Sophia Di Martino wears a lot of hats—and horns. As Sylvie in Marvel Studios’ Loki, she’s the Goddess of Mischief and the person responsible for unleashing the multiverse. In her work behind the camera, she’s a writer, director, and occasional eater of film stock.
The Mary Sue recently sat down with Di Martino to talk about Sylvie’s past, present, and future, along with her work in horror films and the double standards she faces as a working mom.
Sylvie’s connection with Loki and others
Di Martino says she was surprised when she learned what Sylvie’s next move would be after the end of Loki season one, when she told producer Kevin Wright that she figured Sylvie would be hungry after killing He Who Remains. “I was like, ‘Oh, they took that literally!'” she laughs, recounting how Sylvie shows up at a McDonald’s. “Be careful what you say!” She jokes that if Marvel gets in touch with her about future projects, she’ll tell them she wants Sylvie to relax on a Caribbean island with a cigar.
But despite the burger grease, Loki season 2 gave her a chance to explore Sylvie’s guarded nature. “She’s always making friends in a transactional way,” she says. “There’s always a counter in between [her and the people she knows]. It’s safe for her. She knows they’re not going to hurt her. She knows she’s not going to have to kill them. It’s interesting how it parallels He Who Remains being behind his desk, and she moves it out of the way to kill him.
“That’s the tragedy of Sylvie,” she says. “She knows she can never be truly content.”
We also spoke about a hot topic in the Loki fandom: Sylvie’s fraught relationship with Loki himself. “They’re variants of each other,” Di Martino says, “so we always came from the school of belief that they’re the same being, and that series 1 is a story about self-actualization and self love. All the romance stuff is a cool theory, but it’s not something we ever truly followed. It’s more about how [Sylvie and Loki are] going to be connected forever.”
Sylvie’s punk rock look
Sylvie is a physically tough character, and Di Martino shares that she would do fight choreography in the bathroom to get ready for scenes. “Sylvie’s a badass, and she’s a bit punk,” she says. “You’re never going to see Sylvie in a pair of high heels.”
That badass-ness comes out in Sylvie’s choice of clothes in season 2, from a sleeveless shirt to the safety pins in her armor. “In series two, she’s sort of having a bit of an identity crisis,” Di Martino says. “You know when you grow up and move out of your parents’ home, you have that moment where you’re terrified of the real world, and you’re quite aggressively trying to find out who you are? You try all this new stuff. You get pierced, or tattooed, or you dye your hair pink. I did all of the above. It’s Sylvie’s way of trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.”
Sophia Di Martino on motherhood
During Loki season 1, Di Martino shared an amazing aspect of her costume on social media: two zippers that allowed access to her nursing bra, so that she could feed her baby and pump milk on the job. But like other mothers—myself included—Di Martino found being a working mom to be incredibly difficult. “It’s the hardest thing!” she says. “No one can ever prepare you for how hard it is! But everyone was super supportive, and I’m lucky that I have a job where they help you as much as they can.”
During our talk, she also included a sobering reminder for journalists, including me: while mothers are often asked about how they manage their job and their kids, men are rarely asked the same questions.
“The Lost Films of Bloody Nora” and other directorial work
Along with her work onscreen, Di Martino is also a writer and director. One short film, “The Lost Films of Bloody Nora,” is a foray into horror, with a girl named Nora (Di Martino) finding a camera but dying after she eats the film she makes.
The film was the result of creative play and a lucky find. “My brother in law found a camera on the train—he worked on the train lines—and he gave it to me because he knows that I like old cameras and film,” Di Martino says. “I thought, ‘I’m going to shoot something on this.’ Then I bought some costumes, and [the film] just came from getting dressed up. I have a huge costume box in my house and we do a lot of dressing up and coming up with weird little characters. The creative process is probably quite weird!”
You can check out the full interview in the video above!
(featured image: Disney+)
