Actress Tessa Thompson takes the lead in the film Hedda, a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 classic Hedda Gabler, and also serves as a producer on the film. Directed by Nia DaCosta, the adaptation brings a contemporary lens to the original play and introduces a distinctly queer interpretation. During a global press conference, Thompson reflected on her decade-long creative partnership with DaCosta and spoke about revisiting Hedda Gabler for today’s audience.

About her Relationship with Nia DaCosta

Director Nia and Tessa’s working dynamic evolved over time. Tessa explained, “I first met her at the Sundance Film Labs. She wanted to make her first feature called Little Woods and I was there just donating my time. I didn’t think that we would go on to make a film together. And that began our collaboration, 10 years ago. When she first told me that she wanted to work on an adaptation of Hedda Gabler, I didn’t imagine that she meant she wanted me to play Hedda. It’s a character that’s captivated me. But I didn’t understand what the sort of cinematic imperative was to retell it in this time. And it was only when I read her first draft, I really understood what she wanted to do with it, which is to take it apart and put it back together.”

About the Challenges She Faced as an Actor and Producer

Making the Hedda Gabler adaptation wasn’t easy. The Hollywood writers’ strike made things extra difficult. Tessa said, “Two days before we began shooting, the strike happened (Hollywood strike). And we thought it would just be a couple of weeks, and it ended up being a double strike, which lasted for some time. One of the challenges was to keep it afloat. We had already moved into this incredible estate, and we had wallpapered the place, and brought in a lot of lacquer. Another challenge was to convince our collaborators and the homeowners to keep the house dressed, because otherwise we probably wouldn’t have been able to make the movie. Those were the productional challenges.”

Not just this, but Thompson faced certain challenges as an actor as well, including getting into the dress for her character, which she feels was not kind to her body. She continued, “It was challenging to gain an understanding of the piece. I did that by watching every adaptation I could get my hand on, reading all of the different translations of the work, and trying to understand architecturally why this a piece that has captivated us for so long. Wearing that dress – the boning and construction of 1950s silhouettes, which are not the kindest to a body, was also challenging. But what’s inherent in the design is the idea that Hedda Gabler is confined and constricted, not just by her time but by her choices.”

Playing Hedda Changed Tessa’s Own Persona

Hedda is smart and calculative, a bit different from Thompson, who calls herself naive. But playing this character did have an impact on her. She explained, “I am a bit naive. Even though we work in an industry where you can sometimes feel those dynamics in the rooms we occupy, I try to ignore that and just relate to people as people, not for what they do or what they can do for me. I’ve always been a bit allergic to that way of moving through the world. But I think embodying a woman who isn’t afraid of that kind of manipulation made me interrogate myself.”

Tessa’s Initial Reaction To Nia DaCosta’s Adaptation of 130-Year-Old Material

Adapting a 130-year-old material also meant that they had to be careful about placing it in the modern context so that it finds relatability. Thompson elaborated, “Something that really struck me was obviously this huge fundamental change that Nia’s made by making a character who’s typically a man, Eilert Lovborg, into Eileen Lovborg It makes the piece queer in a way that the original piece isn’t. It also gives Hedda a real foil. Another woman who’s in the world and making very different choices. Our piece wants to explore pathways to personhood and gaining agency over one’s life. In the original piece, you have Hedda saying, “For once, I want to be in control of a man’s destiny.” And I think in our piece, you see a woman struggling with trying to be in control of her own. Those struggles, even the ones that Eileen are facing of trying to be taken seriously in spaces that are male dominated, is something that I understand.”

Putting Hedda Into A Modern Context

The Thor: Ragnarok actress added, “We exist now in a time where there’s so much positivity around sisterhood or women in relation to each other and I am grateful for that. And this is a woman [Hedda] isn’t necessarily interested in that. She acts out of jealousy and envy. The idea of a woman being quite jealous of another woman and acting out on does not have a lot of grace in the world that we live in now, which I appreciate. But if these feelings are left unchecked, and we don’t allow ourselves to sit with those feelings, we actually cut off parts of ourselves that are important. That was something interesting to unpack through playing her. And something that I’m really interested in modern audiences to engage with.”

Hedda is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Also Read: Nia DaCosta Explains The Bold Queer Reimagining of Hedda, Talks About Her Bond With Tessa Thompson

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