Why Tessa Thompson is the hottest movie star right now

Tessa Thompson is a busy woman.

She has two films in theaters in Australia this week. The first is Creed II, the sequel to Creed, who revived the Rocky franchise in 2015, while the other is a small independent film called Sorry to Bother You.

And that comes from a phenomenal few years in which Thompson, 35, made his appearance in all that deserves to be watched.

Edgy comedies? Dear white people and war to all. Hollywood blockbuster? Thor: Ragnarok. Historical drama? Selma A thoughtful and poignant science fiction directed by a woman? Annihilation. Buzzy HBO series? Westworld.

Check, check and check.

Thompson does it all – so yes, she's a busy woman and in demand. Because Thompson brings an automatic "cool factor" to any movie.

As Bianca, the female leader of Adonis Creed of Michael B. Jordan, in Creed II, her character has more freedom of action than her predecessors in the Rocky universe. Bianca is much more than a "lover's interest" for the male lead – she has her own arcs of history and character development.

Thompson explains that Bianca, singer-songwriter, was approached in her music as she did when creating the role in 2015.

"Literally, in the first Creed, you hear it before you see it," said Thompson on the Philadelphia phone, where the actors and the team are promoting the film. "The way she has changed over the years, her maturity and evolution, are reflected in her music."

The meaning of Bianca's music is not limited to the character; it's also because Thompson is also a singer-songwriter and that she's contributed to pieces in the first and second movies – so, yes, she's really singing at the same time. # 39; screen.

When it came to writing songs, which were to be more friendly and commercial than Bianca's works in the first Creed, Thompson and composer Ludwig Goransson were inspired by Kelela, Bjork, Portishead and Massive Attack.

As a former member of the electro-soul band Caught A Ghost, it's another facet of Thompson's talent that has made it so requested by filmmakers.

Next year, she has three large-scale projects, including the second starring role in Men in Black Reboot, alongside her mate Chris Hemsworth, Lady's voice in the remake of Disney's Lady and the Tramp, as well as in the fourth, Avengers. film, for which she will relive her character stage thief Valkyrie Thor: Ragnarok.

Thompson, whose slate includes a mix of interesting independent projects and studio blockbusters, explains that she's engaged in part against Thor: Ragnarok to see if she could work from a background. different way.

"I remember watching Naomi Watts in King Kong and that there was a sequence, it was so simple, where she was running and where Kong was training her." She was so convincing and I remembered thinking that it must have been so hard to shoot, "Thompson tells news.com.au.

"She looked so relaxed and I thought she was being swept by Kong even though I knew she would not have been, and I thought to myself: Wow, she really has talent, and that was an element of her talent that I had not seen before.

"I told myself, I want to make a movie where I know I'll have to do a lot of CGI and green screens, I want to see if I can, because there's a chance I can not and I'll have an egg on my face but at least I'll know it, and if I can, it means I can do more than I think. "

According to Thompson, attacking at Men in Black was inspired by a similar idea: exploring this wacky side of the acting game, to determine if it could play a demanding role a lot of comedy physical.

"The effects supervisor on Men in Black, Jerome, said I was really good at pantomime and that I was so happy to hear it because I want to become good at that kind of thing, "she told news.com.au.

"I saw Chris (Hemsworth) having to do such stupid things and he could just sell it, and then (Thor: Ragnarok's director), Taika (Waititi) would shout and Chris would say" I felt stupid "But he was so convincing and brilliant, he's worked in this space for so long and he's really good.

"Sometimes you do stupid things, like fighting aliens who do not exist in front of you, and 150 people are watching you on the set, it takes a kind of strange bravery and the ability to make a fool of themselves.

"It's good not to be taken too seriously, it's where you play like a kid and it's such a joy."

Cultivating this malleability as an actor allowed Thompson to explore characters very different from each other. Take the two movies that she has this week – Creed II and Sorry to Bother You.

In Creed II, she embodies a person facing challenges and changes in a world rooted in our reality. It's a serious role that would resonate with the audience.

In Sorry to Bother You, Thompson embodies an activist character in a much more bizarre and seemingly removed film from our reality, even though his anti-capitalism theme is very relevant to a 2018 audience.

What connects them is what connects many of the projects in which they are involved – they are political, but not always openly.

"Taking a beloved franchise (such as Rocky) and centering it in the same universe on a young black man, talking about toxic masculinity and talking to underrepresented communities (Creed and Creed II) are political too much."

Thoughtful and low-key, even though Thompson likes to talk about his work, it's when the subject of political engagement is discussed that the excitement in his voice rises a few notches.

In the run-up to this month's mid-term US elections, Thompson was active on social media, encouraging people to go out and vote.

"I feel it's my civic duty to stay engaged, stay active and vote. That's how I feel, whether or not I have a platform to talk about it.

"We are living in very dark times for many people, and for many of them they have legitimate concerns about human rights in this country, so it is very encouraging to see people being active. and engaged. "

She says she's so happy to be able to vote in her local polling station (which is not her case with her travel schedule), but nothing sounded like a sizzle of Australian sausage, although she love this idea.

"We should create more tradition around civic engagement.I'm really excited for this new generation because I no longer think that we should not talk about politics at the table anymore." C & # 39; is more and more cool to talk about politics, and this is not taboo or not-done ".

In case you're wondering, no, she's not a Donald Trump fan.

She has come a long way since her recurring role in the Jackie Cook frenzy during the second season of Veronica Mars in 2005, her second credit only after an episode of Cold Case.

Thompson admits that her busy schedule will probably prevent her from appearing in the next awakening, but she and her creator, Rob Thomas, have "talked a bit about it".

"I'm so excited that they do it," she says. "I've been in touch a bit with Kristen (Bell) over the years, and this show is still important to me.

"I figured that one of my early works was as cool as this series, so I'm looking forward to seeing it."

No wonder everyone wants to be part of Tessa Thompson. She embodies this type of Hollywood movie, this kind of cool movie that can carry stupid blockbusters, political indies and cameos in the video clips of Janelle Monae.