‘Hedda’ movie makes cast and creator contemplate complex characters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters): For director Nia DaCosta, adapting the acclaimed 19th century play “Hedda Gabler” into her 2025 film “Hedda” was like forging a “self-insert fanfiction.”

“What would it be like if I were there or like literally any Black woman?” DaCosta recalled asking herself.

Beyond the desire to see a lead actor who looked more like herself in the period story, DaCosta fell in love with the role of Hedda in the play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1890.

The “Candyman” director loved debating the character Hedda with her friends and interrogating the motives of the fictional literary woman.

“Hedda” is set in 1950s England and follows the titular character Hedda Gabler, played by Tessa Thompson, as she navigates dissatisfaction in her marriage to George Tesman, portrayed by Tom Bateman, and explores her complex feelings toward Eileen Lovborg, played by Nina Hoss.

The film arrived in theaters on October 22 and will be available for streaming on Prime Video on Wednesday.

Thompson feels her role as Hedda is career-defining, not just for the spotlight it shines on her, but for its substance.

“The provocation of the material” demands that people unearth something in themselves, she said, adding that it took bravery to go to some of the psychological places the character took her.

Similarly, Hoss felt that playing Eileen and exploring the struggles and successes of queer women in the 1950s was a worthy role.

Eileen and Hedda have a romantic past that Hoss was interested in exploring. “What was the dance with them before?” Hoss said of how she tried to imagine their backstory prior to the film’s events.

“And what is it that draws Eileen back into the room, facing Hedda and kind of provoking her again? They both feel, it’s still not done,“ she said.