Wednesday, a brand-new Tim Burton series based on the Addams Family Narrative Universe, is currently streaming on Netflix. The principal of the Nevermore Academy, where the lead character, Jenna Ortega, eventually enrolls. Another familiar face from the small screen in the cast is Gwendoline Christie plays Larissa Weems, and she admits this is ‘The First Time I’ve Felt Beautiful on Screen.’
Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne of Tarth in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones, spoke with Entertainment Weekly. Christie talked about the role and how Burton gave her complete creative freedom to portray it.
Gwendoline Christie on playing Larissa Weems
Tim told me, “You can do whatever you want with the character; feel free to do whatever you want, and we’ll keep talking about it,” Christie said. And this was an incredible opportunity for this great master of cinema. I kept coming up with the idea that Larissa Weems was an outcast. She went to a school for outcasts, was always second best, and was always in Morticia’s shadow.
What kept coming to mind was the idea of this Hitchcock-esque heroine, this siren of the screen, which perhaps that young woman watching the cinema would see as an embodiment of her fantasies. And strangely, Tim had the same idea, and so did Colleen Atwood, costume designer.
We especially watched Tippi Hedren and Kim Novak. It was an opportunity to do something like that and play that mysterious—imperious character with that classic idea of femininity. I wanted to push that idea. I like to transform myself into characters and people far from me and whose part I would never have been chosen for.
But while Hitchcock’s heroines tend to go through all sorts of trauma, playing this one who is a woman in charge of her destiny, ruthlessly ambitious, and willingly puts herself in dangerous and extreme situations was emotional for me.
Christie credits the series’ hair and makeup department with much credit for assisting in the transformation.
I cannot express enough my extreme gratitude to Tim and Colleen and our team of hair and makeup artists. It’s the first time I’ve felt beautiful on screen. Colleen Atwood is rightfully a legend, and what she does, is close to witchcraft in terms of transformation. It’s an honor in my life to work with Colleen and with Tim.
