Nov. 4, 2025

Nia DaCosta, Tessa Thompson, Tom Bateman & Nina Hoss (Hedda)

Nia DaCosta, Tessa Thompson, Tom Bateman & Nina Hoss (Hedda)

What if a classic tale could be reshaped with modern twists and turns that leave you questioning everything you thought you knew? Join me, Kyle McMahon, as I sit down with visionary director Nia Da Costa (The Marvels, 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple), superstar Tessa Thompson (The Avengers: Endgame, Creed) Nina Hoss and Tom Bateman to explore how the new Prime Video film 'Hedda' reimagines Henrik Ibsen's iconic play with electrifying creativity.

Unearth how Nia DaCosta’s visionary adaptation amplifies the timeless stakes of 'Hedda Gabler,' with Tessa Thompson breathing new life into the titular character. With Nina Hoss portraying a gender-swapped Eileen Loveborg and Tom Bateman tackling the complexities of George Tessman, this episode promises a deep dive into the innovative storytelling that challenges societal norms and character dynamics. Nina opens up about the liberating challenge of stepping into a reimagined role, enriching the narrative with existential undertones that speak volumes about contemporary issues. Meanwhile, Tom reflects on George Tessman’s internal battle with power and understanding, shedding light on his character's tumultuous relationship with Hedda. Get ready for a thought-provoking conversation that not only celebrates the daring vision behind this adaptation but also offers a fresh perspective on a literary classic that continues to resonate. Tune in for an insider’s look at 'Hedda,' where tradition meets transformation and storytelling reaches new heights.

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WEBVTT

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I'm back and in this episode of pop Culture Weekly,

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it's all about the brand new prime video film Ahead

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up and I've got Nia DaCosta, Tessa Thompson and more.

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Let's go.

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Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from iHeartRadio,

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your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on

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all the movies, TV music and pomp culture you crave weekly.

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Here's Kyle McMahon.

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Nett no no, no, Hello, and welcome to pop Culture

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Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon,

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and this is the show where you get all of

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the deep dives into the movies, TV music and pop

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culture moments we're all obsessed with. That's why you're here

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right today, we're talking about one of the most anticipated

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new films of the fall, Heada. It is the latest

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reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's classic head of Gabbler and this

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version it's dark, it is elegant, and it is completely electrifying.

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This version of Heada comes from the brilliant mind of

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Nia DaCosta, who I love and you know from Candy

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Man and the Marvels, and it stars the absolutely incredible

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Tessa Thompson as the title character Heada. So we'll be

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talking with them later and how they brought this bold

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vision to life. But first we've got two of the

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film's phenomenal co stars joining us, so let's talk with them,

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Nina Hass and Tom Bateman, who play Eileen Loveborg and

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George Tessman and Heda. Here they are, Nina Haas and

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Tom Bateman.

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Thank you both so much for joining me. I really

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appreciate it. Hi nice to meet too. Nice to meet

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both of you.

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First of all, congratulations on the film, Mina. I'd like

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to start with you. Your character is kind of this

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gender swapped version of, you know, a very classic character

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in literature. How did you feel stepping into this kind

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of reinterpretation of this character.

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Well, I knew the material very well because back home

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in Germany, I was on stage as header for several

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years and I was as header dealing with all these

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men around me, and I was having questions about the

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character Islet louisbog and I always thought that it's such

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an interesting thing of how we interpret this man or

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both of the men actually, and I was so glad

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that Nia took this material and just put it upside

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down by sticking being truthful to it but kind of

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just charging up the how do you say, the stakes

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they're much higher, you know. But by this gender reversal

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because everything that islet goes through and now Eileen is

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the struggle is so much more existential all of a sudden,

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you know, And it becomes so much more existential for

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the other two women because there is an Eileen, because

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you kind of see she's not really a role model,

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but you see there is a possibility to lead another

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life and to try to not go the easy way.

