Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Gwendoline Christie has an enormous presence, and it has nothing to do with her height. Her personality and energy are extraordinary. Her beautifully proper British accent also contributes to her power.

Not having seen the film yet, I can only guess that her role as Captain Phasma is terrific–I’d wager a lot on that assumption. Huge thanks to Louise Bishop of MomStart for taking all the photos during our interviews. 

This experience was part of an all-expenses-paid press junket. All thoughts and opinions shared on this blog are my own.

Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma

Before our group interview, we attended the press conference and heard her speak with the rest of the cast. Again, I cannot speak highly enough of her demeanor.

You get to see women being strong not because they’re BEING MEN… but because they’re standing for something —@lovegwendoline #TheLastJedi #TheLastJediEvent #DisneyPartner

— Jennifer & Shelley (@MagicalSiblings) December 3, 2017

As soon as Gwendoline entered the room for our group interview the electricity in the air sparked. She was just as excited to see us as we were to see her. Here are some of the questions and answers we went through:

So without giving us any spoilers, can you tell us a little bit about your character in this movie?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“In the first film, Phasma is–she’s an enigma, isn’t she? She’s a mystery. She turns up out of nowhere; she has this very confrontational, threatening presence, and that’s sort of compounded or emphasized by what she’s wearing–by this suit of armor which is entirely practical. And we just have kind of a moment, and I think there’s something about those characters that are masked–that we want to see what’s behind the mask.

In the world–what I loved about it is that in the world that we live in, we are met with deluge of information all of the time, and the idea of having that moment–the sort of suspension of disbelief where you have the space and are forced to wonder who is this, and who are they, I was very attracted by that.

So we do see more Phasma in the film, and what we see is her resilience, her need to fulfill an overriding sense of revenge, and we see something that we don’t commonly see in female characters which is that we see this–and it manifests itself in different ways–this violence that comes from deep within her. That’s something I find interesting about this character is that women are not conventionally supposed to have a violence that comes from deep within.”

How does your costume effect your role?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“I was actually lucky enough to be given a couture suit, so the armor was made to fit my dimensions exactly because in the first film, no one was quite sure about this character. You know, they have this character, and they loved it, and then they made a series of decisions where, I believe, initially they thought that possibly the character could be male, and then the decision was made that it would be more interesting for the character to be female.

And I just loved that we maintained the practicality of what she was wearing. Everything you’re given, as an actor, informs you, and working with all these different people–it’s not just you. It’s all these different people and what they think about the character, and how they’ve executed that creatively, informs you who that person is. So, of course you put this armor on, and you feel rigid and uncompromising.

As an actor, you have the challenge of just how to move which I’ve spoken about before–just walking becomes a challenge, but you realize that that person is exerting a great deal of force just to move, and that force is coming from within. This is something they’ve elected to do is to dress this way. And the idea of the senses being shot down, and sometimes entirely, that’s an interesting choice to make as a person, and in this case, as a female to elect to have all of your senses shut down–to exist entirely practically.

I was really fascinated by that. There’s a certain amount of strength and flexibility one needs, and I’m lucky enough to be working as an actor, so each at the moment, and [LAUGHS] the role that you take on, it says there’s something you need to do. So for other roles, it’s that something that you need to do is less than what you normally do because that person’s more–their energy’s back more, or they have less connectivity to their body.

With someone like Captain Phasma, she has a degree of strength that has to exist muscularly, so she is a strong person, physically. And you know, that–we worked on a lot of that for the film.”

“I was given a couture suit. It fit me EXACTLY.” @lovegwendoline #TheLastJedi #TheLastJediEvent #DisneyPartner pic.twitter.com/OQbGMzKleu

— Jennifer & Shelley (@MagicalSiblings) December 3, 2017

It seems like everybody’s putting you in armor lately. Do you have a favorite? Do you like one better than the other?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“So far those are the only times I’ve been pushing armor–those two occasions, and not before, and potentially not since these roles will I be pushing armor again. But there’s something about–in with Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones when we first saw the character in season two, in the book she was described as Brienne the Blue. The armor was all blue. But the brilliant Michele Clapton, the costume designer, and I love this idea that she had, that she wanted the armor to be cobbled together pieces that Brienne had found and put together so she could have a suit of armor.

It was a literal representation of her building herself; of her self-creation. And then of course, Jaime Lannister gives her the Couture blue armor; the whole outfit. Michele has so beautifully designed that, but Michael Kaplan who designed Captain Phasma’s costume is someone that I had absolutely always loved his work.

He worked on the original Blade Runner, so I was aware of who he was and the work that he’d done, and it’s just so shiny. Who couldn’t resist something as shiny as that? I don’t ever like to make preferences, but I think in this case, it has to be Captain Phasma.”

