Zawe Ashton Talks Working With Brie Larson and Battling Captain Marvel
While The Marvels may not have been the box office success that Marvel was hoping for, by the sound of things, Zawe Ashton had a good time making the film.
Ashton portrayed the film’s main antagonist, Kree Supremor Dar-Benn, a powerful warrior with a vendetta against Captain Marvel. The actress previously discussed how joining the MCU impacted her relationship with her fiancee, Tom Hiddleston, and revealed that the film almost had a very different ending.
Working with Brie Larson
In a recent interview with ComingSoon, Ahston discussed what the experience of working with Brie Larson was like. It was a time she described as “great fun” despite the fact that the two were playing mortal enemies.
“Brie is hugely experienced, and I think that’s a wonderful thing if you’ve just started doing these films, to be opposite someone who absolutely knows that world, physically knows the world, sort of energetically knows how to be in that world. It’s a lot,” Ashton explained.
“We’re all these adults in a sandbox, we’re playing and you can get quite self-conscious or in your own head. Brie bought this great experience to be across from. She knows exactly how to bring that world to life — the costume, the set, the intentionality behind the line. I just learned a lot from observing her and she’s great fun and she loves to laugh, which makes things very light.”
The Chemistry Between Larson and Ashton Was Great
While Ashton enjoyed playing Dar-Benn, she admits that had she and Larson not gotten along, playing bitter enemies would have grown tiring. Luckily, they had good chemistry and were able to slip in some light-hearted moments.
“When you’re playing mortal enemies, you kind of need that release as well. You couldn’t kind of go around scowling at each other all day,” she explains.
“That would be really … I think that would be mentally quite draining. I’m so glad you think we have great chemistry, because it was great to be able to play this unbelievably powerful woman’s archnemesis and have there be a lovely mutual respect there.”
The Marvels is streaming now on Disney+.