How do you capture what it looks like to fall head over heels? This was the challenge writer/director Nia DaCosta faced in adapting Henrik Ibsen’s classic play Hedda Gabler into a steamy and salacious sapphic romance.
Hedda stars Tessa Thompson as the eponymous antiheroine, a woman who hungers for luxury, love, and freedom. And when she doesn’t get what she wants, she proves to be a vicious mastermind. So, when Hedda’s ex-lover, genderswapped by DaCosta to be Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss), turns up at the big party she’s throwing with her newly minted husband George Tesman (Tom Bateman), trouble is in the air. But so is love.
As Eileen enters the ballroom, she is elegant, robust, and sensual, instantly awing the audience and capturing the mercurial Hedda’s full attention. In interviews with DaCosta, Thompson, Hoss, and Bateman, Mashable’s Entertainment Editor, Kristy Puchko, asked how this scene came together.
DaCosta got technical, sharing the precise details demanded of a camera effect that makes it seem as if Hedda is floating toward Eileen, a moth to the former flame. Hoss shared how it takes a village to make such an impactful moment in film. Bateman provided an insightful comparison between Eileen’s entrance and the swagger of Westerns, when a cowboy strides through swinging saloon doors. For her part, Thompson shared the difficulty of playing this moment with grace when you’re fully aware of how goofy things look just outside of the frame.
Enjoy this dive into movie magic, then enjoy Hedda — now playing on Prime Video.
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