Have you had a chance to read the Captain Phasma novel yet?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“I’m reading it at the moment… On my breaks from Game of Thrones on set, I’m reading the book. And I’m reading it off my phone because otherwise people are gonna ask me constantly about what is happening. But it’s brilliant. It’s really brilliant. It’s genuinely so good and that it just explains so much about the character. Rian and I had sat down at the very beginning–I felt very privileged that the director wanted to sit down with me and say, ‘What do you think?’ –the way he did with everyone in the cast. And you know, you formulate your own ideas about what is the character motivation, and as an actor, you have to have those motivations in order to be a human, otherwise it’s just a series of kind of facts and nobody feels any connection to that.

I’m really excited to be reading it at the moment, and it’s just framed so interestingly and the depth of imagination is–I’m very excited that we have similar ideas. But Delilah Dawson? I think she’s brilliant.

If you had a light saber in real life, what color would it be?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“I think it would be pink, [LAUGHS], because of what that represents, you know? It’s a pink ribbon that represents wanting to stand with the further research into breast cancer– the idea of pink and the pink pound with the gay community, which is a community I’ve always had a strong relationship with, and also because, you know, it’s kind of a double-edged sword. When something’s pink, you think it’s soft and fluffy, and then, whoop, I just cut your head off. [LAUGHTER]”

What was training like for both of these roles [GOT and Star Wars], and how much do you have to throw yourself into it for Captain Phasma?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“Well, something really wonderful happened which was that I was reunited with the brilliant stunt director/stuntman, C.C. Smiff. C.C. Smiff taught me to fight on Game of Thrones at the start of season two when I was first starting the show. It was C.C. that taught me to fight–to swordfight, was with me in all of those scenes when there was fighting, and sometimes when there wasn’t, because I was concerned about executing the physicality of that character.

Because it was always important to me that Brienne of Tarth is a woman. She isn’t a woman acting like a man; she is a woman. But she has a different strength, and a different configuration to Gwendoline. And I wanted that to be as resolved as possible.

…That’s what delighted me, and so I was very dedicated with C.C., and C.C. was the person that set me on the path to training as a part of my life, sometimes other times. And sometimes less, [LAUGHS]. When I have a break. I love it to be less, but he’s the person that made me enjoy it; that gave me the spirit to say, ‘I’m gonna commit to this fully’, so to be reunited on a Star Wars film, and to do something incredibly difficult–exceptionally difficult, and for him to push me to go further, and for him to be there–he’s the person that helped to give me the courage in the first place. To say you can do more than you ever thought, physically, and to do it with a great deal of humor, and charm, and humanity. He’s a man always sort of without ego, as well. I mean, what an amazing, an amazing teacher, and to be reunited with him, and he’s also so brilliant about how he puts things together, and how they evolve about pushing you further, and in terms of your strength. But also recognizing, which I think is the most important thing–how to keep you safe, and when to keep you safe because I’m lucky enough to have never broken or bone, and I would like to keep it that way. [LAUGHTER]”

What did you add of yourself to Captain Phasma, to make the character more human, or to make it more relatable?

Gwendoline Christie: 

“Well, she’s a person. And you think about why people behave the way that they do. Often people that behave in a malevolent way, it’s because that’s the base of it–they’re fearful, and the fear overtakes them and it can manifest itself in a total loss of empathy. And that the total loss of empathy causes the person to only think about themselves and their own needs, and they’re own brain space becomes about their receives, how they feel attacked, and how they’re going to fight back.

It also becomes about the individual rather than the needs of the group. When someone exists like that, it can be those that are liberty, and those that have spirit, and are unafraid to be who they are, that those people want to eradicate; that they want to hurt. I’ve been lucky enough to be in Game of Thrones for a long time–a longish, well, for me, it’s a long time; with my short career, it’s a long time, [LAUGHS], and I love the character of Brienne of Tarth, who has this incredible moral compass.

And it’s great to see an unconventional woman be the hero, even for a moment. Even–and it is fleeting–even for a moment that the opportunity to play the opposite of that where someone like Brienne of Tarth has the strength, and it comes in every essence, every fiber of her being. Someone like Captain Phasma, it’s in every fiber of her being–the need for ambition; the need for revenge; the need to be ultimate; the need to destroy.

A woman as a destructive force when women are seen as mother–whatever that means–is a multidimensional thing, I truly believe that inverted–the opposite of that fascinated me, and I felt like the opportunities were limitless.”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Gift Ideas

The Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 – Star Wars Mandalorian Edition Blaster and Face Mask is an out-of-this-world gift idea. It comes in a beautiful box with artwork throughout the inside and is super high quality. Find it exclusively at GameStop.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

In theaters December 15th! Do you have your tickets yet? If not, grab them at Fandango.com!

Check out this new video of the worlds in The Last Jedi:

Don’t forget to come back for more interviews and Star Wars: The Last Jedi coverage!