Nia DaCosta

That was a Tessa Thompson ad lib.

I loved it.

Oh, it was?

Yeah, because earlier in the scene, Eileen says you scramble around like a roach trying to control a man's destiny, you know, shape your own.

And that's why Nina responds in that way.

She's like, huh?

That wasn't the line.

It's so fun.

No, actually.

I mean, I have a pretty robust rehearsal process, so if there's any thoughts and feelings, we can bring it up then, and I can adjust the script accordingly.

But I also, once we get what we need, I'm like, okay, jazz riff if you want.

But it's not like a free-for-all.

Absolutely.

Something I think a lot about is what does freedom look like?

What does it mean to be free, especially as a black person in America, but just as a human being?

And the tension of the movie is this question for women who don't have the access that they think they have.

But I think often people, their shortcut to freedom is trying to attain power.

And so what these two women are actually doing is trying to attain power.

Hedda through marriage and through the conformity and Eileen through her intellect.

But those are both incomplete things because power doesn't necessarily equal freedom, especially if you have to hold on to the power to feel free.