Arcane Star Ella Purnell Breaks Down Her Harlequin Take on Jinx

Arcane Star Ella Purnell Breaks Down Her ‘Harlequin’ Take on Jinx

Arcane’s Ella Purnell details how she rose to Jinx’s wild nature in the Netflix series and shares what it sounds like when she throws a punch.

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Arcane Star Ella Purnell Breaks Down Her Harlequin Take on Jinx

Jinx is one of the most beloved champions of the MOBA League of Legends. Netflix is diving deep into her story with their new video game adaptation Arcane. Part of what makes Jinx so compelling is her mania, making her a bundle of unpredictable energy that leaves chaos in her wake. But she’s also got relationships and attachments that have shown her love and trauma, forming the wild woman she’s become. Channeling this energy into the animated television series is the perfect way to ensure a vibrant, larger-than-life story centered on one of the most well-known (and played) characters from the fan-favorite franchise.

Ella Purnell, the voice actor for Jinx, sat down with CBR to talk about bringing this wild champion to life. Not only does she dive into her process for channeling Jinx’s inconsistent nature, but she also shared stories about finding Jinx’s sound effects — from effort grunts to boredom sighs — and all the in-between moments that help flesh out the character.

CBR: What’s your process for getting into character as Jinx?

Ella Purnell: It’s funny you asked that because someone earlier asked me to say a line as Jinx and I just couldn’t do it. Without sounding like one of those really annoying actors that I hate, I just couldn’t. For the first time ever in my life, I do kind of have a process. I never usually do. But I think just because she requires so much energy, usually, my process is drinking nine coffees, jumping up and down, going into the booth and just giving it like 150% and then come out and crash. It’s not much of a process, but it works.

That’s the type of chaotic energy I think we expected.

Yeah, exactly. Like put on odd socks, feel really wild for a while. Sometimes, if I’m feeling sad or shy or quiet or tired that day that I happen to be recording, I’ll go in and I’ll just be like, “Hey, I’m going to do some really weird shit for a second, don’t look at me or laugh.” And they’ll be like, “All right.” Now they’re so used to me just pulling a complete Jim Carrey, just doing weird stuff to get myself out of my comfort zone so I can really learn to play because the last thing that Jinx is is consistent. Every time has to bring something different.

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It seems like a lot to play. So is there a part of Jinx’s character that is easier for you to identify with? Is there a part that’s particularly difficult?

I love this character. I really do. She’s so much fun and I’ve never ever ever done anything like this. It’s exactly what I wanted at this time. I love doing all her crazy bits, like her little childish whims, the little tiny in-between moments that don’t necessarily define her as a character but absolutely fill in the blanks where the external personality padding is. The little laughs, the little movements, the sighs or the boredom sounds — things like that are so Jinx. It’s so annoying, and unlikable, and bratty. She does whatever she wants to do. And those little fleeting things, I really enjoy playing those. I relate a lot to her easily distractible tendencies and having heaps of energy and that kind of stuff. I relate to the spontaneity of her “ooh, shiny,” that kind of vibe.

What was difficult was probably all the fighting stuff, actually. This was my first ever voiceover job, and first voiceover audition at that. I remember — I don’t think I’ve told this yet — but the first time it was like “effort,” and it was like, “Okay, so you’re gonna throw this huge punch and we need a punch effort.” I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never punched anyone before. I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do that.” And they’re like, “Oh, you know, just the sound you’d make.” I was like, “No, no, I don’t know how to do that.” So I had to try all these different sounds. The first couple came out like those stupid karate chop noises that sound really ridiculous. And I was like, “Okay, she would not — it’s got to be strong. It’s got to come from the gut.” So figuring out that stuff. You do a couple of those noises and you’re like, “How is this my life?”

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Jinx has been a champion for a long time, but she’s got a little bit of a different visual style in this show. Were you working from any sort of image for bringing her to life?

Yes, I had all the — Oh, God, this was a long time ago, so I might be getting my timelines mixed up. But they did show me a prototype style, some images of her, and obviously, there’s all the stuff online, like a well, a fountain of information online. I wanted to lean slightly away from the sexualization of her and the pure, gory violence of her and lean more into the family relationships that she has — the trauma, the hurt, the context around her character, why she is the way that she is. She wasn’t just born this super sexy psychopath. That doesn’t happen. She became the way that she is because of the trauma that she experienced. I think seeing Powder at the start of the season is really helpful in setting that context for the audience.

They’ve also visualized her mania in a new way in this show. Does that sort of feed into how you were envisioning her psychopathy?

It definitely helped, yeah. If she was just in boots and a t-shirt, I probably wouldn’t have played her that way, so it 100% helps.

I think actually they showed me in the audition, “Okay, so this is what we’re imagining her to look like.” And as soon as I saw that, I got Harlequin vibes. I was like, “Oh!” She’s holding this submachine gun and she’s got the braids and the boots and the rows of bullets on her and like piercings and tattoos, and you’re like, “Oh, okay, she’s a badass. Okay, now I get it.” It definitely facilitates — and even just having blue hair, everybody with blue hair has a story, right? So you know to amp that up a little bit.

Arcane, based on League of Legends, debuts Nov. 6 on Netflix.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/arcane-ella-purnell-jinx-interview/

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