After a stellar run in festivals, The Wasp is finally releasing in theaters nationwide. Directed by Guillem Morales from a screenplay by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (and incidentally based on her stage play), the stress-inducing thriller pits Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer against each other and offers them awards-worthy material to chew on. The plot’s many twists and turns are best witnessed without prior preparation, but the story follows Heather (Harris) as she seeks a way out of her unhappy marriage with help from her estranged childhood friend Carla (Dormer).
Harris and Dormer are joined by Dominic Allburn and Jack Morris, who play their respective husbands, but The Wasp is primarily focused on the dynamic between the two women. As they plot their tenuous future together, their difficult past starts coming to light and threatens to upend their carefully laid plans. The genre is thriller without a doubt, but the movie shines when character is at the center of the equation.
Screen Rant interviewed Dormer and Harris about their experience on The Wasp and what excited them about the unusual roles they played. Surprisingly, Harris pointed to Dormer’s advice garnered from her previous work in Game of Thrones as a guiding light for Heather. Dormer, meanwhile, was attracted to Carla precisely because she was free-spirited rather than calculated.
How Naomie Harris & Natalie Dormer Prepared For The Wasp
The Wasp explores “the ramifications of childhood trauma and the choices it leaves you with going forward.”
Screen Rant: What made you first want to jump on board The Wasp? Who joined first, and what discussions did you have with Guillem?
Natalie Dormer: I don’t think we know who was in first. I knew that Naomi was circling it, but she wasn’t confirmed when I was offered it. Obviously, that was a big draw for me because I’d love to work with the talented Naomi Harris. But I also know Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, the writer of the original play writer and screenwriter for the film.
I had not physically seen the play in a theater, but I had read it, and Morgan had taken my temperature on it while waiting to see if it came to fruition. I knew what Morgan was trying to achieve with the play and with the screenplay, which was examining women at their most extreme and seeing what we’re capable of, as well as exploring the ramifications of childhood trauma and the choices it leaves you with going forward.
I thought there were some really meaty great themes for two female characters. There’s not a goodie, and there’s not a baddie; it swings your sympathy swings between the two. Mostly, it’s just a very unusual special and project that I was excited to be a part of.
Naomie, Heather’s moral compass really carries the movie in a lot of ways. What discussions do you have with Guillem about where her head is at and how to keep the audience from getting ahead of her?
Naomie Harris: Actually, I have to thank Natalie for helping me there because we had a week’s rehearsal. Natalie revealed to me that she’d played a character who I would describe as similar.
Natalie Dormer: Yeah, I’ve played a couple of characters in the past where I’m trying to hide from the audience and not play two things in the same moment.
Naomie Harris: That’s obviously what Heather is doing, and I hadn’t played that before. I didn’t know how to play it, and Natalie really helped me by saying, “The thing is you just play the truth of each moment.” Because if you try and play the truth of two moments, then you end up seeming as though you’ve got a secret, and the audience doesn’t understand what it is. Then the audience doesn’t trust you the whole way throughout the movie. That was really, really helpful. I have to thank Natalie for that because otherwise I could have gone off in a completely the wrong direction.
But playing Heather was such a gift because, on some levels, I really empathize. I deeply empathize with her and deeply connect with her because I was bullied as well at school, and that has had a lasting legacy on my life. I really understand how, without proper healing, your trauma can haunt you as an adult.
Natalie Dormer Compares The Wasp Character To Her Previous Roles In Game Of Thrones & The Tudors
“I knew that Carla would give me that opportunity to flex a different set of impulsive muscles.”
I love that you mentioned Natalie playing similar roles because the role of Heather is one that I would normally imagine her playing after projects like Tudors, Game of Thrones, or Elementary. What was your way into Carla, who almost seems like she’s living on impulse?
Natalie Dormer: Yeah, that is totally the reason I was drawn to doing it. You’ve nailed it there because, as an actor, you want to challenge people’s perceptions of your casting pigeon box. I knew that Carla would give me that opportunity to flex a different set of, as you say, impulsive muscles.
She’s a very raw character, but she’s very practical. Without giving anything away, there are these great debates between the two women during the course of the movie about choice; about how we all have pain and we all have trauma, and it’s what you do with it that counts. Morgan has just fleshed out two great characters here that really take you for a ride.
It’s an entertaining movie, and it’s a thriller fundamentally, but I think it’s so important for women to get to watch two really fleshed-out female characters who aren’t. black-and-white. They’re three-dimensional characters, and so different when it comes to characterization, accent, physicality, and class. For me to be able to flex a different set of skills was really was a rewarding experience.
Naomi, you mentioned the memories of being bullied and how the trauma lives on in Heather. Did you watch the flashbacks being filmed, by any chance, or did reading those flashback scenes help inform your performance?
Naomie Harris: Definitely reading about them really helped. Before I did one or two scenes, Guillem actually showed me what he had shot, and that also helped.
But I always say acting is always a work of the imagination, so regardless of what you are shown, you can think of far worse in your mind. I had already kind of worked out the trauma that Heather was suffering from and the things that were done to her.
The Wasp Centers Women And Their Complex Relationships With One Another
“There’s the jealousy, there’s the resentment, and then also there’s this deep love.”
I’m trying to think of how to ask this question without spoiling, but I think it’s so interesting that Heather’s husband Simon is not in the movie very much, even though he’s a catalyst for the events that are occurring.
Naomie Harris: I love that Simon’s not in the movie very much because I think the heart of the movie is an exploration of the relationship between two women. It’s about female friendship, and I think female friendship is one of the most complex relationships you can have, especially two females who were supposed to be best friends as children.
There’s the jealousy, there’s the resentment, and then also there’s this deep love as well and this deep connection. I loved that all men were kind of pushed to the side.
Natalie Dormer: Naomi very eloquently said in a previous interview that your first great female friendship as a tween has the ramifications of a first love almost. Fundamentally, both these characters feel betrayed by each other for different reasons. There’s been an experience back then where they both feel like they’ve been betrayed, and that exploration of an intense young female friendship gone sour is very unique to come across. It’s so well-written and really interesting.
Do you have a moment in the movie that stood out most to you, either when performing it or when looking back on the experience?
Natalie Dormer: I think the beauty of Morgan’s play is she gives both characters their day in court. They both have their monologue and their moment, and with Guillem’s direction, we wore it lightly. Hopefully, it doesn’t feel too expositional for the audience, and it just feels part of the pace of the drama. It feels real.
Naomie Harris: Yeah, I don’t think there’s one particular scene that really stands out in that way. But I have to say I really personally enjoyed playing the scene where Carla and Heather revert back to their childhood selves. They’re playing this fun game with each other, and you can really imagine them as kids.
I loved that, and I think Heather really enjoyed that because ultimately she’s kind of an adult, but she’s trapped in her childhood. She finally gets to have that joy and fun that she’s been missing in her life for so many years.
More About The Wasp (2024)
In this tense, twist-filled psychological thriller, Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer deliver captivating performances as two estranged friends who reunite over tea, only to unveil a dangerous and deceptive plot that will irrevocably alter their lives.
The Wasp
arrives in theaters on August 30.
Check back soon for our other interview here:
- Guillem Morales (Director)