Year 7 student Temi Blaev landed a part in the drama Killing Eve. He recounts how he landed the part and about his time on set.
In October last year I was lucky enough to get a part in Season 3 Episode 5 of Killing Eve. Episode 5 is called “Are you from Pinner?” There was an extensive casting call for the role I landed. There were a lot of requirements but the main one was to be able to speak fluent Russian and an ability to speak English with a Russian accent.
I was given a script and a song one evening, to learn by heart and be prepared for a casting the next day. I tried my best and managed to learn both the script and the song in a few hours time. There were lots of other boys competing for this role but I managed to get it! I was very happy as it was a fantastic opportunity for me to develop my acting career.
The whole filming took two weeks. I spent one week filming on set in a rural area in a village in Covasna, Romania. It was an amazing experience. I lived in a hotel and every day we got driven to set which was a village. I had my own big trailer with a kitchen, bed and a shower.
I was given a script with lots of lines to remember. I met with the Director, Shannon Murphy, the crew and the whole cast. It was really great to meet Jodie Comer who plays the main character – Russian assassin Villanelle.
In my episode Villanelle travels to Russia to meet her family. I am playing a Russian boy called Boris – but I do not want to spoil the film for you and give more details. You’d be better to watch it! My episode will be on BBC player on Monday 11 May.
The week I spent in Romania was during half term. Another week filming took place in West London Film Studios where they rebuilt a house from the village. As it was during school time I had a tutor who taught me in between my scenes. Each time we did a couple of trial runs and then filmed 5-6 takes of a scene from different angles. I really enjoyed the whole filming process and never got tired. The process I enjoyed most during filming was when the film director shouted “Action!” and everyone started playing their roles. You forget about the entire world and just act.
Jodie Comer is a fantastic actress and a great person. We have become good friends as we spent lots of time together on set. We laughed a lot and the autograph I got form here she wrote “To Temi, you are a total rock star. Loved working with you!”.
After all the filming was over, me and my family were invited to a Killing Eve wrap up party where I met the entire cast and crew. I met film producers and screenplay writers, I met Sandra Oh (Eve Polastri), Kim Bodnia (Konstantin), Fiona Shaw (Carolyn) and many others. It was really cool as they had seen my episode and everyone knew who I was. Sandra was very nice and when I met her she just said: “Hello! I know who you are!”. They all said I played my role very well and the film director gave me excellent feedback saying: “Temi, I am very happy I chose you for the role, you played it exactly as I would have wanted!”. This meant a lot for me as an actor. I really want to go back on set and see all my Killing Eve family again!
I also wanted to say a special thank you to Mr Meier and Miss Richard who were very supportive with my acting career!
