One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor has addressed some major criticism of her character.
The 34-year-old actress plays Perfidia Beverly Hills in the critically acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson film, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn as Bob Ferguson and Steve Lockjaw respectively.
In the film, Perfidia displays her sexuality while being objectified by both White men, and some people have questioned the character’s portrayal.
However, Teyana has insisted the thriller gets things spot on.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: ‘Is that not what Black women go through? We are fetishised, especially by creepy motherf***ers.’
She added that Black women are ‘the least protected people’, and that the film is doing its job by encouraging difficult conversations.
She said: ‘Showing what Black women go through, that’s a hard reality to accept. And this movie should spark debate, I always knew it would, because sometimes you just got to shake the table.’
In the movie, Teyana’s character Perfidia is a member of the French 75 revolutionary group.
As well as her romance with Bob, she forms a physical relationship with Steven, and Teyana previously insisted her character was ‘misunderstood’ but still not likable.
Speaking at CinemaCon in April before the film’s premiere, she said: ‘She’s always in survival mode. She’s very misunderstood, but she’s still selfish.’
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Co-star DiCaprio later praised his castmates for her show stealing performance in the movie’s opening 40 minutes.
‘The echoes of [Taylor’s] character reverberate throughout the entire movie, and every character is emotionally scarred by Perfidia,’ he told the New York Times.
‘She just embodied that character in a way that I don’t think anyone else could. We’re all left as carnage after she comes onscreen, picking up the pieces of our lives.’
Meanwhile, the 50-year-old Oscar winner – who plays a washed-up revolutionary living off-grid – also opened up on the movie dealing with the current state of the world.
‘It deals with extremism on both sides and the polarity of the world that we live in where no one can seem to communicate or get along,’ the star told Metro and other press on the red carpet of the film’s UK premiere.
‘But the undercurrent of these characters – not to say there’s a message, but I think Paul creates very flawed human characters that are trying to find the humanity in all of this.
‘I mean, this is a political thriller, but I don’t think he’s imposing his ideology on the audience – he’s holding up a mirror to who we are. And he wrote this 20 years ago, which is absolutely fascinating that it’s coming out at this particular time in our world’s history.’
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