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11:30 am PST 01/06/2021
by
Bryn sandberg
She is one of the best stars of the year, enjoying a high career after five busy years as an actor. But the 24-year-old is in no rush to stop and catch her breath.
Two years ago Anya Taylor-Joy was filming the two Peaky Blinders and The dark crystal when she learned that Impious writer-director Scott Frank wanted to talk to him about a new project. There was no screenplay yet, but there was a book – and within hours of getting my hands on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel The queen’s gambit, it had devoured its 243 pages. “From the second I opened the book, I fell in love with Beth,” says the actress of the fictional chess prodigy. “I really felt seen by her, and I could see myself in her too.”
As soon as she finished the book, she rushed to meet Frank at a nearby Italian restaurant in London. Unable to hide her enthusiasm, she yelled at Frank as she entered the restaurant. “It’s not all about chess and she must have red hair!A much calmer Frank replied, “Yeah, it’s not just about chess, and you’re right, she must have red hair.” Sit down. “
The 24-year-old star was taken with Beth Harmon, a young woman from the 1960s who struggles with an addiction as she competes in chess tournaments around the world. Although Taylor-Joy says she’s happier than her onscreen counterpart, “in our core we’re very, very similar people,” she says. “One of the main things I connected with her was her inherent loneliness. I always had that, especially growing up.”
Born in Miami to a large Latin American family, Taylor-Joy spent much of the first six years of her life in Argentina before moving to England. Although she grew up a tomboy, her entry into Hollywood came through modeling, a career that began when she decided to practice wearing high heels while walking her dog. One day, while out for a walk in London, she noticed a large black car following her. “I was like, ‘I watched too much 24,“” she remembers. Turns out she was a top model discoverer, and Taylor-Joy signed with her the next day. “I am very happy that the story ends this way and not with my kidnapping.”
Her modeling career quickly morphed into an actress, and Taylor-Joy landed her first major role in Robert Eggers’ horror escape in 2015. The witch, which quickly became his calling card in the industry. She skipped formal acting training along the way. “I think the way Beth is intuitive on chess, I’m an intuitive actor,” she says. Taylor-Joy’s instinct has clearly paid off, as she landed more than 20 roles in just five years, with 2019 being the most fulfilling of all. She had a day off between shooting Wilde’s Fall Emma and Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller Last night in Soho, then another day between this movie and The queen’s gambit. “I was like, ‘What I’m doing is crazy,’ but I love the characters and I couldn’t give up on them,” she says.
Without a proper break between projects, Taylor-Joy had to quickly learn the game of chess on the board from renowned author and chess expert Bruce Pandolfini. “I call him my chess sensei,” she said. Playing a prodigy meant that she needed a theoretical understanding of chess at the very least. “People who love the game love it passionately, and I didn’t feel like I could in a good conscience introduce myself and pretend.” The plays were carefully choreographed – right down to Taylor-Joy’s delicate hand movements as she gripped the coins – and based on actual historical matches. She memorized the movements a few minutes before a scene. “I’m very, very grateful in my short term memory for this,” she said jokingly, “as I think it’s Scott.”
To add to the challenge, she had to play Russian matches during several nightly shoots. She wrapped up at 5 a.m. and often went straight to local Berlin clubs to dance for a few hours as an outing. “I processed everything I needed, then I went home, slept very well and was ready for the next day,” she says. But Taylor-Joy didn’t just introduce herself and say her lines – she had to have a big influence on her character as well, like the hair color she insisted she had. “I wanted her to stick out like a sore thumb,” she explains, noting that she always wanted to be red-haired herself. “One of the most important conversations I have with my agent is, ‘I’m going to dye my hair red.’ And she says, ‘Oh, Anya. Not today. “I change the color of my hair so often that it is very difficult for my advertising agent or agent to make people understand that I am a person.”
Her role as Beth Harmon, however, may have changed that forever – the series now ranks as Netflix’s most-watched limited series. And Taylor-Joy shows no signs of slowing down. With a list of anticipated projects that includes Wright’s Last night in Soho and Eggers’ The Northman, both debuting in 2021, she recently landed what could be her biggest role yet: a young Furiosa in the upcoming role of George Miller Mad Max spin off. She will also work with Frank again for another adaptation of a novel, this time by Vladimir Nabokov. Laugh in the dark. “I was like, ‘It’s done, ready, where do you want me?’ Taylor-Joy recounts when she was approached with the idea, “Honestly, I have so much energy I’m just grateful to be part of an industry that tires me out.”
This story first appeared in a January issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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