Nia, you mentioned that you wrote the script a few years ago but had been sitting on it for a while; why do you think now is the right time?
Nia DaCosta: It was just a natural progression. I wrote the script and then acted in a couple of episodes Best boy. Then, until Best boy happened, I got Candyman. Bye Candyman was happening, I got a Marvel movie. And then while I was working on the Marvel movie, it kept coming to the fore and I didn't really think about what was coming next, but eventually it became really clear that this was it, so it was just the right time.
Iben's Hedda Gabler has had many different iterations, but your adaptation approaches the story from a new perspective. Did you always envision that Gedda would be played by a woman of color, and when did Tessa come into the picture?
Nia: Before I wrote it, I told her, “Hey, I think I'll write an adaptation Hedda. When I came to write this, I thought, “I'll probably ask Tessa to do this,” so I'll write it into the script. Because as a director of color and someone who writes in hopes of diversity in the cast, you have to write race into the script because if you don't, they'll just assume and default to white. Unless you're working with (casting director) Des Hamilton. That's what I like about him. So yes, it was clear from the very beginning that Tessa was going to be the one.
And the role of Tessa and Hedda Gabler was called the Holy Grail by many actors. Did you have a connection with the character before you read Nia's script?
Tessa Thompson: Yes, yes, it definitely is. However, she was not Ibsen's first lady that I read or fell in love with. So it was Nora in doll house, and I always wanted to play Nora. I don't know, I really understood something about Nora even when I read it at a very young age, like 15 or 16. And then I read Hedda Gabler and continued to be puzzled and hypnotized by her.
But really, what attracted me the most was the opportunity to work with Nia and what she did with the adaptation. When she first told me and didn't tell me any ways of changing the original play, she just said she wanted to do an adaptation Hedda Gabler. And just because it was her, I thought, “Okay, cool.”
But I didn't understand why, to be honest. Like, what was the opportunity or what was the call? And then, as soon as I read her script, I really realized how urgent it was and how much she herself was struggling with some of the big questions of the piece that she had built into the material. And that made it really exciting.
