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Aisha Harris
You might already be familiar with Hedda Gobbler, the classic Henrik Ibsen play. It's about a woman bored with her dull husband and who devilishly manipulates the affections of everyone in orbit. While the intoxicating new film Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson is not your grandmother's Hedda, it's sexy, chaotic and above all, messy as hell. I'm Aisha Harris and today we're talking about Hedda on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.
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Aisha Harris
Joining me today is culture commentator and co host of the iHeartRadio podcast High Key, Ryan Mitchell. Welcome back. Ryan hi.
Ryan Mitchell
So happy to be back.
Aisha Harris
Lovely to have you here? Also with us is Soraya Nadia McDonald. She's a cultural critic, journalist, and the senior criticism editor for the Rumpus. Hello. Hello, Sariah.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Hello. Hello.
Aisha Harris
Lovely to have you both here. This is gonna be a fun conversation. Cause this movie's fun. Dark, but fun. So hedda's set in 1950s England and stars Tessa Thompson as Hedda, a general's daughter. She's recently wed George Tesman, an academic played by Tom Bateman, and convinced him to buy a sprawling estate they cannot afford. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta makes some bold changes in this adaptation and sets almost all of the action during a lavish party gone awry. And the guest list is an assortment of char from George's stuffy professional world and Hedda's bohemian social circle. You'll meet my friends, I'll meet your colleagues.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
I have friends, too.
Aisha Harris
Hedda, don't be rude. It's your friends, your friends. Trust me, George. They're well behaved and well bred, and.
Ryan Mitchell
Greenwood will love them.
Aisha Harris
And you, by extension.
Ryan Mitchell
Yes, William better had.
Aisha Harris
One guest is Eileen Loveborg, played by Nina Haas. Eileen and Hedda once had a rocky romance, and they obviously still have some unfinished business. And it so happens that Eileen is up for the same university position as George, which gives Hedda all the ammunition she needs to maniacally orchestrate the evening for her own selfish benefit. It's streaming now on Prime Video, which means we should mention that Amazon supports NPR and pays to distribute some of our content. Ryan, I'm going to start with you. Did you enjoy your time at this fabulous soiree that we have here?
Ryan Mitchell
I have two words, and it's queer icon.
Aisha Harris
Hedda.
Ryan Mitchell
This film is just so, so good. You know, as someone that didn't know this film was reimagined from a play, I thoroughly enjoyed what was done here. You know that moment where you can just tell when a director loves working with an actor? You know, Nia dacosta and Tessa Thompson really just speak the same language, and I think it's really, really noticeable. And I love seeing what they create together. Right. I think that's for me, starting there. But Hedda is just a fun, pure chaos, queer icon. Y' all thought y' all liked Megan. Nah. This is the girl that we should be celebrating. I need Hedda all over the billboard. Hedda for Pride 2026.
Aisha Harris
It's too late for the costumes to happen for Halloween this year, but maybe for next year.
Ryan Mitchell
Absolutely.
Aisha Harris
Yes. Yes. Sariah, how are we feeling?
Soraya Nadia McDonald
I mostly enjoyed this. As Ryan pointed out. I love seeing Nia. And Nia really seems to have an eye and an ear for places that Tessa can stretch, you know, because it's a period drama, tragedy, comedy. All of the above.
Aisha Harris
Yeah.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
It is, I think, impossible to watch this film and not think of the partnership between Emma Stone and Yorgo's Lanthimos, particularly because so much about, I think the production design and stylistically kind of evokes that vibe that people love so much about the favorite. And also the way Tessa and of course Hedda as a character really embodies this sort of enfant, terrible characterization, that exploration of what happens to a woman who is infantilized by her circumstances, by patriarchy, by everything. And the way folks lash out when they're sort of confined by that.
Aisha Harris
Yeah. It's interesting that you mentioned Yergos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, because when I think of that partnership, I think of just all the suffering that that director has inflicted upon that actress. Whereas.
Ryan Mitchell
Absolutely.
