Playing Captain Phasma Was Liberating Says Gwendoline Christie

While male actors have always been able to play characters with different sensibilities, the same cannot be said about actresses, whom are more often than not relegated to play stereotypical roles.

In a recent interview to Variety, Game of Thrones thespian, Gwendoline Christie, speaks to this point and compares her Brienne of Tarth character from the acclaimed fantasy series to the one she just played in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force, Captain Phasma.

"I don’t think many female actors get the opportunity to play a part where they’re not having to think about the way their face looks, but I found exactly the same thing with Brienne of Tarth, and that was very liberating," Christie said. "It was great as an actor to work on your skills — that it isn’t about holding your head so you look beautiful. It’s about what you’re transmitting, and to be in service of an idea greater than yourself, whether it’s the character’s overriding objective or, beyond that, hopefully something more sociopolitical. We have seen an image of [Phasma] and again, it’s an unconventional kind of woman exhibiting a kind of strength, but in a very different way to my other two characters."

Besides playing Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, and Captain Phasma on Star Wars: The Force Wakens, we will also be seeing Christie step into YA territory for the first time as Commander Lyme in the final installment of The Hunger Games franchise, Mokingjay - Part 2.

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Regarding her mysterious chromed character on The Force Awaken, Christie doesn't give anything away, but says it was "very important to J.J. that I was there acting a part," she revealed. "I found it to be a really interesting acting challenge, not just because of what I felt this character was representing — and it was just what I felt, and we talked about it a little bit, but it was never like a manifesto, ‘this is what it must be’ — and it was exciting to me to have that weight of responsibility taken away, of having to be a certain way as a woman, to have to be mindful in a way that isn’t always useful. To have that stripped away was very liberating, and it meant that as an actor I had to focus on other things. I had to focus on what my body was communicating and what exactly my voice is communicating." Adding that, "It becomes about the way in which you hold your hand, the way in which you walk, where your weight lies and what you want that to mean, and I wanted to give the character identity. I thought it was interesting to make something about the character identifiably female in a non-superficial way, and I hope that comes across."

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 opens on November 20, Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 18, and The Game of Thrones returns for it sixth season in the Spring of 2016.

Source - Variety

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