DIVA sat down with Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots and director Nia DaCosta to find out more
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY AMAZON MGM STUDIOS
One evening can change everything, especially if you’re part of Nia DaCosta’s brazen and bold reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play Hedda Gabler. Starring Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots as three central queer women, the film unfolds into chaos when a party goes wrong.
Playing the titular character Hedda, queer icon Tessa embodies the life of a bored housewife who is still in love with her ex, an academic called Eileen (Nina). Things start to go awry when Eileen turns up with her new lover, Thea (Imogen), and a manuscript that could mess Hedda’s newlywed life up completely.
Speaking to DIVA, Nia opened up about the fact that she hadn’t actually planned to “make a queer Hedda”. In changing the character of Eilert to Eileen from the source text, Nia was excited by the prospect of having three queer women at the heart of this story. “It made the things I loved about the original play that much stronger,” Nia explains. “It really deepened her. It made the search for personhood and freedom more complicated.”
Unlike Ibsen’s original play, this new adaptation takes the story of Hedda Gabler into 1950s England, where sex is still taboo and lesbianism is perceived as a myth. Taking on the role of Eileen, Nina says that the sapphic love triangle made the story more “interesting”. “When you’re dealing with three women, you have no clue what’s going on. All these women are at different points in their queerness and what they want from life.”
In a film that continually presents its characters in moments of liberation and repression, Tessa tells DIVA that she felt most free on set when dancing. “We really get to see this hunger and desire to be free,” Tessa recounts, “At their best, making films feels like a dance when you’re really in it. When that works, it feels so good.”
Despite the many twists and turns in the film’s narrative, Imogen hopes that audiences are able to take away some of this freedom from the central trio. “Just live your life!” Imogen exclaims. “Be vulnerable. Expose yourself and make mistakes. Have real feelings. Lean in – it’s going to be messy, but one day you’re going to be in the grave.”
You can watch Hedda in theatres on 24 October, or on Amazon Prime on 29 October.
Pssst… you can read more from these stars in our December/January issue which is available to order from divadirect.info now.
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