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Jess By October 17, 2016 0 Comments

One of the biggest questions from Ransom Riggs fans was why the characters of Emma Bloom and Olive Abroholos Elephanta were swapped for the film adaptation of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” Olive (Lauren McCrostie) is supposed to have an air peculiarity, but on screen she has fire. “I’m really glad you asked that because it’s something I do enjoy addressing,” actress Ella Purnell, who plays Emma, said during an interview.

“Obviously, the decision did not come from me, it came from [screenwriter] Jane Goldman and [director] Tim [Burton] and the producers, and when I first read it I was kind of bummed because I wanted to be the fiery, badass character, like every girl does,” she recalled. “Every girl relates to her because you want to be Laura Croft. But when I sat down and thought about it, I was actually really glad that they gave me the opportunity to create a whole new character because if you try to exactly replicate a book as well-loved as this book, you will never please everyone. So you might as well make an adaptation of the book.”

Emma and Olive aren’t the only differences from page to screen: Purnell noted how the ending is completely different, while Samuel L. Jackson plays an amalgamation of characters from the book in the form of Mr. Barron.

“There are several reasons why I’m happy that they [made the change],” Purnell continued. “First of all, I got the opportunity to create a new [character]. Second of all, I didn’t try to go near fiery Emma. I created a whole new character. I didn’t even read the books before I felt like I actually had an idea of who movie Emma was. Third of all, I think it’s much more common to see girls playing with fire, boys playing with fire. You see it quite a lot on the big screen, but how often do you see a girl being dragged along by a rope? That’s so rare, and that’s so Tim Burton. Fire isn’t that Tim Burton, but a girl with these big gothic, lead shoes? That’s very Tim.”

She concluded, “Fourth of all, I think, from an actor’s standpoint, emotionally it gives me somewhere to go. If she’s already really, really strong at the start — I mean, I suppose that’s a whole other emotional storyline that I haven’t thought about. But for me, it made much more sense to start a little bit damaged, a little bit hurt. She’s been betrayed, she’s lost her trust, and she’s been dealing with these feelings of hurt and betrayal and sadness for 60 years, and she goes on this whole journey where she steps into herself. She becomes slightly more confident, she becomes slightly more protective of her younger siblings, and she grows into herself a little bit. She may be thousands of years old, but, at the end of the day, she’s a 16-year-old girl. She wants a boyfriend. No, I’m joking.”

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is in theaters everywhere.

Jess By October 05, 2016 0 Comments

We have added the Schon magazine scans and feature to the gallery … you can also find the photoshoot by Mark Rabadan here.

Jess By October 05, 2016 0 Comments

We have HQ scans of Ella’s first magazine cover, for Wonderland magazine…

Jess By October 05, 2016 0 Comments

Ella Purnell pulls down her denim overalls, baring her torso and belly button ring. “I love this look,” the 19-year-old actress says, giggling, as a photographer snaps shots of her inside a Los Angeles studio. She flashes her Adidas Superstar kicks, laces undone, as she twists into different poses like a pretzel. “I love the ’90s!” she yells, twirling her newly-curled locks. “I love everything about it! There is something so beautiful about the grunge and carelessness. The style, the mood, the music, the fashion. Kate Moss, Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp in their prime!”

Just minutes later, Purnell swaps looks, this time donning a Phlemuns sweater dress and vintage earrings. Her hair is slicked back from a mixture of smoothing balm, elixir restore and repair oil. It looks like she dived into a swimming pool and popped out five seconds later. Her face is sometimes buried in her iPhone, but she’s chipper and bubbly, smiling ear to ear. She’s fresh off the plane from East London and psyched to be visiting the States for ten days doing publicity for her new fantasy movie Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, out this Friday. She admits that she could never do modeling professionally, even if she’s good at it. “I don’t care what I look like,” she admits. “I don’t dress up much. I wear trainers and jeans. I would probably get so tired of people talking about my appearance all the time.”

It’s an ironic statement for a girl who got her start modeling as a baby. She switched to acting at age nine, when she started taking classes at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Two years later, she auditioned for the play Oliver! and was cast in a London performance for one year. She says she absolutely loves theater and has also be into singing since a very young age. She would often strum on the guitar and play piano while singing classical tunes in French and German. She describes herself back then as a shy girl with glasses and greasy hair, sharing moments by herself reading in a corner at school. She didn’t like sports or socializing much, but she had a big imagination. She would play spy games with her only friend in grade school. “Everyone would think, ‘What are these girls doing?’ But we didn’t care. I was weird and didn’t want to be cool. I was never the popular girl,” she says. “I wasn’t really bullied, I enjoyed being by myself. It taught me how to be independent.”

