Star Wars actor Gwendoline Christie is proud to play with stereotypes

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Star Wars actor Gwendoline Christie is proud to play with stereotypes As Captain Phasma in the new Star Wars movie The Force Awakens, Gwendoline Christie is breaking new ground. She is the first female villain in the Star Wars universe. But that’s not all. Captain Phasma is decked out head to toe in chrome armour – minus any feminine body sculpting. The rules have essentially been rewritten by Episode VII director JJ Abrams, if you consider how important looks and style can be for leading ladies on the big screen. That brave mindset was hugely important to Gwendoline, who says: “Wearing the costume was a very interesting experience. “(The armour) means it isn’t about that wonderfully random series of elements that come together when we were born – the ones that cause us to look the way we look, which we have absolutely no control over. “We (as viewers and fans) respond to Captain Phasma due to her actions and the choices and decisions she makes. For me it was very interesting to have those usual senses not as primary ones, it was a very different sort of experience.” Gwendoline has previous experience when it comes to playing with stereotypes. She’s been working for five years in the smash-hit TV adaptation of the Game of Thrones book series as the warrior Brienne Of Tarth. RELATED: Meet Rey and Captain Phasma of the new Star Wars movie She’s also recently entered the Hunger Games universe as Commander Lyme, another female warrior, in the fourth film, Mockingjay Part 2. It’s been a busy year all told. But the classically-trained method actor is delighted at the strong female characters being created by writers such as GOT author George RR Martin. She explains: “When I read the books, I knew they were special because they were very unconventional narratives and the characters were very well rounded. I remember being surprised at the brilliance with which the women were drawn and thought that if the TV series preserved that well in terms of depth, they are three dimensional. “You see the strengths and you see weaknesses. I didn’t expect them to do that because in television there has been a kind of tradition that women played girlfriends, characters that are non essential to the plot.” So how does it feel to play a villain? Perhaps it is worth remembering that this is a story shaped by Abrams. Don’t expect everything to be black and white, cut and dried. “I feel these characters that we see are ‘people’,” Gwendoline explains. “In life, people are not 100 per cent good or 100 per cent bad, so it is just looking at different parts as people.” Gwendoline’s Game of Thrones character Brienne is one tough cookie. So too, we can assume, is First Order commander Captain Phasma. But the actress herself is a bit softer of heart. The hysteria and excitement among the Star Wars fanbase has touched a chord with her. Along with Abrams and a host of cast members, including original trilogy stars Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, Gwendoline met thousands of fans at a special panel event at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year. And It wasn’t just the fans that were left reeling by the event which has gone down in geek lore. She recalls: “I had a chat with JJ afterwards and I said ‘what is that incredible feeling’? It isn’t hysteria and it isn’t euphoria, and he said ‘it’s hope’. And it is, that’s the feeling. You are all there and you are all connected to the happiness and the pleasure that this film gives you and it seems to mean so, so much to people.” chris.fraser@7days.ae Read the original story at: Star Wars actor Gwendoline Christie is proud to play with stereotypes