Exclusive Interview: Anya Taylor-Joy Talks Split

Right! So how does that experience change or does it?

Anya Taylor-Joy: I’ve never really thought about it. I’ve been so lucky. I know this sounds strange but I have no idea why they trust me. That is their own prerogative. I wash my hands of that situation. But I’ve been incredibly lucky with the people that I’ve worked with. I’ve never been afraid of using my voice and they listen to me. I’m such an instinctual person and I live with my characters very, very much. They live in my skin and in my head and if something is wrong, it’s wrong. I just know for a fact it’s wrong and it’s not wrong for me, it’s wrong for the person that I’m being. So all of my directors have been very receptive to me being, this doesn’t work or this is strange or how do you feel about doing this and even if they don’t completely buy into it, they’ll let me try it and usually it ends up in the movie. Hopefully, my instinct hasn’t led me wrong yet.

I think for actors, you’re always your own worst critic. I don’t think you would be able to see how phenomenal you are unless you were on the outside.

Anya Taylor-Joy: Thank you, that’s incredibly kind. It’s weird watching your own films. Ever since The Witch, I watch them once with my glasses and then the rest of the times I just don’t watch them with my glasses. It’s strange. It’s almost like I don’t see myself on screen because I very seldom look in mirrors. The feeling I get is, I hate that girl’s acting and I wish she would get off screen. But I really like the movie and so, “get off! C’mon. Stop it. Why? Ugh, there she goes again.”

You get bored with yourself?

Anya Taylor-Joy: It’s not even bored. I have never and will never like my face. You know, people are always like, “oh, but you’re beautiful.” No, no. I’m very comfortable not thinking of myself as a beautiful person because I focus more on my art. I’m not afraid of looking ugly on screen. I focus on my internal world and that’s far more fascinating than whatever I could have on my face and whatever is inevitably going to fade.

You’ve really excelled in genre film. Was that always an affinity of yours or did it just kind of work out like that?

Anya Taylor-Joy: I mean, I’ve never chased anything. If I read a script and the character speaks to me and we belong to each other, I’m compelled to tell that story almost to the point of madness. If I’m not telling that story, or even for a second I think that someone else might get the opportunity to I’m just like, no. This is my role. I have to portray this. It just so happens that these characters that I’ve fallen so madly in love with have resided in pretty dark worlds.

But I never though about it that way. That being said, acting in genre movies is fucking awesome. It’s so much fun. You have a great time. The atmosphere is usually pretty light and I get to be a crazy person. But it’s safe. No one deems me a psycho and people are just like, “well done.” I’m like, “thank you. I just beat the shit out of somebody.”

Amen. Sticking with genre film, let’s talk New Mutants and the character of Magik. What about that character would attract you? Have you read up on the character?

Anya Taylor-Joy: I’ve always been a comic book nerd so I know her from the comic books. But nothing is confirmed. It’s definitely a world that I would like to be a part of. But nothing is real yet.

At least in the comics, she’s the little sister of Colossus and he just showed up in a Deadpool movie, so what do you think of the prospects of that?

Anya Taylor-Joy: Not commenting directly on it but more like, I watched Deadpool and I was so proud of that movie. I was like, okay, hell yes! It’s finally a movie that’s not afraid of not being PG. These are really cool characters and they mean a lot to a lot of people. Make a good movie. I hate the fact that a lot of superhero movies are synonymous with bad and it’s time for a new era where actually, no these are real people. They have flaws and they have problems. They don’t just look hot in a leather catsuit and show up to beat up the bad guys and have nothing going on behind the eyes. I’m very excited for the new era of superhero movies as a fan.

That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Anya very much for her time. Be sure to check out Split when it opens nationwide on January 20th, 2017.