Aisha Harris
I mean, Hedda inflicts a lot of suffering on other people, but like, I mean, she's suffering in the ways that like you would expect a black woman in the 1950s to suffer, but not to the extent of like begonia or something.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
No, not Begonia.
Aisha Harris
I also understand that sort of dynamic and to speak to both of your points of how this is a movie where like, you can tell that the director really has locked in and that the star has locked in and they have this sort of symbiotic relationship. Their first partnership together was Little woods, which is like a radically different mov from this. And that was Da Costa's first feature film as a director. That's a very small film. It's very insular, indie. And now we have both of them going big with this film.
Ryan Mitchell
I mean, don't forget the marvels, please. I know everyone hated it, but I loved it. It was a good time.
Aisha Harris
All right, all right. Okay.
Ryan Mitchell
It was a fun also stretch to the other side.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's true.
Aisha Harris
That's what I find so fascinating about Nia DaCosta as a filmmaker, because every movie she's made so far and she's made plus she has the 28 years later franchise. That's her next one after this. But every movie has been radically different in terms of vibe and genre. And to me, this is her most successful thus far. I love how she stretches what this story can do and how she makes it so that this is set in the mid century England. You have Tessa Thompson, who I think is just fantastic in period pieces. Period, like Sylvie's love passing. Give it all to me, all of them. And I love, sort of like the fact that Tessa understands that Hedda herself is a performance. Like, she is someone who is an outsider. And one of my little quibbles. And this could have been speaking to me, like, where I was when I saw this the first time. I've watched it twice now. And the first time a lot of little details about Hedda kind of rushed by me and I didn't quite understand. Yes, yes, let's talk about that.
Ryan Mitchell
I'm so happy you brought that up because for me, it also took twice to watch this one. I want to start with the accent work. I think what Hedda's. It's fine, but it was a little rough to understand some of the dialogue, except for the second time when I was really able to, like. Oh. Tie in these really important plot pieces to what was actually happening in the story and I think really succeed is how she portrays the nuances of this character. Right. Especially being that this character is no longer in its original state being a white woman, but is actually a mixed.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Race woman and a bastard.
Ryan Mitchell
Yeah. An illegitimate daughter of a highly respected general born in society. Right. What I did feel like was lacking, what I wish was painted more in the dialogue was how this 1950 world that they were set in allowed that to happen. Because it's not like she's passing. You know, this is a black woman. Like, she knows that. And I think the world felt a little raceless at times. And you had to really pay attention to those specific moments that recognize those intersectionalities. I feel like they were centering the fact that she was a woman and a queer woman, but really nothing else. Like, I feel like oftentimes I felt like her blackness in the fine print instead of, like, out loud. And I don't know if that was a choice by Tessa in the way that she acted it out or if it was a choice for Nia in the dialogue to, like, you have to actually work to understand what this film is doing. Like, you can't just be a passive viewer.
Aisha Harris
Yeah.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
No, I do think some of that is very subtle, but in a way that I appreciate. Particularly going back to what you were saying about the fact that Hedda herself is a performer. So when you think about that accent, I mean, it's so posh. It's posh in that way that there's that hint of. I don't want to say overcompensating, because it's not quite that. But you hear the way that she is kind of like arguing that she belongs in this setting in the way that she's enunciating.
Aisha Harris
It sounded to me more like a transatlantic accent that you would hear an American Hollywood star from that era do. Like, it's very Katharine Hepburn. Best time to leave a party is after something terrible's happened, but before the police come. And I don't know if that was a deliberate choice or not. For me, it worked. And to me, because this is a performance and she's so on the outside, that's how I kind of justify it in my head. But I can also understand how someone might be like, this doesn't. It's hard.
