Anya Taylor-Joy reveals why she rejected a potential role in a Disney Channel pilot to star in Robert Eggers’ hit 2015 horror film The witch. Eggers’ directorial debut saw Taylor-Joy star alongside Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson in the A24-distributed film. The witch centered on Thomasin de Taylor-Joy, the eldest daughter of a Puritan family who settles in 1630s New England and falls victim to the titular force, enduring a number of surreal and disturbing events that gradually cost the life to family members.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Taylor Joy reveals that the very day she was cast in her breakout role from Thomasin in The witch, she had also been offered a role in a pilot episode of an undisclosed Disney Channel series. While excited about both opportunities, the star says she chose to join the production of Eggers’ film because of how it could provide her with a new experience that was a break from production styles. with which she was more familiar. Check out Taylor-Joy’s full response below:
“I remember it was the same day I was asked to be in a Disney Channel pilot, and it was so exciting to be offered anything that I ran into the house like crazy. But I just had this really good feeling about ‘The Witch’ that made me want to give up the Disney experience for the thing that felt unfamiliar to me, the thing that felt sacred to me. It gave me the cornerstones of how I work now, which is basically the idea that there’s no hierarchy on set: you work hard, you stay on top of things, and you don’t assume someone else will do it for you. Your title doesn’t stop at the actor – you’re a creative on this film, and that’s how you have to approach it.”
How Anya Taylor-Joy’s Career Would Be Different Without The Witch
Despite the rejection of the offer to star in the Disney series, The witchThe critical success of Taylor-Joy and Eggers in 2015 and 2016 through its festival screenings and subsequent wide circulation helped elevate both Taylor-Joy and Eggers into mainstream Hollywood recognition after having smaller roles in the entertainment industry, while marking the start of their collaborations. Following his breakthrough in mainstream recognition with The witch, Taylor-Joy reunited with Eggers on The man from the north, collaborating on the 2022 historical action thriller, which also achieved critical acclaim upon release. However, despite collaborating on two of the three features released by Eggers, Taylor-Joy did not feature in 2019. Lighthouse, although he asked Eggers for a potential role, the director stating that the film did not feature a role for her and left his Nosferatus redo due to scheduling conflicts.
Outside of her work with Eggers, Taylor-Joy has followed her role in The witch with a number of roles in slow-paced thrillers and horror films that tackle more subtle, psychological themes. Notably, Taylor-Joy has been cast in feature films, including Divide, Glass, Last night in Sohoand The menu, which sees her tackling stories and characters that often tackle darker themes and creepier content, seeing her associating with those genres and tackling darker, more mature storytelling. Despite this, the star has also branched out outside of these genres with great success, from portraying chess prodigy Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Betto regency heroine Emma Woodhouse in Emmaand the mutant wizard Magik in The New Mutantsin addition to being cast as the titular character in madmax spin off Furiosa and providing the voice of Princess Peach in The movie Super Mario Bros..
Although Taylor-Joy fears the future of her acting career following his breakout role in The witch, the star quickly became one of the film industry’s most beloved rising stars in the late 2010s, earning critical acclaim for her performances across multiple genres. As such, devoted fans of her filmography and Eggers’ feature films might be surprised at how much of a different trajectory her career might have taken had she starred in an eventual Disney Channel sitcom series, especially in relation to his roles in projects for the elderly. public. But with her successful collaborations with Eggers and individual projects, it’s clear that Taylor-Joy’s decision to take a chance on a more unknown type of production was the right decision.
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
