TORONTO (AP) — In Nia DaCosta’s “Hedda,” Tessa Thompson’s titular socialite sows chaos. She manipulates. She cuts people to the bone with a quip. She pours more drinks.
Hedda Gabler, the heroine of Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 play, has long been one of theater’s most tragic figures, a woman hemmed in by societal convention and her own dread of scandal. She is that, and more, in DaCosta’s new “Hedda.”
“Many think of her as a woman that’s suicidal,” Thompson says. “I think of her as someone who’s dying to live, and dying to live on her own terms. She might do some pretty questionable things in the pursuit of that, but I think the actual pursuit is really aspirational and beautiful.”
“Hedda,” which opens in theaters Friday and streams Oct. 29 on Prime Video, is a blistering tour de force for Thompson. In the two-decade career of the 42-year-old Los Angeles native, no role has given Thompson a more complicated, contradiction-rife character that showcases all her charisma, all her cunning, all her capacity to stir things up.
It’s a somewhat rare full-view of Thompson, who has generally favored ensembles, from Marvel movies to “Creed.” And it’s something spikier and sexier for Thompson, whose roles — empathetic, kindhearted — have often hewed closer to her own thoughtful personality. But in “Hedda,” Thompson is brash and brutal.
“Even the dress, taking up that amount of space is really an exercise in taking up space,” Thompson said, relaxing in a Toronto hotel restaurant shortly before “Hedda” premiered earlier this fall. “I’m sensitive to people, I would say. I used to say that I’m a people pleaser and then I read a really fantastic thing that said: So you’re a people pleaser. How many people are currently pleased with you?”
Thompson lets out a great laugh. Far from accruing enemies, Thompson has steadily built a wide following for the nuance and intelligence she brings to a wide swath of roles. “Hedda” has her in the (very competitive) mix for a best actress Oscar nomination this year. Whether that comes to be or not, it’s a performance that firmly lodges Thompson in a pantheon of Hedda Gablers, from Ingrid Bergman to Cate Blanchett.
“It’s daunting but it’s incredible to be part of a tradition,” says Thompson. “It some ways, it puts pressure on, but in some ways it alleviates it. This is not the be-all-end-all. There are so many versions, and we’re doing our own. And I’m also of the mind that if you’re going to take any classical piece, you should have real skin in the game.”
Putting a personal spin on Ibsen
And for both Thompson and DaCosta, “Hedda” is a highly personal film. DaCosta, who also wrote the adaptation, makes significant alterations to Ibsen’s drama while remaining faithful to its tragic underpinnings. Her “Hedda” transfers the play from 19th century Norway to 1950s England. Here, Gabler is queer, but not openly, and instead has taken social shelter by impetuously marrying a wealthy man (Tom Bateman).
On the chaotic night of the film, they are hosting a lavish party at their massive country estate. One of the most notable guests is Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss), a former lover of Hedda’s who isn’t hiding her sexuality or her ambition. (In the play, Lovborg is a man.) With Eileen is her girlfriend (Imogen Poots) and a new manuscript that seems destined to buoy her career as a writer and professor. The gender switch allows DaCosta’s film to offer a portrait of not just one but a trio of women, each swimming their own way through a white, male patriarchy.
Thompson and DaCosta have been friends since meeting at the Sundance Labs. DaCosta’s directing debut, the 2018 indie crime drama “Little Woods,” starred Thompson. DaCosta says she wrote “Hedda” for her.
“I knew she could do it and I knew she would surprise me,” DaCosta says. “She’s kind of a big-sister energy, so loving and kind of the opposite of this character. But she’s incredible at playing these characters who have so much going on that they can’t show. Like in ‘Passing.’”
“Hedda” shares some DNA with Rebecca Hall’s 2021 drama. It starred Thompson as a Black woman and Ruth Negga as her white-passing friend in 1920s New York. “Hedda,” likewise revolves around a character who is hiding — in some instances ruthlessly so — her true nature from both society and herself.
“In that way, I feel like it’s really modern. I think we kind of all do that,” says Thompson. “It’s death by increments. We sort of have to cut off parts of ourselves to fit inside whatever. I experience that even in Hollywood. There are certain things that fundamentally don’t really work for me and I kind of make them work because I want to exist inside of this industry.”
A Hedda like many of us
Thompson started acting in Los Angeles theater. Her break came in the series “Veronica Mars.” Then came parts in acclaimed independent films like “Dear White People” (2014), “Selma” (2014), “Sorry to Bother You” (2018) and “Sylvie’s Love” (2020). In between, she’s mixed in franchises: as Valkyrie in the MCU, the aspiring singer in the “Creed” trilogy and starring in 2019’s “Men in Black: International.”
Mostly, Thompson has made a career on her own terms. She came out publicly as bisexual in 2018. With her production company, she has turned producer for films like “Hedda.”
“I’ve found, in a way that Hedda hasn’t, a kind of agency,” Thompson says. “Starting a production company some years ago was really helpful in that regard, the ability to develop something to feel less like a cog in something moving. Also to be able to, frankly, sometimes take myself out of the frame.”
But it’s clear that Hedda has left a mark on Thompson. The character, she acknowledges, is one she’s still pondering like a puzzle that can’t be completely solved.
“There’s a such a paradox in her,” she says. “She’s fixated on existing inside of society. On the other hand, she’s brave enough to do many of the things that you would not do if you have that interest. But she’s not brave enough to do the ultimate thing, which is to decide to live outside of the parameters of what’s expected of her. In that way, she’s a total, total coward. Like many of us.”