""I got the 'yes' first and then many years later I thought I needed to get the 'no' for good measure," Thompson says. "But I do think I'm constantly wrestling with ... my cynicism and my optimism.""
""For my money, I always think if you're gonna do a classic, you ... have to have a good reason to want it, because they are so perfect," she says of the film. "Why take it apart and put it back together unless you have something to say? ... And I think [director] Nia [DaCosta] did that in spades.""
""It's one of the great, extraordinary pleasures of what I get to do ... the process of preparation and research, to meet so many extraordinary people that do incredible work," she says. "I might know something about [their work], but truly you know nothing about it the closer that you look.""
Tessa Thompson wears 'yes' and 'no' tattoos on opposite arms that function as guiding principles and reflect a balance between cynicism and optimism. Thompson has built a career saying yes to interesting roles and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her starring role in Hedda. Hedda reimagines Ibsen's 1891 play with a mixed-race queer protagonist and features director Nia DaCosta's reinterpretation. Thompson also stars in Netflix's His & Hers as a former news anchor who returns home after a murder. Preparation included shadowing journalists, and Thompson values research and meeting people who do extraordinary work. Envy and jealousy can clarify desired lives.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]