“I don’t believe I’d have enjoyed performing a banana blowjob scene,” Emma Mackey thinks, arching an eyebrow as she recalls the scene in Sex Education in which her co-star Ncuti Gatwa cheerfully decapitates the fruit.
The characters in Netflix’s taboo-busting blockbuster frequently find themselves in awkward situations: an inconvenient erection here, a spot of self-loving in a car park there.
The comedy-drama follows Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), a shy adolescent who reluctantly becomes his school’s s*x therapist. Mackey plays Maeve Wiley, a punk bad girl who convinces Otis that establishing an unlicensed s*x clinic will be a profitable economic venture. Maeve has become a feminist icon as a result of her nonconformist temperament and deep loyalty to the women in her life. Mackey has done the same. “I had no idea,” the French-British actor laughs. “I basically believe in human equality, therefore it’s not a huge thing for me.” That’s fantastic because I’d rather be remembered for that than for being an a***hole.”
The young actress is channeling the appearance of a high school rebel. She appears as she stepped out of a John Hughes picture, with chunky boots, a tartan miniskirt, a black turtleneck, and a retro Alice band (The Breakfast Club filmmaker’s work was a big reference point for Sex Education’s creator Laurie Nunn). But she’s more accustomed to a more modern contrast. Mackey has been compared to Margot Robbie several times. They both have high cheekbones, expressive brows, and a square jaw, but it’s not something she enjoys noticing.
She says, “I honestly don’t see it at all.” “However, it’s all right. I wish people would quit comparing themselves to others. It’s flattering to be compared to Margot Robbie, but I’d prefer that people focus on the professions we’re both doing rather than our appearances. People that look alike are churned out by Hollywood, and we love to categorize them. It’s just something we do as a species; we’ve always categorized people.”
While Mackey has a lot more smiles than Maeve, she does share some of Maeve’s characteristics. She admits, “I’m a bit of a lone wolf.” “I don’t want to follow in the footsteps of others; I want to be unique.” Maeve and I are fairly similar in that regard – we just knuckle down.” She had pals growing up in a small, Catholic village in France’s Pays de la Loire, but “I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the drama and politics within that area.” She was concentrating more on her studies. “I was itching to get out and go to university. That was my main concern.”
