Anya Taylor-Joy On Female Rage: "We Have Reactions That Are Not Always Dainty Or Unmessy.”

Courtesy of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Anya Taylor-Joy has revealed why she’s fought for several of her characters to express onscreen rage.

During an interview for a GQ cover story, the Emmy-nominated actress spoke about the instances where she pushed to change an emotional scene that saw her character crying to one that conveyed anger: “I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage, which is a strange thing, because I’m not promoting violence — but I am promoting women being seen as people. We have reactions that are not always dainty or unmessy,” Anya Taylor-Joy explained.

The first time the actress brought up the need for ‘female rage’ was for her feature acting debut in Robert Eggers’ highly acclaimed ‘The Witch’ (A24, 2015). Originally, her character Thomasin was meant to cry when she is dragged from the family’s farmyard and accused of being the evil entity that haunts their land. However, Taylor-Joy said she couldn’t produce any tears at that moment, leading her to question why she was even supposed to be crying in the scene: “Eventually I said, ‘She’s angry; she’s fucking pissed. She’s been blamed time and time again, and she’s not doing anything. We have to stop with the crying,'” she told Eggers.

Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘The Witch’ (2015), Courtesy of A24.

Taylor-Joy said she learned to speak up for herself after that interaction — and with Eggers approving those changes. “I feel so happy for her. Girl, fly, do your thing. Live deliciously, you’ve earned it. This world is not for you. I love the ending of that film,” Taylor-Joy said about her character.

In 2022’s The Menu, when Taylor-Joy’s character was supposed to produce a single tear once she learned her date had intentionally brought her to the film’s restaurant to die, which caused Taylor-Joy some confusion on how her character should react.

“I was like, ‘Let me explain to you: I am going to leap across the table and try and literally kill him with my bare hands,’” Taylor-Joy recalled. Director Mark Mylod and co-star Nicholas Hoult were open to the changes.

When Eggers and Taylor-Joy reunited for ‘The Northman’ (2022), the director told GQ that he was attentive to her advice. On scene in particular that the director recalled, was when Taylor-Joy’s character has to discourage a man from touching her against her will.

“It was Anya’s idea for Olga to douse her hand with her own menstrual blood before slapping Fjölnir in the face,” Eggers said, adding that is was a “very strong, defiant and memorable choice.”

Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘The Northman’ (2022), Courtesy of Focus Features & Universal Pictures.

In her latest epic, George Miller’s ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,’ Taylor-Joy also fought for things that felt right for her character. The actress told The New York Times, “There’s one scream in that movie, and I am not joking when I tell you that I fought for that scream for three months.”

While Taylor-Joy understands that at the end of the day, the director has the final call, director George Miller said that there were “several times in the cutting room I said, ‘God, I’m so glad she did that.’”

Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘Furiosa’ (2024), Courtesy of Warner Bros.

“For all my championing of female rage, I’ve never been an angry person,” Taylor-Joy said. “For a long time the only time I ever got angry was on other people’s behalfs. I’ve always internalized this thing of ‘I’ve done something wrong. If you treat me badly, it’s because I am the problem.’ And I’m so grateful for Furiosa, because there was a real moment where I started getting angry for myself.”

Anya Taylor-Joy’s latest film ‘Furiosa’ lands in theatres May 24, and made it’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15.

See the trailer for ‘Furiosa’ below: