Anya Taylor-Joy

from Essential Magazine November 2021

Pittacum from Bierzo

BRINGING THE 1960S BACK TO LIFE IN LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

Anya Taylor-Joy is one of a select list of actors (which would have to include contenders like Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, and Leonardo DiCaprio) whose filmography is so good you know you can always trust them to pick the right project. This month, film lovers, many of whom are raring to get back into real-life movie theatres, are talking about Last Night In Soho – a psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright and set for release in early November. WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

Having seen how suited Anya is to the 1960s thanks to her stellar performance in The Queen’s Gambit, we can only conclude that she was the ideal choice for a film that is a homage to a creative, fashion-forward, and groundbreaking decade that gave us greats like The Beatles, the Ford Mustang, and André Courrèges. Last Night in Soho whizzes us back to the heart of Swinging London – a time in which the James Bond film, Thunderball, had just been released and singers like Petula Clark and Cilla Black topped the music charts. Anya plays an aspiring singer called Sandy who has just arrived in the city. She is beautiful, talented, and ambitious, though her dreams are crushed under the oppression of misogyny and sexual violence – symbolised by her talent agent, Jack.

It is arguably one of Taylor-Joy’s most suitable roles to date, as it combines her undeniable beauty and elegance with the qualities that make a star actor – including an uncanny ability to express emotions like fear, entrapment, and rage. Her role as a desolate soul in search of vindication bears similarity to her rendition of an anguished victim who manages to outsmart her incredibly adept kidnapper in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split. It is, however, a big leap from her role as Beth in The Queen’s Gambit, as her character in Soho has an otherworldly desperation for vengeance that another young girl from the future (played by Thomasin McKenzie) is called upon to exact. In contrast to virtually every other character Anya has portrayed, Sandy is a passive player who has to rely on the strength of another female character.

In many ways, it is precisely her strength, resilience, and intelligence that have made Anya the number one choice for challenging roles such as Beth and Sandy. In the same way that Winter’s Bone marked Jennifer Lawrence as an actor with a special ‘something’ that pushed her leagues ahead of her peers, so, too, was Split the first real indicator that Anya was much more than an attractive lead with acting chops. ›

Her performance was on par with that of James McAvoy, who gave a stellar portrayal as a kidnapper with multiple personalities. Anya’s character was the only one of her friends in the film to make it out alive owing to her chess grandmaster-like abilities to observe her captor, bring him round to her ways, and eventually, make her escape. The actor makes it seem second-nature thanks to her confidence. Her gravitas and fearlessness make it easy to play characters with supreme intelligence that never cease to be vulnerable and altogether human. As Director David O. Russell once said, “She is different and strange in ways that are fascinating.”

In upcoming months, Anya will delight audiences in films like Scott Frank’s adaptation of the Nabokov novel Laughter in the Dark (Frank directed and co-created The Queen’s Gambit) and Furiosa – a prequel to the massive hit, Mad Max: Fury Road. In this film, Anya will give life to a younger version of the character played by Charlize Theron. It will be Anya’s first action role to date. She will additionally be appearing in The Northman – a Viking thriller co-starring acting greats, Ethan Hawke and Nicole Kidman. Anya’s filmography is long and rich considering the fact that she is just 25. However, as stated by Robert Eggers (who directed her in The Northman), the only surprise is that she didn’t “explode” worldwide earlier. Her film career certainly isn’t the only thing that surprised me about her. I was delighted to recently catch a full interview given by Anya in Spanish – she is fully bilingual, as she was born in Miami and moved to Buenos Aires when she was a baby (her father is Argentinean). Her mysterious, international-sounding accent is testimony to her travels, as she also lived in London, admitting that for the first two years of her move, she refused to speak English, only changing her mind when she started taking interest in the Harry Potter universe. ›

“Never forget that it only takes a political, economic or religious crisis for women’s rights to be called into question. These rights can never be taken for granted. You must remain vigilant throughout your life.”

Anya could very well have been a model instead of an actor, as her first foray into the world of media was owed to Storm Management founder, Sarah Doukas. It’s a model’s dream but it does indeed happen. Anya was walking outside Harrods when Doukas approached her and arranged a meeting. Her leap from modelling into acting was almost instantaneous since she never attended drama school. Her first break was in the feature film The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015), which garnered her great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. The film fit Anya’s penchant for tormented, powerful characters to perfection and set the scene for Split the following year.

Anya hopes to direct one day, but for now, she is firmly focused on acting. She recently told Crash that she hoped “to work with auteurs, people that have a very specific vision and want to make pieces of art.” She also dreams of working with a Spanish director, speaking in her ‘other’ native tongue. Indeed, we are sure that whichever language she spoke in, her words would reach her audience’s minds and hearts in the way she has accustomed us to.

When she’s not acting, Anya keeps herself busy by watching films, writing, editing, painting, and reading. She believes in hard work, organisation, self-awareness, and problem-solving. She likes to quote Simone de Beauvoir, whose words ring true in challenging times: “Never forget that it only takes a political, economic or religious crisis for women’s rights to be called into question. These rights can never be taken for granted. You must remain vigilant throughout your life.” She reminds us that through art and film, women can find strong, resilient role models who fight for justice, honesty, and an awakening of conscience. e

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