BEHIND THE MASK
Actress Keri Russell disappeared into the mysterious role of Zorii Bliss
She is certainly not a wallflower, that character, as you can see. She is not afraid to tangle.
KERI RUSSELL
When Keri Russell’s three-yearold son first saw a bobble-head version of the mysterious Star Wars character Zorii Bliss, he seemed suitably intrigued.
He approached his father, actor Matthew Rhys, to excitedly inform him that Mom was somewhere, somehow hidden behind the figure’s gold helmet, which was covering its oversized bobble-head.
“He said ‘Look at this! Look at this!,’” Russell says with a laugh, in an interview with Postmedia in Pasadena. “’Mom’s inside here!’”
Fans of the actress may have had a similar reaction when first learning that Russell was inside that imposing mask and helmet in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While details of her character have been kept as much of a secret as everything else about the saga-ending blockbuster, one of the tasty tidbits that has become public is that audiences will never see the face of Bliss.
Those who followed Russell’s astonishing six-season, Emmy-nominated run as Soviet spy and master-of-disguise Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans are used to her disappearing behind various wigs and guises.
But this still seems a radical step for an actress, particularly one as recognizable as Russell.
How do you convey a character without facial expressions, which is presumably one of the handier tools at an actor’s disposal?
“I know, it’s funny” Russell admits. “But I enjoyed it so much. I tend to be shy or introverted. There was a real freedom and strength in being covered and hidden. I can see everybody but nobody can see me. You have to use your body: the way you stand, the way you walk.”
According to director and co-writer J.J. Abrams, Russell may have liked the mask a little too much. For her first two days on set, he claims he never saw her face and it sort of freaked him out.
“She could have, like most people, taken the mask off between takes, or after a couple of hours, or after a whole day,” Abrams said at a news conference for The Rise of Skywalker. “But she walked onto set with the mask on.”
Eventually, he asked if she wanted to take it off. She politely declined.
“She had it on the entire time and the next day the same thing,” he said. “I got to work with Keri for a couple of days and never saw her.”
Working with Abrams was among the reasons Russell wanted the role.
It was Abrams who provided her first major break when she was cast as the lead in the popular college drama Felicity in the late 1990s, which the director co-created. But she was also keen on entering the Star Wars universe in general.
She was a fan of the original trilogy in the late 1970s and 1980s and has taken her three children to the most recent incarnations.
When Abrams described Zorii Bliss to her, she was sold.
“It just sounded so fun,” she says. “It sounded like the best possible version of being in Star Wars to me.”
Russell shot all of her scenes at the iconic Pinewood Studios near London amid massive, intricately built sets and hundreds of extras.
“Amazingly, speaking to the scope and creativity and imagination of a film of this calibre, they built huge worlds,” she said. “You’d think it was green screens. But you would walk in and there would be an enormous world that was created: Snow and mountains and steps and stormtroopers. It was unbelievable.”
So how does Bliss fit into this world? All that has been revealed ahead of time is that she is a character from the past of Poe Dameron, the dashing X-wing fighter pilot of the resistance played by Oscar Isaac. She lives on an icy planet. She wears a form-fitting red jumpsuit and, judging by the movie poster, is prone to double-fisting cool-looking phasers when taking care of business.
“She is absolutely elusive,” says Russell.
“There is not a piece of her that is showing. I think that is indicative of where she lives. It’s an occupied territory where anonymity would be freedom so nobody knows who you are. I think it also helps explain part of who Poe is. She brings in that aspect.”
“And,” she adds, matter-of-factly, “she’s pretty badass.”
Again, those who watched the lethal skills of Russell’s character in The Americans know the actress is more than capable of inhabiting an action-ready, hardcore role.
“It has to do with being a dancer growing up,” she says. “It all feels like an extension of that. It’s a place that feels comfortable to me. She is certainly not a wallflower, that character, as you can see. She is not afraid to tangle.”