Thandie: It’s great to have a leading role in a major film

THANDIE Newton (above) thinks it’s “awful” that she’s the first woman of colour to have a leading role in a ‘Star Wars’ movie.

The 45-year-old actress portrays Val in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ and though she thinks it’s “great” that she’s landed such a significant part in a major film, she’s upset that it’s taken so long.

She said: “I am the first darkskinned woman in a lead role in the ‘Star Wars’ legacy, which is both great, that it is finally a correction, and awful, that it’s taken this long.”

Thandie is proud of her career success and is no longer willing to compromise.

She told the Observer: “I don’t feel like I’m an actress for hire any more, in the way that I used to be. I am not a person for hire.”

The ‘Crash’ actress has been working on two screenplays, one of which is set in the US and one in the UK and she’s very proud of them.

She explained: “(They are both) very personal human stories. I really want to get to the (expletive) core of why we do what we do. I certainly don’t think that I know, but I love stories that are really trying to find out.”

And both stories will feature female protagonists, which she thinks is vital in the modern age.

She said: “I am obsessed with the female experience. I don’t actually think I could write as a man. And that is everything we have in cinema; that is how our identities have been fed back to us - from a male perspective.”

A growing number of female stars have moved behind the camera into writing, producing and directing, and the ‘Westworld’ star thinks it is wonderful they are all “going rogue”.

She quipped: “What’s happened? We’ve all shortcircuited, and now we’re going rogue.” — BANG Showbiz