The 83rd Golden Globe Awards are scheduled for Sunday (8 p.m. ET, CBS). One of the many bright spots this awards season is “Hedda,” a unique LGBTQ version of Henrik Ibsen’s classic story “Hedda Gabler,” starring big-name actors Nina Hoss, Tessa Thompson and Imogen Poots. The film and its cast, a modern retelling of a timeless story, have already garnered several award nominations this season, including a Globe nomination for Best Actress.
Screenwriter and director Nia DaCosta was fascinated by Ibsen’s play and the enigmatic character of Hedda, a highly complex character trapped in an unwanted marriage in the original, but who remains attracted to her ex-lover Eilat.
However, there is a fundamental difference in DaCosta’s adaptation. Eilat is played by Hoss and is now named Irene.
“The name change also adds an element of queerness to this story,” DaCosta said at a recent Golden Globes press event. “And some people read the original play as having Hedda being gay, which I think is interesting, but I didn’t necessarily think that was the case… It was a side effect of my film that changing Eilat to a woman made everyone gay.”
She added, “But for me, it stayed true to the original because it stayed true to all the themes and emotions and the kind of filthiness that I love about the original.”
Thompson, who is bisexual, said she enjoyed playing this new version of Hedda and that the queer love storyline gave the film “a lot of mimetic effect.”
“But more than that, I think fundamentally this film gives Hedda a real foil: another woman who’s making very different choices in the world. And I think this is a film that wants to explore that more than Ibsen’s work.”
Thompson admitted that DaCosta made the work a strange story that “made it feel like it jumped off the page really quickly.”
“This piece explores something like a path to character and wanting to gain some kind of agency in life. In the original piece, Hedda says, ‘For once, I want to control a man’s destiny,'” Thompson said.
“And I think our work depicts women struggling to take control of themselves. And I took that kind of heart, what was in the original, but made it meaningful to me now as a modern woman.”
Hedda’s jealousy and envy towards Irene and her new girlfriend (Poots) causes this character to act impulsively.
“I think from a modern sensibility, the idea of a woman being extremely jealous of another woman and acting on that is something that we don’t have a lot of patience or grace for in the world we live in now,” Thompson said.
“That’s a blessing, but I think there’s something really generative about it. What I realized playing Hedda is that emotions like jealousy and jealousy can be very generative if you don’t let them go, because they point us in the direction of self. They help us figure out what kind of life we want to live.”
Hoss actually played Hedda on stage in Berlin a few years ago.
“When I read the script, I was so surprised and fascinated by what this decision to have Irene instead of Eilert Lovborg led to,” Hoss said. “I immediately felt very attracted to this woman.”
A deep love still exists between Hedda and Irene, and it was immediately apparent the moment the characters met on screen.
“If she can have this feeling in Irene’s eyes, I don’t think she has yet, because she doesn’t want to be weak,” Hoss said. “So she doesn’t allow herself to feel it, because it might hurt her. And that’s something Irene never got over. So it’s a deep sadness within her that she couldn’t make love feel. But at least when these two meet, she’s like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not done with them yet.'”
Thompson and Hoss loved working with each other on and off screen.
“She made such a wonderful and powerful choice…I watched her transformation and it was a little bit fascinating, and she was really dangerous,” Hoss enthused. “It’s like when she was Hedda. I was a little like her, but on the other hand, of course, I was fascinated. And that’s the slightly dangerous thing about these humans. They’re also very fascinating.”
Hoss said that’s what drew Irene to Hedda.
“I think both women want to change each other, but the truth is that they are attracted to each other for who they are. And they have a very complimentary relationship in that sense. So I believe they would make a great couple. But they’re not good for each other right now. So in a way, that’s what we were talking about. I think I thought, ‘Well, the story behind it must have been chaotic and wonderful and exploring for the first time and being in love and breaking up,’ and then doing something a little bit risky to society, hiding, and then not being so hidden because you’re going into a bohemian world where it was OK to be queer and to celebrate yourself and explore that to some degree. ”
But it wasn’t until a certain point that Eileen started working and really wanted to say, “This is what I want to do.” I want to publish and be someone in academia,” Hoss said.
Poots also has his hands full starring in the complex drama The Chronology of Water (based on the memoirs of Lidia Yuknavitch and directed by queer actress Kristen Stewart), playing Irene’s love interest.
“Because the character in ‘Hedda’ is the only one of the women in this trilogy who acts on impulse. Despite the fact that she is incredibly fragile, she is the only one who has the ability to overcome cowardice,” Poots admitted. “And that’s interesting.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
