“A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” lead actor Emma Myers told Business Insider that she had two weeks to practice her British accent for the role before shooting started.
In the teen drama, which premieres on Netflix on Thursday, Florida-born Myers — who made her name in “Wednesday” — plays Pip Fitz-Amobi. For a school project, Pip tries to solve a murder that happened five years earlier in the small English village where she lives.
The 2019 novel that the series is based on, “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” by Holly Jackson, was a New York Times bestseller and became popular after blowing up on “BookTok.”
Myers said she felt some pressure playing Pip because of the book’s popularity, which wasn’t helped by a short lead time.
“I think I had about two weeks from when I joined to when we started shooting, so that was a bit scary,” Myers, who was cast in June 2023, said. “I had quite a short prep time compared to most projects.”
The length of time between casting and filming varies depending on the project, but typically, lead actors have months to prepare for major movies and TV shows.
A representative for Netflix did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider outside business hours.
As the only American actor in the cast, Myers had the added challenge of practicing a new accent. The reaction to her accent has been mixed, with people both praising and criticizing it on social media.
Myers said she “constantly” called her dialect coach in the time she had to prepare.
“I kind of drilled the accent in those two weeks and had an amazing dialect coach,” she said.
Myers added that rehearsing with the other cast members was “a big help” in preparing for the series.
Myers said that the series’ creative team discussed whether Pip was neurodivergent
Fans of the book have long speculated whether Pip is autistic, as did viewers who saw the series when it premiered in the UK in July.
Myers said there were a “few conversations” about whether Pip is neurodivergent ahead of filming.
“We never really landed on yes or no,” Myers said, appearing to refer to discussions with the show’s creative team. “If you interpret her that way, then for sure. I don’t think I was really portraying her either way.”
Myers concluded that the process of preparing for the role was “a little bit daunting” but she was “ultimately glad I decided to do it because it was a good challenge.”
“A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” premieres on Netflix on August 1.
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