it: grapefruit and tomato juice sounds like a weird combination, but actually it’s really yummy.

Were you familiar with Ben's stuff?
No, I was coming to it completely fresh. But everyone around me was going, “Oh Ben Wheatley, he's really cool.” So I knew I should pay attention.

What were the most enjoyable aspects of the shoot?
It was one of the best jobs I've ever done. Everything was so ridiculous. You'd arrive on set and go: Oh, I'm falling in a brain today, I’m eating my own vomit today. You can't take yourself too seriously in those moments. Lewis and I had also quite a few long dialogue scenes together throughout the series, which is rare in TV now. Playing around with those was great, and I learnt a lot from Robert with that: he was constantly asking questions about the script and wanting to find new ways in each time. Then we had the big action scenes and stunts… It was a job that had everything. It was great to mix things up as I had just wrapped four-month shoot for Generation Z, and my last day was running away from zombies, then the next day I was being solemn in a big gown on a Tudor estate, standing opposite Mark Rylance for Wolf Hall. It was just the biggest mindf***.