Ryan Mitchell
There's a lot about this film that is so. I mean, I hate to use this buzzword, but it's so camp. And I think that that takes notes in the performance. Right. Like, there's moments where it's deeply unserious, but then it strikes you back in. And, like, I think Tessa does a really great thing with Hedda and this overarching question that I feel like the film is asking, like, what do you do with freedom? What does freedom actually look like? We caught glimpses of her in those moments of freedom, and then she was able to reel it back in and realize, like, I don't want anyone else to catch me in this moment or ever catch me slipping as, like, you know, we would say at the kitchen table in a lot of ways. And so it's so interesting. There's so many nuances of this performance that I just really thought were great, and some that I was like, ugh.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Yeah. There's that tension of being to the man or born, but the wrong way.
Aisha Harris
Yeah. It's interesting to me because, like, I kind of liked how subtle some of the details around her race were. Like, it didn't quite clock for me. I was a little confused as to, like, was her father a white man or not? Like, the first time around, I was like, I'm not sure, like, you would expect it to be, but I also didn't want to presume because there's. We know how history goes. Like, we say these things never happen, but then we learn, oh, actually a black person invented that, or like, an Asian person did this first. Like, we learn these things, and so I didn't want to assume, but I feel like where it really comes out, one moment is where she's talking with Eileen, and Eileen is saying, like, I'm disappointed in you. You could have, like, been more than just someone's wife.
Ryan Mitchell
You could do anything like what?
Aisha Harris
Become a professor. Tell me, how many women are at the university teaching?
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Two.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
And they're both white, I presume.
Aisha Harris
Whatever. It's like, of course, like, her options are limited. And then there's also her dynamic with Judge Brack, who is played by Nicholas Pinnock. And he is the other black person in this movie who has the, like, the most time on screen with Heta. I refer to this dynamic, like, oh, this is like Addison DeWitt to her, Margo Channing and All About Eve. Like, he is the acerbic. Like, I know everything. I know your game. No one else may be willing to admit it, or maybe they're too in love with you to understand. But I know you. I've helped you buy this house. Like, there's all these little, like, things that come up. And the way that dynamic plays out. He knows her the best, in part because he's the other black person with some sort of power in that room. To me, that subtlety is what I liked about it. I loved that relationship. It's so twisted.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Yes.
Aisha Harris
You made the safe choice.
Ryan Mitchell
The only choice, really, for someone like you. Nothing you can do now.
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Just play the part and stay out of trouble.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
There's something very sort of like Chuck Bastian about him.
Aisha Harris
Yes. Yes. Yeah. I mean, what do we think of Nina Haas as Eileen? Because Nia dacosta has switched the gender from Eilert in the original text, who is a man, to Eileen. And so you have that. You have this love triangle, romantic triangle, sort of with Imogen Poots playing Thea, who is like Eileen's sort of academic partner, but also a romantic partner. And, you know, Ryan, you mentioned sort of like, this idea of this movie as a queer. Like, queer icons all over the place. And I'm curious how that dynamic played out for you here.
Ryan Mitchell
I thought it really worked. One thing that I really loved about this film is the fact that regardless of the time period, it's just yet another way of saying that queer people are always here and we simply existed throughout history and time. And I think that's really important now more than ever to, like, really pinpoint that. And I think this film does this really. It shows the complicated nature. And I know I keep using this word, but it really does continue to ask, like, what does it mean to be fully free or courageous? And I think we even get to see that relationship to that where Eileen ultimately held a lot of complicated feelings around who she was and the life that she was living ultimately. Right for her, being sober now and getting away from Hedda. Because it clearly was a toxic mess. And honestly, who can't relate to a toxic relationship? Tessa was so good in that dance scene where she first sees Eileen.
Aisha Harris
Oh, my goodness. And then that dolly. The Spike Lee dolly shot with that floating dolly, honey.
Ryan Mitchell
Oh, the floating dolly. There's something there about being, like, a closeted queer person. And I keep just resonating with the fact that we see these moments and pieces and glimpses of Tessa being able to, like, show. Show this release of emotion at times, but then reeling it in. Because often as a queer person, if you're closeted, you're looking around you, trying to make sure that no one is clocking you. And I think with that nuance, and then, like, the unbearable hold that Eileen also has over Hedda. Right. I mean, Hedda almost shot this woman, and she almost shocked this woman.