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It's not such an easy way that had her chooses,

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but nevertheless the one that you're you're comfortable with maybe

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more so. And so that was something I was working

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on to just basically take it, look at it from

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a fresh point of view, and create something completely new

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with Eileen. And that is to be all To do

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that with such a classic material which is in the

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cannon and lots of people know it and you have

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the highest respect for the writing and the characters that

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you just feel it makes so much sense to do

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it this way was very liberating and freeing.

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Yeah, I love that, And Tom, for you, if you

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could ask heada one question about George. What would that be?

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And what you know? What do you think her answer

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might be?

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Why don't you like me? Head God? That's a really

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good question. I think it's a really good question. I

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think because George at his core would never think to

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ask heada anything of her opinion. Really, he's a man

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of his time who just believes that his wife is

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there to serve him effectively in whatever way. You know

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that he sees her almost is his property. But should

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he ever get the opportunity it? Really because he spends

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the whole piece trying to work out this woman. He's

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trying to control this woman, fit her into the mold

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that he wants her to be, and when she kicks

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against that, he just doesn't understand it. George even has

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a scene with Eilid saying, Eileen saying, how do you

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control this woman?

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How can you make her?

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Do?

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I don't understand how do you control a woman like this?

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What an awful thing to say about the woman that

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you love, I'm supposed to respect and admire. How can

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you control this person? So yeah, I'm not sure other

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than you know, header what's up? What's up?

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What's going on? Well?

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Thank you?

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Both so much.

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I can't wait for everybody to see this. You both

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are so awesome in it and everything you do. Thank

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you for speaking on so much.

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Have a great day you do.

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Thanks Nino Hawsen, Tom bate Man, You've got to watch Header.

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It is really, really great. It's like riveting. It's creepy

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in a way, it is about empowerment in other ways.

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It's very layered, and that's why Nia DaCosta is like

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the perfect director and creat a vision behind it. But

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I can't wait to hear what you think about it.

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But we're gonna be right back after this quick break,

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so don't go anywhere, because coming up. Nia DaCosta and

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star Tessa Thompson joined me to talk about creating Heada

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and reimagining one of literature's most complex women for a

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whole new generation.

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Be back in.

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Sixty Welcome back to Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon,

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and we are continuing our deep dive into Heta with

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two powerhouses, the visionary Nia DaCosta and the incredible Tessa Thompson. So, Nia,

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of course, you know from Little Woods, The Marvels Candy

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Man Now Heda coming soon twenty eight years later, The

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Bone Temple and Tessa Thompson, who you know from the

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Creed trilogy, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Men in Black, International, Selma,

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and like I said, the MCU movies Thor and Avengers

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and All where she played Valkyrie, where she plays Valkyrie,

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I should say, all right, without further ado, here they

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are Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta.

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Sank you.

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Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

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I love you both.

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Congratulations on HEADA. Nia, I'd like to start.

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With your So much of your work has dealt with identity.

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I was talking to Elvira Cassandra Peterson amazing, and we

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were talking about, you know, the Oscar so White thing,

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and how you have been a voice, especially in horror,

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for h.

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For strong black characters, strong women. This I feel comes

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comes across in Heda as well.

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How has identity been important for you in your.

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Film in general, films in general, but especially in HEADA.

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First of all, what I think you said is that

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Cassandra Peterson knows who I am, which is crazy. So

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I don't know. I'm gonna move to the day now.

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That's a good secondly to answer your question, Yeah, identity

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is important to me. Insofar as I would like to

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expand the boxes that our identities put us in. I'm

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really interested in getting into the muck with with with

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who we are as people, and you know, as a

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black woman, I know what it's like to grow up

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being told like this is what's expected of you, this

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is who people think you are, or people telling me

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this is who you are because of the body you're in.

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And I really want to always challenge and expand that

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because I really want to. I want people to see

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themselves in my films and also to feel a freedom

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to be more than what they're told they can be.

