Hollywood partnerships often define an actor’s career, especially when a filmmaker finds their ultimate muse. But sometimes, even the closest collaborative bonds have their limits. Anya Taylor-Joy, one of the most celebrated stars in recent years, learned this the hard way when her go-to director rejected her desperate pleas to join his next masterpiece.
Director Robert Eggers, who launched Taylor-Joy’s career by casting her in ‘The Witch,’ left her out of the equation when he set out to make a psychological horror hit that featured two of Hollywood’s heavyweights.
A Collaboration Built With ‘The Witch’
In 2015, Anya Taylor-Joy got her big break in Hollywood when director Robert Eggers offered her the lead role in ‘The Witch.’ This collaboration proved to be both critically and commercially successful, with the movie grossing nearly $40 million against a $4 million shoestring budget.
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In addition to a powerful screenplay and direction, Anya’s portrayal of Thomasin elevated the film to new levels of artistic perfection. Thomasin is a clever, mischievous, and confused teenage girl who faces accusations from her family for being a witch.
Later in the story, Thomasin moves through those murky waters of witchcraft until she gives in to the powers and joins the coven of naked witches. Taylor-Joy was just 18 when she took on the role with such depth, and it’s no wonder that Eggers wanted to work with her again.
The duo collaborated again for the 2022 action-thriller ‘The Northman’, but it was only after she had faced rejection from Eggers for another interesting project. The movie in question was ‘The Lighthouse,’ starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.
Robert Eggers Kept Anya Taylor-Joy Out Of Her Horror Saga
Once Anya found out about the development of ‘The Lighthouse,’ she pleaded with Eggers to cast her. However, the director told her bluntly that there was nothing she could do. The movie featured only a few actresses, apart from the mermaid.
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“I was jumping at it because when he first called me and was like, ‘Hey, I’m making The Lighthouse, and there’s no role for you. There’s a mermaid…'” Taylor-Joy told NME. Despite the actress agreeing to take any role to work with Eggers again, the filmmaker didn’t let her.
“I was like, ‘I can be the mermaid!’ He was like, ‘You really should not be this particular mermaid, Anya.’ I was like, ‘I can be the seagull, I can just be in the background.'” While Taylor-Joy didn’t get the part, we can’t help but think how perfect she would have been in the role.
It is also because the mermaid plays an important yet explicit role in the film, and the ‘Queen Gambit’ star is never afraid to play provocative roles. The rejection had little effect on Taylor-Joy’s career as she later worked on some exceptional projects such as ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,’ ‘Last Night in Soho,’ and ‘The Menu.’
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