Tessa Thompson on playing on of theatre’s most iconic leading ladies: “It was such a gift and an honor” [EXCLUSIVE]
There are a long list of iconic theatre roles that people want. For men, the list is small but mighty. But for female roles in theatre, the list of characters we all long to play is beautiful and delicious. One of those iconic roles is Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.
The play, which is titled Hedda Gabler, was adapated by Nia DaCosta starring Tessa Thompson and it is a beautiful “modernized” take on Ibsen’s work. The setting is the same, the language is the same, but there is a more modern feel to both Thompson and DaCosta’s work in this film and it is one of the more breathtaking adaptations of this year’s film slate.
I was lucky enough to talk with Thompson, DaCosta, Tom Bateman, and Nina Hoss about the film prior to its release and getting to see Thompson take on a role like Hedda Gabler is something special. But she also may be someone’s entry point into this character.
“It was such a gift and an honor,” Thompson told me about taking on the role. “I never even imagined that I would have the opportunity to play Hedda Gabler. “And if I did even imagine it, it would be on stage and not on screen, I never thought that in engaging with this work. And it was also a gift to go back and see past adaptations and read lots of translations, and then to eventually sort of realize really and truly we were making something that was its own animal, that Nia had taken it apart and put it back together in ways that were so daring and exciting.”
Thompson went on to talk about the love people have for Ibsen’s play but how many don’t know who Hedda Gabler is. “And I think in that way, with great reverence for Ibsen and what he did, we got to really make something entirely new as well that is an amalgamation of so many things, questions we ask ourselves and things that we have felt about our own experience. I think it’s so cool that you studied Ibsen, but so many folks haven’t. And so realizing too that we get to introduce this story to a lot of people and this character to a lot of people.”
You can see our full conversation here:
Hedda is in theaters now.
(featured image: Prime Video)
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