Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson on Adapting Ibsen's 'Hedda' for a Modern Audience

Reimagining 'Hedda'

• 💡 Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson discuss their adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, "Hedda Gabler," reimagining the protagonist as a character with charm, sexual fluidity, and mischievousness.
• 🎯 The film situates Hedda in 1950s England, a period chosen for its cultural association with repression and conformity, reflecting post-World War II trauma and societal attempts to rebuild.
• 🔑 DaCosta describes wrestling with the character of Hedda, seeking to understand and present a specific version of her through Tessa Thompson's performance.

Hedda's Character and Motivations

• 🧠 Hedda is presented as an enigmatic figure whose core themes revolve around personhood, self-knowing, power, bravery, and cowardice.
• 🎭 Thompson views Hedda not as an Ibsen diva, but as a complex woman whose motivations are fascinating, especially after DaCosta's deconstruction and reconstruction of the character.
• ⚡ The adaptation explores Hedda's desire for a future she wants with her husband, while confronting the life she might have had, leading to devastating consequences.

Themes of Race, Sexuality, and Agency

• 🏳️‍🌈 DaCosta intentionally made Hedda a queer woman of color for the 1950s setting, finding it offered dynamic storytelling opportunities and addressed the heteronormative nature of period pieces.
• ⚖️ Thompson explains that Hedda chooses to marry George due to pragmatic considerations like access to privilege and resources, especially as a woman of color in the 1950s facing societal constraints and the dangers of being openly queer.
• 🧩 The intersection of Hedda's race and sexuality challenges her ability to find a pathway to personhood and autonomy within the society of the time.

Production and Performance Insights

• 🎬 DaCosta envisioned the adaptation cinematically, with specific filmic images like Hedda's hand bracing on a wall, suggesting that the story became a movie in that moment.
• 🏠 The film was shot at Flint Hall in the Midlands, a location that became a character in itself, providing nearly all the necessary elements for the production, including the ability to stage dramatic events like fireworks and a chandelier smashing.
• 🎭 Thompson discusses her role as a producer through her company Viva Mod, emphasizing the collaborative nature of filmmaking and the process of seeing a filmmaker's vision through post-production.
• 🗣️ The distinctive voice of Hedda was developed by considering the mannered speech of the aristocracy in the 1950s, exploring how Hedda might be reaching for something inauthentic to her.

Key Scenes and Interpretations

• 💔 A pivotal scene highlighted for rewatching is the bedroom scene between Eileen and Hedda, where truth, lies, conscious and unconscious deceptions, and missed opportunities for connection are explored.
• 🎭 Thompson describes Hedda's manipulation not as malicious, but akin to a child's behavior—innocent yet capable of unsavory impulses before socialization.
• ✨ The film's ending, with Hedda caught between finality and possibility, is described as her breaking into a wild, wanting, wicked smile, capturing her complex emotional state.