Podcast Summary: “Hedda” Director Nia DaCosta and Star Tessa Thompson

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Date: December 1, 2025
Episode Focus: Exploring the new film adaptation “Hedda” based on Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, with director Nia DaCosta and star/producer Tessa Thompson.

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Alison Stewart delves into the new film “Hedda,” an imaginative reworking of Ibsen’s classic play, brought to life by director Nia DaCosta and actor-producer Tessa Thompson. The conversation explores the creative vision behind the adaptation, its relevance to contemporary issues of identity, power, and agency, and the filmmaking process—emphasizing how race, gender, and sexuality were re-interpreted for a modern audience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Thematic Core and “Wrestling” with Hedda (02:26–05:14)

• Nia DaCosta on Core Themes:

  • The adaptation centers on "questions around personhood and self-knowing and power, bravery, cowardice, and how all those things are wrapped up in one's individual search for who you are." (02:37)
  • Hedda is an “enigma… slightly terrifying, but... confrontational and challenging," making these themes resonate deeply.

• Tessa Thompson on Engaging Classics:

  • Tessa reflects on why adapting classics requires intention: “If you're gonna take one of these classics, you have to have skin in the game.” (03:21)
  • She hadn't considered Hedda her "Ibsen diva" until DaCosta's unique take turned her into “a woman I'm really fascinated by.” (04:12)

• Creative Process:

  • DaCosta describes “wrestling” with Hedda’s character— "like in the mud, like rain falling lightning." (04:34)
  • The multiplicity of Hedda— "everyone does that with her... everyone sees her differently." (04:41)

Reimagining for Film, Not Stage (06:03–07:09)

• Adapting From Stage to Screen:
  • Initially considered a stage adaptation, but "filmic images kept coming to me... it just became a movie in that moment.” (06:07–07:09)
  • Example: A cinematic image focused on Hedda’s hand to convey her inner world and public/private duality.

Producing “Hedda” and Building Characters (07:09–09:49)

• Tessa on Producing:

  • Chose the name Viva Maude after an archetypal character she admired for her rebellious spirit. (07:17)
  • Found producing to be a hands-on learning process, especially in post-production and editing: “You make a movie again in the edit, for sure.” (08:35)

• Collaborative Environment:

  • Appreciated the rare opportunity where “Orion, MGM... wanted to make it exactly in the way that [Nia] imagined it, so we didn’t have to develop it like...with so many other projects.” (08:10)

Re-contextualizing Hedda: 1950s England, Queerness, & Race (09:49–12:53, 18:50–23:32)

• Setting & Social Context:

  • Set in 1950s England for its resonance with repression, conformity, and postwar trauma— "a time of manners, it's a time of pretending." (10:03)
  • Location and era amplify Hedda’s struggles and the story’s tension around identity and authenticity.

• Intersectionality:

  • DaCosta casts Hedda as a queer, mixed-race woman, amplifying themes of “pretending” and societal restriction. (10:03, 22:19)
  • Tessa on why Hedda chooses George over Eileen: “She is a woman of color who is...limited in terms of choices that she can make during that time in a real way.” (19:54)
  • The film explores Hedda’s autonomy and lack thereof—“It stands to challenge her ability to really find a real pathway to personhood.” (23:42)

Character & Performance Nuances (11:49–18:01, 18:50–21:30)

• Visual Language:

  • The film delays intimacy with Hedda, letting viewers first experience her environment before focusing on her: “I wanted it to be a journey to get to the woman.” (12:53)

• Costume as Armor:

  • Tessa sees costume as “a suit...a construction of self,” reflective of how women of that era derive power and are trapped by appearance: “her beauty was a part of her power...but...if you don’t have much else, it’s its own kind of prison.” (13:51)

• Filming at Flintam Hall:

  • Describes unique location challenges—shooting in a historic manor, shooting a gun off the roof, smashing a real chandelier, and strict “no eating or drinking” rules. (15:22–17:07)

Depicting Eileen & Central Relationships (18:50–19:54)

• About Eileen Loveborg:
  • Eileen is “brilliant,” “troubled,” an addict, ambitious, and “not so openly, but openly...queer.” (18:50)
  • Adds complexity and depth to Hedda's web of relationships.

Agency, Manipulation, and Authenticity (21:30–23:42, 25:01–29:12)

• Agency in Historical & Social Context:

  • “Period pieces are so heteronormative...I want to speak to that experience.” (22:19)
  • Tessa: “It always sort of felt kind of sad to me that [Hedda and Eileen] can't completely find that in each other,” referencing intersectional struggles. (23:42)

• Is Hedda Manipulative?

