Why Anya Taylor-Joy struggles to watch herself in movies
Anya Taylor-Joy doesn't like to watch herself in movies because the 'beauty of being in your own skin is that you don’t have to look at your own face'.
The Peaky Blinders star who rose to fame in Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit, has gone on to play major roles in Dune: Part Two, the Super Mario Bros movie and Mad Max spinoff Furiosa.
Despite her career going from strength to strength, the American-British actor, 30, isn't so comfortable in her own skin, and doesn't enjoy watching her own movies back.
Touching on her insecurities in a 2020 interview with The Telegraph, Taylor-Joy said: "I have never and I don’t think I will ever think of myself as beautiful."
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Taylor-Joy's comments may come as a shock to many, given that she was scouted as a model before her feature film debut in 2015's The Witch and regularly appears on arbitrary lists ranking the 'most beautiful celebrity women in the world', however it would seem this isn't a title which she necessarily agrees with.
"I don’t think I’m beautiful enough to be in films," she continued.
"It sounds pathetic and my boyfriend warns me people will think I’m an absolute **** for saying these things, but I just think I’m weird-looking.
"I won’t go to the cinema to watch my own film, I’ll watch it before. The beauty of being in your own skin is that you don’t have to look at your own face."
The actor even went as far as admitting her lack of self-confidence had made her nervous in the run-up to the release of Emma, over fears that she would be branded 'the first ugly Emma'.
"I genuinely had a panic attack on Emma because I thought, ‘I am the first ugly Emma and I can’t do this’," she said.
"Because the first line in the movie is, 'I’m handsome, clever and rich'."
Fortunately for Taylor-Joy, her performance in Emma would be well received.
Her fans are now waiting to see how she does in new Netflix movie Sacrifice, alongside Chris Evans, Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and John Malkovich.
As reported by Tudum, director Romain Gavras 'combines a theatrical plot with grounded cynicism about the performance of wealth and charity galas, as well as an earnest exploration of faith'.
Evans stars as Mike Tyler, described as 'a down-on-his-luck action star searching for his comeback at a star-studded environmental event held in an austere Greek mine'.
The event is hosted by billionaire Ben Bracken (Cassel) and his wife, Gloria (Hayek-Pinault).
Netflix says 'the proceedings are cut short when a cult leader named Joan (Taylor-Joy) and her followers take the event hostage. Their driving force? The belief that an extinction-level event will take place in three days if three people are not sacrificed to a nearby volcano'.
Sacrifice drops on Netflix this Friday (16 October).
Additional words by Anish Vij.
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, TV and Film
Brenna Cooper
