So, we all know that Maisie Williams is pretty much the coolest ever, and Arya Stark is the jam on Game of Thrones. However, in this interview with Flicks and the City from the Berlin Film Festival, Williams shows that she’s awesome above and beyond the character that has made her internationally famous.
One of the best things about her is that she seems to not only value feminism, but truly grasp its essence, unlike some other young female celebrities who seem to misunderstand what it means. She talks up Florence Pugh, her female co-star in the upcoming film The Falling, and you get the sense that she’s someone who genuinely loves watching other women shine, rather than falling into the competitive trap that women are often encouraged to fall into. She also appreciates that we live at a time when gender doesn’t have to dictate behavior.
Williams also reveals that she’s involved in a superhero project starring “a superhero who isn’t super,” that she likens to Kick-Ass. While she couldn’t say much about it, it sounds like an exciting project that’s already been years in the making.
Here are some choice tidbits from the interview:
On Arya’s ultimate goal on Game of Thrones:
I don’t think that Arya’s after the throne. I don’t think that’s her honest direction. I don’t think that that’s what she’s been fighting for this whole time. I see the perfect ending for her to be revenge and then happiness. And I think those sort of come together in her mind. A few seasons ago I thought Arya wasn’t that driven, but now that she’s lost so much, revenge is top of the list. And I think once she’s satisfied with it, she can live peacefully. Hopefully.
On relating more to Arya or Sansa:
Personally, I’d be more like Arya. But I think everybody is a bit of both. I love to dress up, I love to wear beautiful clothes, but I also love to climb trees, mess around with my brothers and throw a fight. A bit of danger as well. But that’s the wonderful thing, as the world is changing, it is okay to be what you want and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. It’s becoming a lot easier to break out of the shell and do whatever the hell you want. It’s not seen as something so crazy anymore, and it’s accepted in a lot of places all around the world. Not everywhere, but that’s what I hope to change.
On Arya being a feminist role model:
I think in this industry, for actors and actresses, whether you chose to or not, you become a role model to people and that’s the responsibility you have to take on with everything else. And you continue being yourself and mindful about the people looking up to you. Then there are some other people who just do whatever they want to. Both in my opinion are completely reasonable, but I think I am very aware that the things I say and the clothes I wear are influential to girls and boys. And I think about the characters I play. At the beginning, Arya was just the first role I ever landed, but now as I’m growing up, she’s become such a wonderful person in television for people to watch. And I’m so thrilled I get to be a part of that. I think she’s a fantastic role model for girls. There is no gender stereotype, you can do with your life as you please. It’s almost by chance that I managed to take on this role so young and now that I’ve got a taste of playing these strong female characters that aren’t put into any sort of mould I want to continue doing that.
On her YouTube collaborations:
I think YouTube, the internet in general, is a massive place and a huge influence for a lot of teenagers and myself, so YouTube is a wonderful place, where people can just be creative and with no scripts, no plans they can just do what they want to do and I love being a part of that. It’s also really important for me, when you play so many different characters, it’s sometimes nice to show the world who you are personally, who Maisie is. They see you as Arya, they see you as these other roles, sometimes it’s nice to just show people what you’re like and show how different you are to these people. That’s the main reason why I do YouTube stuff and plus, I’m such a massive fan of it. It’s nice to be invited to that. Superfruit, the guys from Pentatonix, they make me laugh endlessly. I love Grace Helbig and Jenna Marbles, just doing fantastic things really and being themselves, and not being affected by anything. When they started doing this, they had no followers, no subscribers or anything like that, they just did it, because they wanted to. And I find it so admirable that they’ve stuck through it for so long, and are now being rewarded for that. I just like the way that that comes about for them.
Check out the interview in full in the video below, and be reminded that as long as there are people like Maisie Williams, there is hope for a more feminist Hollywood.
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