  • Nia: "Absolutely… she's chosen to use her brilliance in ways that she feels she has access to… that does result in manipulations." (27:35)
  • Tessa: “No...in the same way, like, children are manipulative. Yeah, they are, hugely. But they're also innocent, you know." (28:05)

• Hedda’s Voice:

  • Tessa on accent and code-switching: Hedda “felt like she's kind of reaching for something that isn't entirely authentic to her...someone that has switched completely, they have, like, one mode of existing and that gets expressed… in the voice.” (25:05)
  • Clip from the film illustrates Hedda’s mannered speech and dynamic with George. (26:19–27:27)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Adapting Classics:
  • Tessa: “If you're gonna take one of these classics, you have to have skin in the game.” (03:21)
• On Hedda’s Complexity:
  • Nia: “I was wrestling with Hedda, like, in the mud, like rain falling lightning. I'm like, what is happen? Who are you?” (04:34)
• On Hedda’s Power and Prison:
  • Tessa: “Her beauty was a part of her power...but...if you don’t have much else, it’s its own kind of prison.” (13:51)
• On Manipulation & Innocence:
  • Tessa: “If she's manipulative, she is in the same way that a child might be.” (28:09)
• On the Final Scene:
  • Tessa: “Hedda, caught between dark finality and dark possibility, can do nothing, nothing but break out into a wild wanting, wicked wild wanting and wicked smile. And I just thought…God, I’m so lucky I get to.” (31:09)

Highlights & Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:37] Nia on Core Themes: Power, personhood, courage, and fear in the search for self.
• [03:21] Tessa on Classics: The necessity of intention when adapting revered works.
• [09:49] Setting the Film: The choice of 1950s England for thematic resonance.
• [13:51] Tessa on Costume & Identity: Outfits as armor and emblem of power/prison.
• [15:22] Filming at Flintam Hall: Navigating constraints shooting in a historic manor.
• [19:54] Marriage Choice & Social Constraints: Hedda’s pragmatic decision in the context of race and sexuality.
• [23:42] Intersectional Agency: How race and sexuality shape character autonomy.
• [25:05] Hedda’s Voice: Crafting vocal authenticity and social performance.
• [27:35/28:05] Manipulation Debate: Differing views on Hedda’s tactics and innocence.
• [29:32–31:09] Rewatchable Scene: The delicate, multi-layered bedroom conversation between Hedda and Eileen.
• [31:09] Final Moment: Tessa on embodying DaCosta’s evocative stage direction.

Notable Quotes & Attribution

• Nia DaCosta (Director):
  • “She's the warden. She's the warden, yeah.” (15:16) (On Hedda being both prisoner and jailer of her own life)
  • "I was wrestling with Hedda, like, in the mud, like rain falling lightning." (04:34)
  • “You can never go back… Hedda's learning that as well. You can only go forward.” (10:03)
• Tessa Thompson (Actor/Producer):
  • “Her beauty was a part of her power... but... you don’t have much else, it’s its own kind of prison.” (13:51)
  • “If she's manipulative, she is in the same way that a child might be.” (28:09)
  • “We miss opportunities for real connection when we're afraid to be really vulnerable… we get just right there, and it's such a terrifying thing…” (30:12)
• Alison Stewart (Host):
  • “It's weird. You said she's in a prison, but she's sort of... sort of the head of her own prison.” (15:10)

Suggested Scenes to Rewatch (from DaCosta and Thompson)

• The bedroom conversation between Hedda and Eileen: Noted for its “truths and lies, both conscious and unconscious,” deeply portraying the film’s thematic core. (29:32–30:10)
• Hedda’s final moments in the water: For its subtle expression of emotional transformation and possibility, inspired by DaCosta’s stage direction. (31:09)

Tone & Style

• The conversation is lively, thoughtful, and candid—marked by deep mutual respect and artistic collaboration between Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson.
• Both guests balance humor with poignant reflections, often considering both creative intention and social context.

Conclusion

This episode provides a rich, nuanced discussion on reinventing a canonical character for a new era—intellectually ambitious, emotionally resonant, and visually striking. DaCosta and Thompson offer creative insights, candid industry observations, and passionate engagement with themes of autonomy, repression, identity, and the enduring relevance of classics.

For viewers of “Hedda” or those considering it, this conversation is a primer in what to look for, what lies beneath the surface, and why this adaptation matters now.