Aisha Harris
Chaos. Chaos. Why didn't you shoot me back then when you left?
Ryan Mitchell
When I left.
Aisha Harris
Because I knew you really wanted me to.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Of course.
Aisha Harris
What?
Ryan Mitchell
Cowered at heart. I really appreciated a lot more of the nuances that I think this film was able to have because of that gender flip, because of the queerness that was completely a part of the DNA of this movie.
Aisha Harris
Yeah.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
And I think it works because of Nina Haas.
Ryan Mitchell
Absolutely.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
The presence that you just cannot get away from every time she is on screen. I mean, your eyes just go straight to her. And that magnificent cleavage, you know, certainly helps.
Aisha Harris
Oh, the way that cleavage plays a role in this critical point in the plot. Hedda, ultimate mean girl. My goodness.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Oh, yeah.
Ryan Mitchell
I was like. I literally screamed and said, hedda, you are dead wrong for sending her into that room like that. Like, Hedda is. She's quite selfish. She's devious. She's always choosing chaos. But I do feel like she's ultimately making the choices that she's making out of survival. And at some point, I think she got addicted to the chaos and quickly became bored and resentful of the life that she actually wants.
Aisha Harris
This is all happening because you wanted it. The house, the party.
Ryan Mitchell
Lot of money and effort was expended for you.
Aisha Harris
I hope you're happy. Don't I look happy?
Ryan Mitchell
There's a lot of things that she's chosen that she's dealing with. The consequences of those choices, unfortunately. Right.
Aisha Harris
Absolutely. I mean, she. I think she knows deep down inside that she will never be one of them.
Ryan Mitchell
Yeah.
Aisha Harris
Truly, like, they will never accept her fully, no matter. She says, like, the only thing my father left me were these guns. Like, the guns. And it's like both I mean, good for you, girl, because guns are powerful. But also, like, presumably his other children or whoever, like, they still have their place in society. And here she is with this, like, lowly boring, but hot but boring husband who is. Who is an academic and one step.
Ryan Mitchell
Away from a panic attack.
Aisha Harris
Oh, my goodness. And clueless.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Lord have mercy. That poor man.
Ryan Mitchell
So anxious.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
You know, the other thing I think is how much this film's existence, I feel like I can sort of track it's meant to be in the world because of all the things that it's pulling from that you can sort of see get us here both in terms of, like, historical works. Right. Because it's an Ibsen adaptation. And the fact that the themes that it's dealing with, these deeply unsatisfied women who feel trapped. Cause that's also. Right. That's a big part of A Doll's house. But also Mrs. Dalloway. But also, you know, you've got sort of, like, the chaotic elements of who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Aisha Harris
Yeah.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
It's also sort of standing on a foundation of. I think I was thinking about Belle. Oh, I was thinking about Mr. Malcolm's list. It feels very stylized and contemporary, even though the setting is 1950s Britain. That feels like shades of Saltburn.
Aisha Harris
Yes. That house.
Ryan Mitchell
Absolutely.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
What speaks to me and what I love about this is knowing that, like, I grew up as a black girl in small town North Carolina, and I watched a lot of PBS dramas, like, so many. And so there's this way that Tessa gets to be in her career that I find so alluring and I'm so happy actually exists. Do a Bronte adaptation. Do George Eliot. She makes the argument for more of these things and the fact that they need to exist. When we think about sort of period dramas and British period dramas in particular, there's a way that we sort of either think that black folks are just supposed to be absent from those canonical stories or that you have to notch it up to such a degree that it's Bridgerton. And I think this is a little more mature.
Aisha Harris
Yeah. It splits the difference. This is a play that's been done so many times, countless times.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
It's such a. As part of the canon, like, so important for so many previous actresses. Right. As establishing sort of their bona fides. I mean, it's so reductive to be like, oh, it's female Hamlet. Even though I understand what they mean.
