Think of the “indie sleaze” period (a moniker retroactively bestowed upon the live music-dominated culture of the mid-late Noughties), and a specific set of cultural artefacts will spring to mind: skinny jeans, MySpace, and Effy from Skins.
But speaking to me almost two decades after she burst onto our screens as that troubled teen, with her backcombed hair and ripped fishnets, Kaya Scodelario says that there’s a lot that nostalgia-obsessed Gen Z gets wrong about this period. “So much,” she insists, her eyebrows raised. “I remember being in a foam rave in Nambucca on Holloway Road, which was like the indie mecca, and it was horrible! I nearly drowned. I got punched in the eye. It wasn’t fun!”
Raised in Camden with the accent to match, Scodelario, 33, is London through and through. She’s currently at home north of the river where she lives with her two children (their father is fellow actor Benjamin Walker – he and Scodelario separated last year but remain on good terms). After living “out of a suitcase for the better part of 15 years”, Scodelario is relishing spending more time in the UK these days. She recently wrapped on the eagerly awaited second season of Netflix’s gangster series The Gentlemen, so this summer was a refreshingly local one, she explains, her gold jewellery flashing as she gesticulates.
Drawn to variety, these days Scodelario relishes alternating between “popcorn movies” (the Pirates of the Caribbean, Maze Runner and Resident Evil franchises are all on her CV) and indie films where “you can push those boundaries a little bit”. Which explains why, after wrapping the flashy first season of The Gentlemen, she found herself in Ottawa, Canada, being directed by Alex Winter (known for playing Bill in the classic US comedy Bill & Ted), alongside Josh Gad (best-known for voicing Olaf in Disney’s Frozen) and Billie Lourd (Booksmart; The Last Showgirl).
The project in question was Adulthood, a gripping, pacy thriller I struggle to describe due to the sheer number of twists, turns and potential spoilers. The basic premise: adult siblings Meg (Scodelario, with an impressively convincing American accent) and Noah (Gad) head back to their childhood home after their mother has a stroke. While sorting through the basement, the pair discover a secret that changes everything they know about their family, and leads them down a chaotic path whose events nobody could predict.
Adulthood is part film noir thriller, part dark comedy. For Scodelario, who rarely receives funny scripts, it was an exciting proposition. Having a theatre and Disney star like Gad, known for his loud, boisterous characters (although stoner Noah is certainly no Olaf) as a scene partner was equally intriguing. “He really encouraged me to lean into my dry Britishness and my sarcasm,” she says.
Working with Winter must have brought out the comedy side too? “Weirdly, super serious guy,” Scodelario says. “Sometimes you get a bit sceptical of actors deciding they can just direct, right? I think it’s something that happens and they’re like, ‘Ah, I’m a director now!’ but he knows exactly what he’s talking about.”
Seeing Winter work, Scodelario couldn’t help thinking about the other creative hats she could wear on set. Producing particularly appeals: “I want to be a part of the problem-solving of creating something; and within that, making sure that we bring together people from all different walks of life and represent what society actually looks like.” A chuckle. “Also, my maths is really shit, and there’s actually a lot of technical stuff that goes into directing – lenses and cameras and stuff. So that’s probably not my thing.”
Hearing Scodelario talk about the sets she dreams of building, my mind immediately goes to Skins. The gritty, then-controversial teen drama remains wildly popular online, and many credit the ensemble of unknown young actors and exciting writers for its lasting appeal. The casting team were known at the time for approaching schools and drama groups to find their gang of Bristol lads, lasses and layabouts. Raised in a council flat by her single mother, Scodelario is the first to say that she would not be an actor today if she hadn’t been smoking in the street near the audition venue when creator Bryan Elsley spotted her and asked if she wanted to read for Effy.
The Skins cast remain extremely close, and while they don’t view the experience through entirely rose-tinted glasses (shutter shades, if we’re really leaning into the whole indie sleaze thing), Scodelario says they are “all to this day very aware” that the chance they were given was a rare one.
Today, emerging actors will talk about struggling to be seen for roles if they don’t already have a substantial Instagram follower count. The street casting of Skins is often held up as an under-utilised example of what things should be like. Through this process, the team found untapped talent – Dev Patel, Jack O’Connell, Luke Pasqualino – who had an authenticity they’ve turned into impressive and lengthy careers in the UK and Hollywood.
But Skins was an ensemble project, and while keen not to speak for her former colleagues, Scodelario is swift in pointing out that many of her co-stars “didn’t end up having [acting] careers”. “At the time, certain casting directors actively didn’t want to see us because we were the Skins kids,” she says. “We were too edgy, we were too raw… They put us into this Skins box, and I know a lot of the guys felt that it was really difficult to get out of that afterwards.”
With her drug-taking, reckless shagging and arsonist tendencies, Effy has been described as a “gruelling role” for Scodelario since the show first aired. In the years that immediately followed, Scodelario would say that she “liked being pushed” – even that “young actresses need those parts”. With even further hindsight, does she feel the same? Scodelario nods.
“I’m never gonna be able to play a part that isn’t gruelling,” she says. “I probably have been conditioned a little bit to work really, really hard and not complain and get on with it, because I was never afforded the same leeway as my male counterparts.” She pauses, considers, and laughs. “I guess I like the chaos. I don’t know, I’ll ask my therapist next week. But something about wanting it to be gruelling, I find quite appealing.”
In the post-Skins years, Scodelario has worked on period dramas, horror movies and Christmas films. But if she’s honest, there’s only been one character she’s enjoyed playing as much as Effy. That would be Susie, the no-nonsense, uber-glamorous gangster’s daughter from The Gentlemen that led to a career resurgence, particularly on a global scale, that Scodelario was initially shocked by.
Her surprise is slightly hard to believe; we’re talking about a Guy Ritchie Netflix series starring Vinnie Jones and Ray Winstone, after all. But Scodelario insists that the filming experience was so “crazy”, she and co-lead Theo James had no idea how the series was going to turn out. “There were days where it was really heightened, and we had comedians screaming at each other. There were days where it was really violent, and then it was a family drama, and then it was a romance,” she says. “[I thought,] I don’t know what this is. I know we look good, but I don’t know what we’re actually shooting!”
She needn’t have worried. Released in March 2024, the series shot to No 1 on Netflix, with fans clamouring for more ever since. Getting the whole gang back together (with the addition of new cast members Michele Morrone and Maya Jama) was no mean feat, but finally happened this summer, with season two dropping next year: “It is a long time to wait – I get the frustration,” Scodelario reasons. “Took a little bit longer than we’d have liked it to, but it’s definitely going to be worth it.”
Most of all, she was excited to return to Susie. Aged 14, Scodelario set an incredibly high standard for complex female characters. Only now does she feel like she’s reached it again. “I know who Susie is in and out,” Scodelario says passionately. “She’s so uniquely herself, she’s so in control. She’s the smartest person in the room, and she looks good doing it. It’s really nice to step into her shoes.”
For a woman long associated with Doc Martens and bashed up trainers, those shoes aren’t the most comfortable, she clarifies, laughing again. What does she want to do next? “After The Gentlemen, any job where I’m not wearing heels.”
‘Adulthood’ is on UK and Ireland digital platforms 17 November
