Tessa Thompson had 'very real anxiety' that Hedda would not resume production after strike

Tessa Thompson had the "very real anxiety" that her new movie Hedda would not resume production after the 2023 actors' strike.

The Creed actress stars as the titular character in Nia DaCosta's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's famous play Hedda Gabler, which relocates the story to a party at a mansion in 1950s England.

Thompson and her co-stars had done extensive work to prepare their characters and had spent weeks rehearsing and felt ready to start filming. However, at that point, the actors' strike began and the production came to a halt.

Reflecting on that time, the Avengers: Endgame star admitted that she was worried about the project falling through during that four-month pause between July and November 2023.

"(I was) also dealing with the very real anxiety of whether or not we could make this thing, so many movies didn't come back from the strike," she said during a virtual press conference. "I cared so much about this story and about the people that I'm getting to tell this story with, and so having that feeling every day of being like, 'Can we do this? Will we be able to do this?' I just know it would've completely broken my heart had we not been able to make the movie."

Thompson also noted that she felt ready to take the plunge and play Hedda, and when the production stalled, she didn't know what to do with "all this energy and nerves and anxiety and excitement" that she had built up in preparation for filming.

However, the actress was ultimately "grateful" for the break because it helped her let go of Ibsen's text and embrace DaCosta's vision.

"I think in a weird way we were helped by having this time to just let it go and really invest, with all reverence and respect for Ibsen, really invest in this new thing that we were making," she added.

Hedda is now streaming on Prime Video.