Aisha Harris
No, I think that's pretty accurate, though.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
What is her head? A gobbler? What did she do with it. I just want to see, like more work from Tessa. Just throw it at her. Give her everything because she can just do so many things.
Ryan Mitchell
Tessa deserves all the things. Yeah.
Aisha Harris
She's got the range. And I don't think we talk about it enough, but we've talked about it plenty here. And Hedda is absolutely something you should definitely check out.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
And the production design is divine.
Ryan Mitchell
Oh, and so was the costume design. Everything.
Aisha Harris
The costume design, production design, the score. Everyone was just working together symbiotically. And I love it here. Absolutely. Well, tell us what you think about Hedda. Find us on Facebook@facebook.com PCHH and on Letterboxdetterbox.com NPRpopculture. We'll have a link to that in our episode description. That brings us to the end of our show. Ryan Mitchell Sariah, Nadia McDonald, this was so much fun. Thank you for being here.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Thank you so much. This was such a pleasure.
Ryan Mitchell
Thanks.
Soraya Nadia McDonald
Thank you.
Aisha Harris
This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katsip and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello. Kamin provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Ayesha Harris. We'll see you all next time.
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In this lively, insightful episode, host Aisha Harris is joined by guest culture commentator Ryan Mitchell and critic Soraya Nadia McDonald to dig into Hedda, the vibrant new film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Tessa Thompson. The panel explores the film’s bold changes from the original play, its lush production and costume design, the complexity of its characters, and its contemporary resonance—particularly its queer themes and the nuances of race and gender. The conversation is dynamic, mixing critical analysis with enthusiastic admiration and a sense of fun.
“While the intoxicating new film Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson is not your grandmother's Hedda, it's sexy, chaotic and above all, messy as hell.” – Aisha Harris (02:21)
“You know that moment where you can just tell when a director loves working with an actor? You know, Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson really just speak the same language, and I think it's really, really noticeable.” – Ryan Mitchell (04:31)
“I have two words, and it's queer icon … Y'all thought y'all liked Megan. Nah. This is the girl that we should be celebrating. I need Hedda all over the billboard. Hedda for Pride 2026.” – Ryan Mitchell (04:26)
“What I did feel like was lacking, what I wish was painted more in the dialogue was how this 1950 world … allowed that to happen. Because it's not like she's passing. You know, this is a black woman.” – Ryan Mitchell (09:19)
“He knows her the best, in part because he's the other black person with some sort of power in that room. To me, that subtlety is what I liked about it. I loved that relationship. It's so twisted.” – Aisha Harris (13:51)
“There's a lot about this film that is so. I mean, I hate to use this buzzword, but it's so camp.” – Ryan Mitchell (11:17)
“I do feel like she's ultimately making the choices that she's making out of survival. And at some point, I think she got addicted to the chaos and quickly became bored and resentful of the life that she actually wants.” – Ryan Mitchell (17:10)
“When we think about sort of period dramas and British period dramas in particular, there's a way that we sort of either think that black folks are just supposed to be absent from those canonical stories or that you have to notch it up to such a degree that it's Bridgerton. And I think this is a little more mature.” – Soraya Nadia McDonald (19:34)
The conversation is both critical and celebratory—smart, irreverent, and deeply aware of the histories at play in both the canon and contemporary filmmaking. There’s a focus on the joy of seeing artists like Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta expand the tradition with wit and style, while also acknowledging areas the film provokes or complicates. Listeners are left with a strong sense of why Hedda matters in 2025—both as raucous entertainment and as a work of cultural progression.
“Tessa deserves all the things.” – Ryan Mitchell (21:02)
“The costume design, production design, the score. Everyone was just working together symbiotically. And I love it here.” – Aisha Harris (21:17)
Hedda is recommended enthusiastically by all the panelists—for the performances, the aesthetics, and the way it reinvigorates a classic with new relevance.
Want more discussion? Find Pop Culture Happy Hour on Facebook or Letterboxd.