The Role You'll Never See Anya Taylor-Joy Play
Before she checkmated our hearts as redheaded chess prodigy Beth Harmon in "The Queen's Gambit," Anya Taylor-Joy left us feeling deeply unsettled as the troubled Casey Cooke in M. Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller "Split," and its sequel, "Glass." And before even that, she chilled us to our core in the terrifying supernatural horror "The Witch." One thing's for sure: Taylor-Joy's performances evoke some strong emotions!
While she initially seemed destined to be typecast in darker content, Taylor-Joy has shown her range in a number of varied roles, including Jane Austen's titular heroine in "Emma." She also proved her acting chops by playing real-life figures, such as French chemist Irene Curie in "Radioactive" and Dutch artist Petronella Brandt in "The Miniaturist."
From chess savant to dollhouse enthusiast, is there any part Taylor-Joy can't play to perfection? Probably not, but there is actually something she won't play. Read on to find out what it is.
The one part Anya Taylor-Joy will always reject
When you're a newcomer in Hollywood, you tend to take any role you can get, even if it's just "cocktail waitress #3." But like many of the women she portrays on screen, Anya Taylor-Joy delights in breaking the mold. In fact, the BAFTA Award winner has a lot in common with many of her characters: headstrong, independent, and smart as a whip. So, what kind of parts does she refuse to play?
In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Taylor-Joy revealed a distaste for playing the "girlfriend" role: a woman whose only point in the film is to move the male character's story forward, with no real agency of her own. The "Peaky Blinders" actor went on to say that she credits her team for finding her interesting parts: "Most of the women not only that I've been lucky enough to play but that I've read are quite complex, messy, interesting human beings." However, she goes on to note that these parts for women should be more readily available, adding: "I shouldn't be the anomaly here, I should be the norm."
Interestingly, though, it was recently announced that Taylor-Joy will portray a certain character that sounds like just the kind of part she would normally avoid. Keep reading to find out more.
Did Anya Taylor-Joy just take a role she said she never would?
In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Anya Taylor-Joy revealed that whenever she received a script asking her to play a "girlfriend role," she would send it straight back with an "Eh? Why?" But now it seems she is about to portray one of the most famous girlfriends of all time: Princess Peach! That's right, Nintendo recently announced that Taylor-Joy is among the star-studded cast of the upcoming "Mario" movie, based on the popular video game franchise (via Geekwire).
Before you go "Mama Mia!," let's dial back a bit. Sure, Princess Peach is mainly known as Mario's love interest, but she is also the benevolent ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom — a girl who can run a country and find time for love sounds positively aspirational. Besides, fans of the franchise are voicing their support for Taylor-Joy's part in the project, with social media users predicting she'll be the best part of the film (via Cheatsheet).
As for Taylor-Joy, she announced her excitement for the role in an Instagram caption: "Here we gooooo!"