Jodie Turner-Smith on tackling tough ‘Without Remorse’ role while pregnant: ‘Definitely a whole other level’

The model actress says that playing a SEAL team member while expecting was a challenge

Even though Without Remorse has everyone swooning over Michael B. Jordan, there was another badass on the set thanks to Jodie Turner-Smith who costars as his fellow SEAL team member.

Read More: Michael B. Jordan reveals why he wanted Lauren London for ‘Without Remorse’

The British actress who won our hearts in Queen & Slim showed off some serious skills in the role and held her own in the high-energy action flick, all while expecting her first child with her husband, Joshua Jackson.

theGrio caught up with her recently to find out how she tackled the physically demanding role that was originally intended to be played by a man.

Without Remorse comes from Tom Clancy and serves as the origin story of beloved action hero, John Clark, who is part of the Jack Ryan universe. In it, the elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife.

When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL Lt. Commander Karen Greer, (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war.

Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.

Turner-Smith welcomed a daughter, Janie, in April 2020 with Jackson. She said that while she enjoys the action genre, being pregnant while filming was a challenge.

“This was definitely a whole other level. I love this genre because I kind of started there as I said, on The Last Ship on TNT. That’s when I kind of fell in love and was like, this is really, really fun to do this genre,” she says.

“So for me, it’s kind of like a return to that, but obviously, in terms of a wider audience being able to see me, for a lot of people, this is going to be the first time seeing me do this. Even more so when they realize that I did it while I was pregnant.”

Turner-Smith explained the intense training she had to endure to pull off during this project and how she and her costars managed to master the lingo used in real-life missions.

“I was definitely doing physical training, like working out with a trainer. But also we were working with guys who were consulting for the film, with military backgrounds who would make sure that we were moving in and out of spaces authentically, that we were operating in battle scenes authentically, that we were saying things to each other that seemed authentic to the lingo or the speaking among your fellow soldier or sailor in combat,” she continues.

Read More: Lauren London on recognizing her boundaries in ‘Without Remorse’ role: ‘I am deeply in my grief’

“I did a great deal of just talking to men that do what Lieutenant Commander Greer does in real life. Just trying to get a sense of their personalities, their ways of being, the look in their eyes, all of that stuff,” Turner-Smith said.

“What I was really interested to find was there was a sensitivity to these guys and openness, like [they are] very loving. And I thought, wow, that’s very interesting to bring to this character, because I think that a lot of times people think when you make a male character into a female, that is kind of where it ends,” she explains.

“When I found those traits in these men, I thought, OK, this is interesting because then it is authentic for me to lean into those traits.”

Check out the full interview above.

Without Remorse is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

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