“You actually can’t get away with treating us in certain way”: Anya Taylor-Joy Refused to Sit and Cry, Requested Director to Change Her Intense Scene With Nicholas Hault

Anya Taylor-Joy has impressed fans in quite a short while by appearing in several projects. It continued till she started stretching her hands for some big projects like Peaky Blinders and The Queen’s Gambit. Since then, she has been gaining attention for upcoming projects but her acting talent is equally complemented by speaking up for herself that she even reflects in her on-screen characters.

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Last year, the actress portrayed the role of Margot in The Menu and talked about requesting the director to change her intense scene with Nicholas Hoult.

Anya Taylor-Joy Slapped Nicholas Hault in The Menu

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Anya Taylor-Joy played the role of Margot along with Nicholas Hoult who played the role of Tyler, a foodie fanboy who is a diner in The Menu.

It all starts when Tyler, a foodie ends up bringing the former’s character, Margot to Chef Julian’s island on his excursion knowing what he was indulging into. Given that the conceptual dining was meant to kill everyone on the excursion with some plot twist, Tyler seemed aware of everything and brought a date with him regardless.

In one such instance, Chef Julian (Ralph Fiennes) ends up revealing the truth about Tyler to Margot, and the next thing that happened was a tight slap on Tyler’s face. However, one might be surprised to know that this scene was not in the script but was added due to the former’s request.

Anya Taylor-Joy Talked About Slapping Nicholas Hoult in The Menu

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In an interview with BBC Radio 1, the duo talked about their experience working in the 2022 comedy horror film. In one segment, The Witch actress addressed the topic of her intense slap scene between the duo where her character slaps the latter.

She mentioned that her character was originally written to sit and cry silently after her doom news struck to her. However, the Peaky Blinders actor came up with showing her honest fiery reaction that one would naturally do on hearing their doom. She wanted to do something out of the regular portrayal of women often shown in media.

She shared,

“I have a thing about feminine rage… This is no disrespect for any writer, I get a lot of men doing really terrible things and women sitting silently while one tear slowly falls. And, I’m like, ‘Oh, no, no no. We get mad and angry.’ I remember pulling Mark (The Menu director) aside and saying, ‘I’m really sorry. But, the only way to play this truthfully is for me to attack him.’”

In another clip, she mentioned, “You actually can’t get away with treating us in a certain way.”

It’s only plausible for her character to react the way she is portrayed in the film. Her actions not only won fans’ hearts but also her co-star who praised her for slapping his character as he knew that Tyler deserved that treatment. The film grossed over $73 million worldwide (as per The Numbers) receiving positive reviews from the critics.

The Menu is available on HBO Max.

Source: BBC Radio 1