How Tessa Thompson Learned ‘Acting In Silence’ From Her On-screen Hearing Impaired Daughter, Mila Davis-Kent

  • 2 months ago
Interview with Tessa Thompson and Mila Davis-Kent
Transcript
00:00I've always thought you had the hardest job because in all three films, a lot of your gig is reacting silently, right?
00:08You're reacting to watching this man fight for his life.
00:12I was wondering if you could take me through what that process is like, and is there anything you tap into?
00:16I really appreciate, I think, the idea of getting to act in silences.
00:22Like, I always really loved that challenge, what you can communicate without words.
00:29And I think something that felt particularly interesting this go-around is also to work inside of ASL.
00:37I think the way that that also changed my idea of performance and getting to work with Mila.
00:44This is her first time acting, and she's remarkable.
00:48But I learned a lot from her in terms of everything that you can express without words
00:56in the way that I have always known how to express myself.
00:59So I think that was an exciting new thing to find at this point in playing this character.
01:07How does that feel, that your first time out the gate, you're serving as an example?
01:11Yeah, well, I feel really happy about that statement.
01:14But I want to say, okay, I did teach her some things.
01:18You know, I did show her how to express herself, but she also taught me a lot, too.
01:24So really, I think it was her mostly teaching me, not the other way around.
01:28I would look at her facial expressions, I would look at how she showed emotions,
01:32how she expressed herself, how she showed her character's reaction, how things looked so real.
01:38And actually, I learned so much from her on this film.
01:41So I just want to thank her for teaching me all those things.
01:44And she made it easier for me to feel comfortable during this whole process.
01:48Because, you know, sometimes you can feel like it might be hard and it's challenging if you've never done it before.
01:53But having someone with her, like her on my team, she would come over and explain things to me,
01:57tell me about the characters, and then I would say, okay, I feel a lot more comfortable.
02:01And it's easier for me to go ahead and do it and know how to react.
02:05So thank you, Tessa.
02:07Aww. This is so much more wholesome than I planned on it being this way.

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