Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta have opened up about embracing a little lesbian chaos in Hedda.
Billed as a “provocative, modern reimagining” of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 classic Hedda Gabler, Prime Video’s romantic drama follows its protagonist as she “finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life.”
“Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt, pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal,” the synopsis adds.
In an interview with GAY TIMES, DaCosta said making Hedda queer “gave the characters so much more kind of skin in the game,” and that her queerness “compounded the issues that Hedda and the other two women in the film were feeling.”
The title role is played by Thompson, known for her portrayal of Valkyrie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
Thompson is deliciously wicked in the role. From the start, Hedda commands every room she enters, with her shadiness quickly becoming a defining trait. Reflecting on the film’s reception, Thompson said fans have already dubbed her character “cunty.”
“Before we went to take our film to Toronto, we were, of course, nervous in the way that you always are when you take something there,” she shared.
“Jeremy Kleiner, our producer, called me the day before we were flying to Toronto and he’s like, ‘I’m feeling pretty good about the movie.’ I said, ‘Yeah?’ He said, ‘I read some early responses and they’re calling it cunty!’”
DaCosta revealed that a friend shared a similar view: “She goes, ‘I have two things to say. One: this is the most you movie I’ve ever seen, and two: Tessa is cunt.’”
As one of the few literary adaptations to centre a Black queer woman, Hedda brings a fresh and necessary perspective. DaCosta said it was “so fun” to focus on a Black anti-hero, explaining that she’s drawn to complicated women.
@gaytimes Did Tessa Thompson’s appearance on @RuPaul’s Drag Race help her feel shady? In her latest film, Hedda, Tessa finds herself torn between past loves and her present life over the course of one charged night 👀 #valkyrie #marvelstudios #sapphic #lesbiansoftiktok #tessathompson ♬ original sound – GAY TIMES
“I’m really committed to Black women behaving badly. I think it’s very important that we have more media that displays this side of us,” she said.
“I grew up where either we weren’t mentioned or we were really flattened into negative tropes — or even flattened into positive ones. And I thought, well, I think I’m more interesting than any of that stuff.”
As for her message to Black queer viewers? “Pursue your freedom. Pursue your freedom at any cost.”
Hedda also stars Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, Nina Hoss, Finbar Lynch, Mirren Mack, Jamael Westman, Saffron Hocking, and Kathryn Hunter.
Hedda is out now in cinemas and streaming on Amazon Prime.
Watch the full interview below.
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