Gwendoline Christie has starred in several big-name projects ranging from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay to Game of Thrones, and for the first time in her career, she finally feels seen.
Gwendoline plays Nevermore Academy's principal, Larissa Weems, in the new Netflix series Wednesday. And in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she revealed how the role made her feel "beautiful."
Director Tim Burton gave Gwendoline freedom to help create her Larissa Weems character, as well as Larissa's characteristics. This helped Gwendoline put more of herself into the role.
"He said, 'You can do whatever you like with the character, feel free to make it whatever you want and we'll keep talking about it,'" Gwendoline told EW about her conversation with Tim.
"What kept coming to me was this idea of this Hitchcock-style heroine, this screen siren, that maybe that young woman would look to our mystic portal, the cinema, to be an incarnation of her fantasies. And weirdly, Tim had exactly the same idea and so did [costume designer] Colleen Atwood."
Gwendoline looked at iconic actors like Tippi Hedren and Kim Novak for inspiration. She admitted that she likes to transform into characters and people who are the complete opposite of herself. This was her chance to embody the "classic idea of femininity" with a twist.
"Hitchcock heroines tend to have all sorts of trauma being exacted upon them, for this to be a woman who was in charge of her own fate, who was ruthlessly ambitious and who was willingly putting herself into dangerous and extreme situations, was exciting to me."
"It is the first time I've ever felt beautiful on screen," she added. "I cannot express my extreme gratitude more heartily to Tim and Colleen and our hair and makeup team. Colleen Atwood is rightfully a legend, and what she does is close to witchcraft in terms of transformation. It is an honor of my life to work with Colleen and to work with Tim."
Gwendoline admitted that Colleen made her body feel "celebrated and beautiful." Colleen never once made her feel insecure about her body or that there was something to be ashamed of.
And they did a fabulous job of bringing the character to life! To learn more about Gwendoline and Wednesday, check out her full interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Also, can I just add that I love hearing stories like this? Everyone deserves to feel good about themselves, and although I was initially sad to hear this was her first time feeling "beautiful on screen," I couldn't be happier that the moment finally happened to her AND that she did it on her own terms.