First things first? She knows better

JODIE WHITTAKER was such a novice in front of the camera that on her first day on the set of “Venus” she had no idea movies were shot out of sequence. “I said, ‘Why are we not filming the first scene?’ ”

Whittaker won the pivotal role of Jessie in Roger Michell’s romantic drama “Venus” with a professional resume that listed just eight days of work on a TV movie. Jessie is a surly teenager who comes to live with her staid great-uncle, an aging actor (Leslie Phillips). Though she quickly tries her relative’s patience, his good friend and fellow actor (Peter O’Toole) becomes instantly smitten with her and shows her the cultural sights of London.

“It was like a huge master class in acting,” says Whittaker, who graduated last year from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. “I had no excuses for being terrible because I had these amazing people around me. If I wasn’t any good, I couldn’t be blaming my costars.”

Whittaker, 24, found the veteran O’Toole to be “absolutely hilarious. Peter and I had really good chemistry.”

And though a novice, Whittaker realizes that parts like Jessie don’t often come around. “A lot of young actresses don’t get to play such well-written young people.”

-- Susan King