Amandla Stenberg Star Wars: The Acolyte Interview: "I Feel Responsibility"

Amandla Stenberg strikes me as an actor who puts a lot of preparation into their roles. Previous interviews I've seen and read with the star detail ways in which they connect their own life to the characters, finding key similarities and differences to latch performances onto. Each answer, no matter how asinine or insightful the question, feels eloquent and thoughtful. But in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars: The Acolyte, Stenberg plays two characters - sisters at odds with each other - and so when I got the chance to chat with them, my first question was how this approach changes when there are two characters in🍨 play.

"It's total🅘ly different," they tell me. "Going in, because I knew this was gonna be a long shoot, and I haven't done much television before, I knew I was going to have to have a really good sense of these characters before I got in there. So I did a lot of writing and a lot of movement work. And we also had an awesome movement coach who helped me hone in on the specific characteristics of🍬 the two characters, and differentiate them physically, which felt really important to me. I really wanted them to feel like two different people, because I just thought that would be interesting to watch, and [it's] a better challenge for me. Also, I felt like they represent different sides of the Force, so I wanted that to be communicated through them, too."

Amandla Stenberg with her knife in Star Wars The Acolyte.

Star Wars: The Acolyte tells a very human story of two sisters. Unlike other 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars titles, there's no destiny at play, no Skywalker parentage, no fate of the galaxy to contend with. The questions it ♔asks are much smaller in the scope of the series’ canon - questions whose answers have no impact on the trajectory of the overall saga. But they're much bigger questions for the actors, and for the viewers too. 'W🌠ho am I?', 'Where do I fit in this world?', and 'What does it mean to be family?' are core themes of the show, and Stenberg's performances wrestle with these most of all.

"When it came to the heritage of the characters, I thought a lot about the concept of cultu🥀ral dysphoria, and how that can shape how people relate to the world," Stenberg says. "I thought about my own experiences being in environments where I was around a lot of people who didn't look like me when I was younger, and how that shaped my sense of self when I was that age. And then I thought abo💧ut me when I was older, when I had found my community in an environment where I felt comfortable, that made me feel empowered and comfortable in my skin. And for me, it was very important that these two characters had different experiences to their cultural heritage in that way. That defines their sense of self and security, and therefore their paths. I guess I don't want to give anything away, but with Osha in particular, the idea that she would have this disconnection from her heritage was very important for me and her path."

These issues - representation, empowerment, heritage - are ones Stenberg has spoken about before, many times. A keen activist, especially for LGBT+ rights, Stenberg is aware of their position of influence in the world. These ideas are a core theme in Stenberg's breakout role starring in The Hate U Give, and they have previously spoken about how their very presence on screen, as a Black non-binary actor, is taken as 🅠a political act by some, regardless of how political the role is.

Star Wars Tells Fans "Don't Choose To Be A Racist"

Star Wars creators have reacted to the hateful messages Ingram Moses♓ shared following Obi-Wan's debut.

Posts 168澳洲幸运5开🐻奖网:

But Star Wars is a different, far louder beast. I knew Stenberg was aware enough to go in with their eyes open, so did this opportunity for empowerment attract them to the role in the first place? "I think that's always been my way into it," they tell me. "From the first meeting I 🎃ever had, these were the conversations that we were having. And I knew that I was taking on the responsibility that was not just as an actress, but as someone navigating the implications and reverberations that Star Wars has on the world. That to me is my dream, to be able to be in that position, where I hopefully am able to use doing the thing that I love and to speak further on things that I care about. And I also just am very grateful to be a part of something where I identify with the messaging and its purpose in the world."

The Acolyte, streaming exclusively on Disney Plus from June 5