Watch How 'Hedda' Throws a Party

"Nia DaCosta's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play, " Hedda Gabler," trades the stormy skies of 19th century Norway for the shiny Mid-Century veneer of post-war England in no small part because the latter is more recognizable to contemporary audiences - and a lot more fun. The film version gets to see, and indeed to revel, in the party thrown by noted society chaos gremlin Hedda ( Tessa Thompson) and the fallout in her heart and others as a result of her whims over the course of the evening."

"It was incumbent, therefore, on every department working on " Hedda " to bring that sense of fun and barely controlled chaos to the proceedings. As anyone who has ever thrown a party knows, even joyful work is work. It required all departments to pull together, even to the point that "Hedda" composer Hildur Guðnadóttir enlisted background actors and production office workers to voice the breathy choir that seems to guide Hedda's impulses. Every choice, from dress colors and pocket squares to the art deco shapes of the furniture to the set list for the in-film band, had to immerse the viewer in Hedda's unstable, but magnetic, psychology."

"" I wanted it to feel like you were stepping into, as soon as you stepped into that house, you were stepping into sort of a vortex - Hedda's vortex, where she is the master of all her schemes and designs, and it's a little bit inescapable," production designer Cara Brower told IndieWire."

Nia DaCosta's adaptation relocates Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler to post-war England, dressing the story in a Mid-Century party setting that foregrounds Hedda's volatile magnetism. Production design, costumes, music, and other departments coordinated to create an immersive vortex centered on Hedda's psychology. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir incorporated background actors and production staff into a breathy choir that seems to guide Hedda's impulses. Costume designer Lindsay Pugh ensured every garment registered character and moment. Choices in color palettes, pocket squares, art-deco furniture, and the in-film band's set list reinforced the house as both social stage and emotional landscape.

Read at IndieWire