Purnell received her first taste of movie stardom when she played younger versions of Keira Knightley’s character in 2010’s Never Let Me Go and Angelina Jolie’s title protagonist in Walt Disney’s 2014 Maleficent. Most recently, she wrapped the aforementioned Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, directed by Tim Burton. She spent six months bringing life to character Emma Bloom, a girl who has the ability to manipulate air. For a week straight, she performed in a large tank surrounded by a green screen as the camera captured her underwater. Interestingly, her biggest fear is drowning, which nearly happened to her in ocean when she was 13 years old (she was rescued by a passing boatman).

On set, not everything went to plan. Tim Burton smashed his head into a lighting device, and he ended up going to the hospital. They thought he might have had a concussion, but he quickly recovered. Another day, the set got so smoky that the sprinklers turned on in the electrical room and everyone scrambled to get the equipment out. Still, the film was completed and looks to be classic Burton. “He’s a genius. He’s an easy, beautiful and kind soul,” Purnell says of the director. “He’s so smart and open to everything: your interpretation, views and opinions,” she adds. “With his talent and level of fame, he doesn’t have to be that way. But he is so wonderful and humble. He would always give me great scene advice like, ‘Don’t let your sentences tail off.’ I appreciated that.”

As she twists her petite frame into different poses like a pretzel, Purnell radiates with confidence, and that shy kid in school feels like a lifetime away. She credits her current poise and sense of self with something her mother taught her when she was young — that every woman is beautiful. “If someone is going to say I’m too skinny, I don’t care. I grew a thick enough skin to deflect from it,” she declares. “I’m just happy with myself and where I am at in my life right now.”

Jess By October 05, 2016 0 Comments

Here are some recent interviews with Ella for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Jess By September 23, 2016 0 Comments

Ella and Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children were featured in SFX Magazine’s November 2016 issue…

Jess By September 14, 2016 0 Comments

We have added x04 scans of Ella’s interview feature in Malibu magazine…

Jess By September 08, 2016 0 Comments

We have added some new scans of Ella from Total Film and Marie Claire to the gallery…

Jess By June 21, 2016 0 Comments

AGE: 19. HOMETOWN: East London, “Near Canary Wharf, a neighborhood called Isle of Dogs.” UP NEXT: Tim Burton’s adaptation of Ransom Riggs’s novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children; Access All Areas; The Journey Is the Destination.

JOHN ORTVED: How did you get discovered?

ELLA PURNELL: I did a bit of baby modeling. I loved it. At 9, I started taking classes at Sylvia Young Theatre School. One day they asked if I wanted to join their agency. You get in if you’re cute, I guess. When I was 11, I did Oliver! in the West End. I’m desperate to get back into theater; that’s my true passion. Cheesy musicals.

ORTVED: What’s it like working with Tim Burton?

PURNELL: We had a discussion before my audition. He asked questions: “What do you see Emma doing and saying and feeling?” It felt like a collaboration. In all the big scenes, he’d ask, “What do you think?” The kids love him. He’s like the Pied Piper.

ORTVED: Do you see yourself moving toward theater and musicals?

PURNELL: I hope. What I’m trying to do now is learn and improve and grow as a person. What I use when I’m acting comes from what I learn about myself. I didn’t go to drama school. I need to become a better actor before I go onstage. It’s harder to fake it onstage than onscreen.

ORTVED: What’s your peculiarity?

PURNELL: I can’t fly. I’m not full of beans. I can make an awesome duck noise. I do great animal impressions. [imitates a duck quack]

ORTVED: What are you reading?

PURNELL: The Girl Who Played With Fire. I think it’s really hard for filmmakers to adapt books. For Miss Peregrine, my character is different; she even has a different peculiarity than in the book. When people realized, I put out a statement: “Just trust me on this one.”

ORTVED: You grew up with siblings?

PURNELL: I have three younger brothers. Try doing puberty when you have three little brothers telling you how spotty and gross and disgusting you are.

Marie By September 11, 2015 0 Comments

It looks like Ella is dating her (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) co-star. The actress took to instagram to post this adorable video of them and wrote “6 weeks of waiting was more than worth one afternoon with you ? until next time my love, counting down the days“. Either that, or they’re making another movie together?!

6 weeks of waiting was more than worth one afternoon with you ? until next time my love, counting down the days

A video posted by Ella Purnell (@ella_purnell) on