Anya Taylor-Joy is opening up about her crying scenes, and acting choices she’s offered instead that better express her characters’ emotions.
The 28-year-old actress spoke with British GQ about her career, and discussed how she has often fought for her characters to express rage on screen.
“I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage, which is a strange thing, because I’m not promoting violence – but I am promoting women being seen as people,” she told the outlet. “We have reactions that are not always dainty or un-messy.”
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She first fought for her character’s rage on her feature acting debut, The Witch. It was written that her character, Thomasin, would cry during a scene in which she is dragged through her family’s farmyard after she’s accused of being an evil presence inside her home.
“Eventually I said, ‘She’s angry; she’s f-cking pissed. She’s been blamed time and time again, and she’s not doing anything. We have to stop with the crying,’” she explained of what she told the director, who approved.
She’d do it again during The Menu, when the script called for her character to have a single tear rolling down her cheek when she discovers that her date has brought her to lavish private dinner with the intention of having her die.
“What planet are we living on? I was like, ‘Let me explain to you: I am going to leap across the table and try and literally kill him with my bare hands,’” she explained.
The director Mark Mylod and co-star Nicholas Hoult were open to it, as well as in The Northman, in scene where her character has to discourage a man from touching her against her will.
“It was Anya’s idea for Olga to douse her hand with her own menstrual blood before slapping Fjölnir in the face,” the director Robert Eggers revealed, adding that he knew it was the right call because it was a “very strong, defiant and memorable choice.”
“For all my championing of female rage, I’ve never been an angry person. For a long time the only time I ever got angry was on other people’s behalves. I’ve always internalized this thing of ‘I’ve done something wrong. If you treat me badly, it’s because I am the problem,’” Anya said.
In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, she also campaigned to let out a scream during the filming of one scene.
She didn’t always win those acting choice battles: she also pitched having her character cut out the tongue of another character. It was filmed, but they decided not to include it in the movie’s theatrical cut.
