LOS ANGELES (AP) – In the span of seven months this year alone, Anya Taylor-Joy played a meddlesome British brat in ‘Emma’, a Russian mutant with teleportation powers in the latest ‘X-Men’ movie, and an American orphan who turns out to be a chess phenomenon that can checkmate adult men by the time she’s 8 in ‘The Queen’s Gambit’.
She has just started.
The 24-year-old has just wrapped up the recording of “The Northman” alongside Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard, Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke. In October, Warner Bros. announces that Taylor-Joy will play Furiosa in the highly anticipated prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Oh, and another movie will be released in April: Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller, “Last Night in Soho.”
“When I was a kid I just wanted to go to Narnia and, you know, fly to Neverland and go to all these incredible places,” Taylor-Joy recently told The Associated Press, who called her one of the breakthroughs. Entertainers of 2020. And now as an adult, I’m like, ‘I live in Narnia. Like, this is great. ”
Taylor-Joy is “the busiest person I’ve ever met,” said Marielle Heller, who plays Taylor Joy’s foster mother in “The Queen’s Gambit” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Directed.
“I don’t know how she does so many projects at the same time. It’s really amazing, ”said Heller.
Netflix says’ The Queen’s Gambit ‘was the greatest scripted limited series ever and’ Emma ‘received critical acclaim and blockbusters, as did her big screen debut as the lead in Robert Eggers’ 2015 horror hit’ The Witch ‘, which Taylor – Joy a Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor. She has also been acclaimed for her appearances in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split”, the dark comedy / thriller “Thoroughbreds” and BBC One’s “Peaky Blinders”.
All that success could easily have gone to Taylor-Joy, but Heller said she’s managed to stay humble.
“The danger of young people having careers increases when they are very young – you can turn into an asshole. But she hasn’t, ”said Heller. ‘She is a real pleasure to work with. You don’t get that many roles in a row if you’re not someone it’s good to work with. “
Taylor-Joy is so loved by those who directed her, they’ve formed an almost club of worship, calling each other and talking about how she’s doing, said Autumn de Wilde, who directed Taylor-Joy in ‘Emma. “
“We share a common bond because we believe in her only 100% and we are so excited to see how our ideas will blossom with her,” said de Wilde. ‘She’s not an empty barrel. She is an endless chest of drawers and secret passageways. “
Part of what makes Taylor-Joy so magnetic is her complete lack of narcissism, she said.
“A great photo makes you wish you were there. I think she makes you wish you were there and watched her work. That’s because she’s not looking at herself in the mirror, she’s looking at the person she’s acting with, she feels me through the lens as a director, ”said de Wilde.
Taylor-Joy was born in Miami and grew up largely in Argentina. She only spoke Spanish when her parents moved her and her five siblings to England, where Taylor-Joy struggled to fit in and learn English.
Although she escaped the bullying she struggled with at the time, she is still learning how to be nice to herself.
‘A friend of mine once said to me,’ You would never talk to your friends the way you talk about yourself, ‘which was huge,’ she said. “It is such a difficult journey for any individual to become friends with themselves. Some people are born and they just have it and I applaud those people. I was not one of them. “
While she says her skyrocketing fame can be “a little intense,” the journey has been “a wonderful process.”
“I have a lot of energy, and I think this career and the hours of this career make me so tired of being healthy, which I appreciate,” she said.
“Making movies is difficult. Any movie that is made, it’s a wonder that movie could be seen by other people. The fact that it’s even there is a baby wonder, and working with so many talented people and so many different people to make that come true and come to life is strangely life-affirming. It just makes me very happy. “