Tonya Mosley

It was written in 1891.

Mm-hmm.

But what fascinates me is its persistence.

It just seems that across generations, there is always this desire, this need to unpack it, to understand it in order to understand the moment that we're in.

And I'm just curious, what was it about Nia DaCosta's Hedda that really, aside from the fact that you two had worked together previously, you knew each other well, but her version of Hedda that fascinated you?

A couple of different ways.

Number one, I mean, casting you as Hedda is the biggest way.

And I want to say there's a particular kind of rage within Hedda.

But it translates a little bit differently with you being a black woman.

Can you talk about that for you and how you kind of thought about that, how it kind of translated for you as you embody that role, that restraint, that ability to be able to articulate that rage, but it come out in this very specific way that is...

So many different ways.

Yeah.

I actually want to play a scene where we get to see sort of the manipulation that Hedda navigates throughout the night.

So in this scene, Hedda knows her ex-lover, Eileen Loveborg, played by Nina Haas, has stopped drinking.

She knows she could lose control if she drinks.

And she pushes her to do it anyway.

Let's listen.

That was my guest Tessa Thompson in the film Hedda with Nina Haas as Eileen.

Man, we get to see just how she manipulates that.

And Eileen goes on to take a drink because she wants to be seen by her peers, all of these men, as she's up for this professorship.