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Hollywood Journal
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Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Marielle Heller, Moses Ingram and Harry Melling spoke to THR about their new Netflix limited series 'The Queen's Gambit.'
Transcript
00:00Tell the readers of life how it feels and to be a girl among all those men.
00:06I don't mind it.
00:07Your character, Beth, in this show is a very complex character.
00:11Obviously, she has an insane talent for chess, but she has this really traumatic past.
00:15What made you want to take on this role?
00:17Oh, man, I loved her immediately.
00:19Like, I just, I, there was no script when I first heard that Scott wanted to talk to me.
00:25Scott Frank, sorry.
00:26And I inhaled the book in like an hour and a half.
00:30And I'm not a runner, but I ran to that meeting.
00:33Like the excitement level that I had of just how much I connected with this woman,
00:38how much I wanted to tell her story.
00:40And something that I think is really important is I did think I could tell it right.
00:44Chess isn't always competitive.
00:47Chess can also be beautiful.
00:51Now, chess and chess terminology are obviously a huge part of this show.
00:56What was your level of chess knowledge before taking on this part?
00:59Zero.
01:01None.
01:02I knew there were pieces.
01:04I knew there was a board.
01:05But that's actually kind of what was awesome about getting to do this was that I got invited
01:10into a very secret world that's super cool and really interesting.
01:14A lot of the chess, especially the speed chess, was my favorite part of filming.
01:18It was so exciting to be able to have the pressure of like, okay, you have to learn this very
01:23complicated sequence over three boards as quick as you can in five minutes and just
01:28like give it a go.
01:29I loved it.
01:31It was like up there with the proudest I've ever been of something that my brain was able
01:37to do because I tricked myself into believing I was a really good chess player.
01:41I knew how to play the game.
01:43I was aware what each piece did.
01:46I used to play checkers when I was a child.
01:48So it's a similar board.
01:49And then my mum bought me chess pieces.
01:51But no, that's about it really.
01:54I knew what they all did.
01:55But I couldn't formulate a game or think 10, 15 steps ahead of anyone.
02:00I knew obviously the pieces, the board.
02:01But apart from that, I didn't know how to play, didn't know any of the different manoeuvres
02:05you get told to do.
02:07So I was a real, I was a real beginner.
02:10So, but that's part of the joy of acting.
02:12I think, you know, you get to do things that you just wouldn't usually come across.
02:18So that was definitely part of this journey was learning how to, how to be a chess pro.
02:23You're an orphan, Beth.
02:25I'm fine being alone.
02:26I feel safe in an entire world of just 64 squares.
02:31Throughout the series, Beth finds family in Jolene at the orphanage and then in her adopted
02:38mother and even in some friends she meets along the way.
02:41What message do you think this series sends about family?
02:44Family is where you find it.
02:46You know, I think Beth is a very resilient character.
02:49She's somebody who really finds connection with people and she sort of adjusts herself
02:54in order to meet whoever she's meeting.
02:57She's kind of always growing and changing and she's a resilient character.
03:03I think who, who finds it where she, where she can.
03:07Family's who you make it, who you, who you invite in, who you allow to share in that space,
03:13space with you.
03:14And sometimes it's stronger with those people that aren't blood.
03:19And if you allow it, it's something that can bloom into a very beautiful flower, if you will.
03:27Yeah.
03:28But it's very important and you can find family in many different walks of life as long as
03:34you are open enough to accept it.
03:36I think it's fair to say that Beth has a, has a, has a rough time through, through the story.
03:41And so, um, I guess the message would be surround your, surround yourself with good people and
03:48they're going to help you through that.
03:49Oh, it's a beautiful message about family.
03:51I think, you know, as you're watching it, something that really struck me and I think
03:55was also a lesson I had to learn from myself was sometimes when you feel the most alone
04:00or the most lonely, it's only because you can't see further than your nose.
04:06There are people around you who love you and support you and you're actually not alone,
04:10but the intense sense of loneliness that Beth feels throughout this is, is so great.
04:15And I think, um, seeing how these people stick around for her and how they allow her to grow,
04:21but are also there whenever she falls.
04:23I think it's the idea that you don't have to be born into a great family.
04:27You can choose your family.
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