When her career was on the rise, Anya Taylor-Joy was facing the difficult decision of choosing between a role in a Disney Channel pilot or starring in the 2015 horror movie The Witch. As we know now, Taylor-Joy went with The Witch, the movie that turned out to be her feature film debut. Looking back, it’s obvious that she made the right call, given the accolades the film and her performance would garner, but even before its release, Taylor-Joy was pretty confident that she made the right choice.
In a new interview for Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Taylor-Joy recalls getting the offers for a Disney Channel pilot along with The Witch on the very same day. Because she was still trying to break through in Hollywood at the time, the actress was thrilled to be in the position of getting these kinds of offers. After giving it some thought, she picked the horror film over the Disney Channel show as there was something about The Witch that gave her a great feeling about its potential for success.
Taylor-Joy has no regrets. She goes on to explain how much she learned from being on set for The Witch, giving her lessons she still uses to this day with how she approaches her work.
“I remember it was the same day I got asked to be in a Disney Channel pilot, and it was so exciting to be offered anything at all that I ran around the house like a loon. But I just had this really good feeling about The Witch that made me willing to forego the Disney experience for the thing that felt unknown to me, the thing that felt sacred.”
The Witch was written and directed by Robert Eggers, who recently reunited with Taylor-Joy for his new movie The Northman. Along with Taylor-Joy, the film stars Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, and Harvey Scrimshaw. Following a New England family facing an evil force in a nearby forest in the 1600s, the low-budget film grossed more than $40 million at the box office and drew rave reviews from critics and horror fans.
“It gave me the cornerstones of the way I work now, which is essentially the idea that there is no hierarchy on set: you work hard, you stay on top of the shots and you don’t assume anyone else is going to do that for you. Your title doesn’t stop at actor – you’re a creative on this film, and that’s how you need to approach it.”
Anya Taylor-Joy Will Be a Nintendo Princess
Netflix
Taylor-Joy has since gone on to even greater success, which includes acclaimed roles in shows like Peaky Blinders, Emma, and The Queen’s Gambit. She also appeared in films like The New Mutants, Last Night in Soho, and Amsterdam. She can also be seen as the titular character in the upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa.
She may have passed over getting into the Disney world at the start, but Taylor-Joy will still soon become a princess. She is the voice of Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, coming to movie theaters next month. Certainly, Taylor-Joy hasn’t needed the help of Disney to get ahead.