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So when Heada, especially, she that girl doesn't know what's

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going on sometimes, but she's really I think I think

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she's really searching for for freedom and because of her identity,

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you know, being a black woman and a mixed race woman,

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a queer woman, I think she's she's really struggling to

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figure that out in the way I think so many

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of us are so so seeing her in her way

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and act her freedom no matter what that looks like,

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I think is quite quite liberating. Hopefully for people watching.

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I love that, and and Tessa, for you, you know,

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this is such it's a. It's a take on kind

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of a canonical, canonical thank.

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You uh text, you know work? Did did any of it?

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Like, were you nervous going into that? Did you totally

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go like I'm doing my own version of her? How

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did you you know balance that?

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Yeah?

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I was extraordinarily nervous. Uh.

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I was.

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Definitely afraid.

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I couldn't tell.

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I was definitely afraid. But but but this is kind

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of not new. Like I like to be afraid, you know,

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Like I like I like to have at least one

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element of the thing that I'm doing feel like, oh wow,

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this is this is something, this is going to be

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an undertaking. The difference I think with something like Heta

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and this canonical work is you have such a storied

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history that's come before you, and such a collection of

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illustrious humans that have taken on the material, and then

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the material is beastly, you know, the material is like

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is big. So I felt like the for me, it's

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requisite to have some energy of like ah, but I

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felt that times a thousand in approaching this, And I

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think the only way that I knew how to do

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it was to to deal with it head on. So

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I had never seen had a Gabbler on stage. I

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was like, I just have to see every version that

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I can see so that I can put it to bed,

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because otherwise I will think the performances will loom so

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huge for me actually if I don't see them, you know,

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like if I'm imagining what Keith Blenchett did, it's going

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to actually freak me out more than if I just

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engage with it and look at it. And also I

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wanted to understand the text. I wanted to be like,

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why has this text compelled us for centuries? Why does

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the play work as well as it does? And also

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because I knew we wanted to make something we were

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gonna we were going to take it apart, or Nia

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already had with her script and take it apart and

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put it back together. I kind of wanted to understand

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the original construction. It's sort of like you have to

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you have to understand the rules to break them in

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a way. So so I think in my inquiry and

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looking at all of the past productions, I realized like

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I was safe because A when you take in ideas,

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you always put it through your funnel. It's always moving

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through you and your own humanity. So it's it's gonna

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it's gonna be yours. And then b I think I

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was supported by this new construction that Nia made where

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I was like, we're just making a new a new beast,

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and I can be set free. And then also just

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doing work in other more spontaneous, doing dream work and

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working with the subconscious and just like allowing myself to

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really free up myself so that I wasn't approaching it

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as academically as maybe I began. And in funny ways,

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I feel like that tension, it's sort of the tension

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in the movie. There's like one part of me that

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was like very academic and studious, and the other part

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of me it was like, wow, we're just making something

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in that And I think that that like internal tension

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actually is what the film. It is the film. So

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it felt like the right approach for me.

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Well, well it works. Thank you both so much for

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this work and all that you do. I love both

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of your work, I really really do, and I can't

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wait for everybody to see you. Head Thank you so much.

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Thank you have a great day.

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Tessa Thompson and Nia da Costa. Love love love them both,

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and I love Heada. Like I said, I can't wait

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till you watch it because I can't wait to talk

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about it with you. So once you watch it prime video,

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hit me up either on socials, email messages, whatever, carrier pigeon,

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and let's dive in to this incredible film.

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That's it for this episode of pop Culture Weekly.

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Huge thanks to my guest Nina Haas, Tom Bateman, Nia DaCosta,

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and Tessa Thompson for diving into the world of heada

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with me. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate,

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and share it with your fellow pop culture lovers. You

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can get ch pop Culture Weekly on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube,

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basically wherever you get your normal entertainment fix. Until next time,

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I'm Kyle McMahon. This is pop Culture Weekly. I love you, We.

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Thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here all

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the latest at popcultureweekly dot com.

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Heda heada Missing with My heada