Yesterday (January 06), Anya virtually visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She discussed The Queen’s Gambit and its huge success, Lord of the Rings and being recognized on the street. Enjoy!

VULTURE – The Queen’s Gambit co-creator Scott Frank and star Anya Taylor-Joy unexpectedly dominated the Netflix game this fall. Now, according to Frank, the pair is resetting the board for a much darker game, with an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1932 novel Laughter in the Dark. Frank discussed their upcoming creative reunion on the Watch podcast over at the Ringer, calling the project “a valentine to movies. I’m going to do it as a film noir and a movie within a movie, and it’s a really nasty, wonderful, thriller.”

Initially released as an English translation under the name Camera Obscura, only for Nabokov to publish his own translation in 1938, Laughter in the Dark follows the story of Albert Albinus, a married middle-aged art critic, and Margot Peters, a 17-year-old aspiring actress with whom he is obsessed. After Albert’s wife learns of their affair and moves out, Margot enlists her former lover Axel Rex to help her financially (and psychologically) bleed Albert dry.

DEADLINE – The breakout star of Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, Anya Taylor-Joy, will play the title role, Cinderella in a virtual staging of pantomime classic Cinderella for BBC Two, with Richard Curtis executive producing.

The stars will perform from the safety of their homes for the Comic Relief special, which airs on Christmas Eve and will be brought to life with illustrations from iconic children’s illustrator Quentin Blake.

Olivia Colman plays the fairy godmother, while Helena Bonham Carter features as the wicked stepmother Lady Devilia.

Curtis said: “It’ll be very funny and merry — and also a great seasonal opportunity to raise crucial funds for the projects that will help the most vulnerable people, at home and abroad — especially now when Covid has made things harder than ever for many.”

BUSTLE – In Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth doesn’t bother to pick up her own chess piece before capturing her opponent’s. She flicks her long fingers across the board, braggadociously ending each move before technically beginning it. Every stop of her chess clock, every topple of a fallen King is a tiny emotional crescendo. “One of my first thoughts was that I wanted Beth to handle the pieces in a way that, while still being aggressive, did feel uniquely feminine,” Taylor-Joy says of inhabiting the bellicose chess phenom at the center of the new limited series. Her chess coach immediately approved the choreography. “He was like, ‘Well, I’ve never seen a chess player do that, but I totally buy that she would.’”

 

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