The 'Game of Thrones' actress opens up about her struggle when carrying her baby more than a decade ago and how it inspired her to write a story and turn it into a movie.
- Oct 29, 2023
AceShowbiz - Lena Headey was inspired by her own pregnancy to make "The Trap". The "Game of Thrones" actress marks her directorial debut with the movie, which is based on a short film she wrote and Lena revealed the idea first came to her 13 years ago when she was pregnant.
"It came to me when I was pregnant 13 years ago. I was starting to panic. I was like, 'Am I capable of loving something? I don't know what this is,' " she told The Hollywood Reporter.
"It makes you question love. Then when I had my baby, I wondered, 'Is love really unconditional? How far would you go? How much forgiveness is there? Would you really sacrifice everything for another person?' "
Lena, 50, cast her "Game of Thrones" co-star Michelle Fairley in the character-driven psychological drama alongside James Nelson Joyce and admitted she wrote the movie with Michelle in mind.
She said, "We are great mates. I hunted her down, made her drink with me, and we've got a lovely friendship. I used to watch Michelle and she's such a f****** beautiful actress, and I love her face. So I wrote this with her in mind. I wanted to be able to do all the things."
"I had offers along the way to do the film with big names. But no. This film is what I love about British cinema. It's working-class actors. There are accents. It has all the little things we don't look at. And I was like, f*** it - I'm just going to do the film that I know I want to make with the people I want to make it with."
Lena called the process of directing her first movie "f****** heaven" and added, "I love it because it is creating space for people to be vulnerable. I work with actors as an actor. I study what people do, and I know when you're not giving what you can, or being lazy, or just not in the space that day."
"So I believe there is a way of talking to actors that will elicit something else. And I think every actor's got a f****** rocking performance in them, they just need the words and a story that will serve them. But maybe you have to ask them."
