A Conversation with Nia DaCosta, Tessa Thompson, and Nina Hoss on "Hedda"

                                                                           Picture: Rotten Tomatoes

A Conversation with Nia DaCosta, Tessa Thompson, and Nina Hoss on Hedda

By; Nathaniel Simpson

    For Amazon-MGM's FYC season, I just attended a press conference yesterday for their new film by Nia DaCosta titled Hedda, based on the play written by Henrik Ibsen. The conversation, which was moderated by Stacey Wilson Hunt, featured DaCosta, who was the Writer/Director/Producer, as well as Producer/Actor Tessa Thompson and Actor Nina Hoss. The conversation explored the meaning behind the picture to the three talented women, as well as how they approached different aspects of the story and bringing this play to life on the screen. 

    Hedda follows Thompson's titular character as she is bored and lonely at her exquisite mansion with her husband George, who she doesn't really love. When they throw a lavish party, her former flame, controversial queer author Eileen Lovborg (Hoss), shows up, and throws Hedda on a downward spiral of lies and manipulation which consumes her entire night at the party. 

    When DaCosta was asked about what drew her to make this picture, she explained how she first read the play when she was studying for her Master's in 2012, which then prompted her to find a recording of the play at a theater library. What she found was the performance of the material was simply lacking in the humor, tension, and sexiness that she envisioned in her head when she read the script. She then wanted to fill in the gaps that the performance was lacking, which then became her own version of the story. 

                                                                                             Picture: Hollywood Reporter

    She then went on to say that the most challenging part of crafting this movie was trying to find what to cut out from the original source material and what to make sure they kept. She explained how the character of Aunt Julie simply had to be written out of her picture, but she wanted to keep enough in the final product that would allow the characters to still maintain their characterization that was present in the play she read while getting her Master's. When she was also asked about what makes her version of the story feels so urgent to tell in this modern day and age, she said she didn't ever feel like there was a sense of urgency in crafting this picture. She wanted to tell this story and has since gained a new outlook on the themes and the characters that she perhaps didn't have when she was 22 and still in college. 

    In terms of trying to capture everything she wanted on screen, DaCosta said they had two major rehearsals - one before the SAG-AFTRA strike and one after. She said rehearsal is really important to her, not only in the sense of blocking and trying to figure out how to capture the story through the camera, but to help the performers get into the headspace of their respective characters, allowing them to read the dialogue and really add their own to what it written. 

In terms of the performers here, they really embody these roles and really give their all. 

Picture: Bi.org

Thompson is playing a woman that is struggling to find herself and can't hold on to her own sense of self. She noted that when reading the script, she felt a certain way about it that then evolved and changed when she had more time to reflect on the story and the characters during the Actor's Strike. She said she sort of saw the character of Hedda as presenting herself with loads of power when she truly doesn't have much power internally. It's a really interesting role to play for her as she has to find out how to balance the dichotomy of the internal thoughts of her character. 

    She answered my question from the press conference, with me asking what the most challenging aspect of the shoot was as a performer. She said that there were two very challenging aspects to making this film - diving deep into the dark corners of humanity as the character of Hedda and trying to figure out if they were going to make this picture because of the strike. She said that the strike brought a lot of anxiety, excitement, and nerves as they want to get the picture started back up again, but were scared they were unable to make the picture again after the strike ended. The same sentiment was shared by Hoss, and she agreed with Thompson's statement about how hard it was diving into the dark aspects of the character as she had played Hedda before on stage. 

    Hoss plays the character of Eileen, and she said she was really drawn to play a different role in this story based on DaCosta's screenplay and how she can play the opposite character this time around. Like I mentioned, she had played Hedda before, so it really compelled her when she was offered the role of Hedda's former flame. She said it was challenging to let go of what she remembers from performing this story the first time around and try to craft this new take on the iconic tale. She was drawn to the character of Eileen in how DaCosta wrote her character, and she wanted to showcase the misogyny in men when they feel threatened by a woman. 

    Hedda is now streaming on Amazon Prime, and this is a great picture that needs to be seen. There is a lot of passion and hard work that went into this picture, and it was incredibly interesting hearing these three talented women talk about making this film. Not only does it open my eyes to aspects I didn't pick up on my first watch, but gives me a deeper appreciation for the film as a whole.