How To Make a Killing and Vladimir star on embracing slow living

Imagine you're an actor. You've got a new film out, and the Netflix show you're part of is one of the streamer's buzziest new additions.

With all that attention, do you ever pop up in your own social media feed?

Jessica Henwick is taken aback by the suggestion.

"Oh, God, no. Thank God," she says.

"Is that possible? Does that happen?"

While her own For You Page is a Jessica Henwick-free zone, she might have been popping up on yours lately.

She's currently starring in two major productions that have landed at once - the Netflix hit Vladimir and How to Make a Killing, the dark, comedic thriller with Glen Powell.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Henwick explains how the movie held up a mirror to her own life, and led her down a path of balancing slow living with the busy life of an in-demand actor.

Henwick has been working consistently since her teens, notching up credits in Game of Thrones, Star Wars, The Matrix and well-regarded indie films including backpacker thriller The Royal Hotel.

In How to Make a Killing she plays Ruth, the love interest of main character Becket (Powell) - a man who systematically kills off his filthy rich relatives to inherit their massive fortune.

Ruth, a fashion designer who quits the high-pressure world to become a teacher, acts as a contrast to the hustle culture-inspired ambitions of wannabe billionaire Becket, Henwick says.

She says one of Ruth's lines - "no-one teaches us to dream small" - got her thinking about her own path in life.

"I realised how much I related to that as someone who has been a part of that hustle culture for, I think it's 15 years now since I started working professionally," she says.

"Always striving for more, bigger, better.

"It's really easy to lose sight of why you started doing what you do."

For her, Henwick says, Ruth represents the "slow living" movement that's been gaining traction on social media, encouraging people to avoid burnout.

The idea resonated with her.

"I hustled for years and then I just kind of had to explode," she says.

"It was too much. It's too much to handle. And some of it just doesn't matter.

"Some of the stuff that we tell ourselves to care about. Really, when you're on your deathbed, you're not going to be thinking about any of that."

Henwick says she began to embrace activities she'd previously have dismissed as a "waste of time" if they weren't leading to "visible results" in her career.

So she started turning to things that force her to "slow down and be really present, like gardening, reading, playing piano".

"And, actually, it's just so good for your mental health."

Henwick says she also tried to "get rid of fast dopamine hits" by putting time limits on her social media apps.

"It annoys me that I have to do that, but it's a trick that works," she says.

Limiting social media time also helps with distancing herself from the discourse around her latest starring roles, especially when viewers are weighing in on two at the same time.

"For the most part I just have the vague overview of what's going on and then I kind of step away," she says.

How to Make a Killing had a lukewarm critical reaction but "really seems to be finding its feet with audiences," Henwick says, "whereas Vladimir really seems to be finding its feet with critics".

"I have a good sense of things, but definitely Vladimir has surpassed what I think any of us could have hoped."

Henwick does admit, though, that her commitment to slow living doesn't always match up well with her occupation.

When she speaks to Newsbeat she's just wrapped filming on the latest episodes of Apple TV's Silo, and pitching a script she's written for what she hopes will be her first feature film as a director.

With huge mergers and the threat of strikes looming over Hollywood, it's a daunting prospect.

"Trying to scrape together money in a very tumultuous industry right now is hard," she says.

"Independent cinema is certainly not dead, it's doing well.

"But a lot of companies that finance independent cinema are folding or being bought out, so it's a hard time to make a film on that kind of budget scale.

"But I have faith - I'm putting it out there."

While it doesn't sound like her career is letting up - she's also got two movies currently in post-production - Henwick says she's trying to go at her own pace.

"I've started to say no and not just take any job that's kind of coming my way. I'm being pickier," she says.

"It's something that I haven't quite figured out how to marry the two together.

"I'll let you know when I get there."

• How to Make a Killing is in UK cinemas from 11 March.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.