From writer/director Peter Strickland, the indie drama Flux Gourmet is a feast for the senses, as a culinary-based performance collective takes up residency at an institute run by the extravagantly dressed Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie). The trio of Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed), Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield), and Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed) already have their own issues, but when you add in creative suggestions that lead to differences of opinion and an unfortunate gastrointestinal disorder, the dysfunctional dynamic leads them to the brink of implosion.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collier, Christie talked about why she had such a blast playing this character, her desire that her roles not just about her visual impact, wearing such an incredible wardrobe, and how we need to continue to support independent cinema and creatives. She also talked about the recently announced Game of Thrones sequel that’s in development and her love for Brienne of Tarth, and the experience of getting to work in the world of The Sandman and Wednesday.
Collider: This wild, wacky movie is insane and crazy and brilliant. Was it as much fun to make as it seems?
GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE: Absolutely. Thank you so much. I’m really, really happy that you liked it. I had such a blast doing it. I absolutely loved Jan Stevens, and having the opportunity to play such a bizarre and eccentric character. It made me feel very fulfilled. It was thrilling, creatively, to have that opportunity. I absolutely adored it. I’ve been very fortunate, in my career. I was very lucky to play Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones for nearly a decade. After that, I’ve really been hungry for the opportunity to play a wide range of parts. I’ve really wanted to play characters that are so different from what I’ve played before, and also to appear differently to how anybody has really seen me before. Jan Stevens is such a complex character. She’s very invested in elegance and in a traditional idea of beauty and femininity, almost like a Degas painting. She is inside of an inferno. She has to control these very deep and often violent passions, in a way that is diplomatic and strategic. That tension was thrilling to me to investigate, coupled with the opportunity for quite an extraordinary visual sense of a character who expresses herself through her clothing in such a flamboyant and extravagant way. It felt like the opportunity of a lifetime. It felt like a part that I’d been waiting for, for a long time.
As someone who’s a six-foot-tall female, myself, I am always rooting for anyone tall to play roles where that’s not the joke, and that’s been one of the things that I’ve so enjoyed about your career. It’s so easy for me to champion the tall person doing roles that aren’t necessarily about, or are only about, their height.
CHRISTIE: Thank you. I really appreciate that, and I hear you, loud and clear. I feel really fortunate to work with a group of people, and to have these writers and directors that I’m slowly meeting more of, who see me as an actor and their view doesn’t necessarily stop with my visual impact. It’s wonderful to see different kinds of women and different kinds of people in our entertainment and on our screens and everywhere, creatively. What I loved about the character of Jan Stevens is that she really uses her physicality in a way that is almost not typical of Jan’s height, being 6'3". I worked with a wonderful dancer, a movement coach called Harry Alexander, who’s a dear friend and is part of the Michael Clark Company, amongst many other things. We talked about Jan and this idea of her always loving ballet, being invested in an idea of grace, and being in a state of grace. It’s important for me to use my body in any part that I’m playing. That’s just part of storytelling. There was all of this tension and intention. Jan’s a very taut person with a lot of power and anger, but a huge desire to be diplomatic and also a really almost unwieldy desire to control situations, and control them in a way that she feels is nice. There was definitely something at odds there, that felt like a desire to invest in a traditional idea of femininity, but at the same time, also had these other contrasting things of needing power, running an institute, falling in love, wanting to have a relationship, and wanting to control everything around her. I enjoyed that the characters were much more focused on who Jan is, as a person, rather than her physicality.
There’s something so interesting in the contrast of the minimal sets and the surroundings in this film while your character is dressed so extravagantly. What was it like to figure out what her wardrobe would be, and to put on the red dress and the headdress that she wears with it? What was it like to be in that wardrobe, in this environment?
CHRISTIE: It was really thrilling. I was very grateful to (writer/director) Peter [Strickland] that he was so generous, creatively and collaboratively, particularly with regards to how Jan looked, as a character. So my partner, Giles Deacon, designed Jan’s costumes, and he loves Peter’s films. He loved the script and absolutely adored Jan. I was an amazing creative relationship, between the three of us, to discuss who this character was, and then to express that. It was great to work with people who really are artists. They’re much more invested in artistic expression and want to be as pushed as they could be and as fulfilled as they could be, and particularly as operatic as possible. So, when I put those costumes on, I felt like parts of me were opening up and Jan was expressing herself. The feeling of those organza skirts or the tightness of the jackets, that’s what Jan feels. She chooses that set of feelings for a reason. She wants to enhance those elements of her personality. I appreciated the full immersion. That’s what I love. I loved Jan’s intensity and how that was expressed visually, as well. And I loved the opportunity to do something that is really complicated and huge and extravagant and difficult. It was quite extraordinary, when I walked onto the sets in that costume, because I realized the degree of Jan’s impact on her surroundings, her largess and confidence, and her ability and desire to present herself so fully, almost as a spectacle, but she doesn’t feel that way. She is just presenting a true and full expression of herself, and that lifted me out of myself. I really loved that because I love the opportunity to transform, and I love to have that moment of feeling like I’ve been lifted out of who I am, as Gwendoline.
You mentioned playing Brienne of Tarth, which is a character that I just adored and so many people truly loved. It was recently announced that a Game of Thrones sequel series, most likely starring Kit Harington as Jon Snow again, is in development. Would you ever want to revisit Brienne of Tarth and see where she is, after the events of the finale? Is that something you’d ever consider, if that ever came your way?
CHRISTIE: Thank you for loving Brienne of Tarth. I really love that character too. I will never stop being grateful for the opportunity to play her. I really won’t. That was really the opportunity of a lifetime. It was incredible. I adored the character, and it came about at a time in my life as my development of what I wanted to do artistically was to express something about the experience that I’d had in life that felt quite niche, but simultaneously was about the very human and relatable experience of being an outsider. I also felt like we hadn’t seen a woman like that on television, or very much in entertainment, before. What I loved about Brienne was that she was able to overcome her circumstances and often triumph. The idea of that marginalized person triumphing was glorious. I love the sound of the Jon Snow spinoff. I really do. I loved watching the show too. It’s very surprising to feel this wave of interest that people are still so invested and that the love is still so real. I think many people feel that they would love to see that story continue. I am hugely invested in playing very different parts now and being pushed and becoming a better actor, developing as an actor, and working with auteurs. There are so many directors I would love to work with, and I want to create different kinds of work. That is my focus. However, I will never stop loving Brienne of Tarth, and I will never stop being interested by her.
You talk about playing different roles and being in these different worlds. Between taking on a character like Jan Stevens, who’s almost indescribable, then going on to play a character like Lucifer in The Sandman, for which I love that comic series, and then going on to do something like Wednesday and working with Tim Burton, it just seems like you’re in these incredible worlds. What does that feel like, as an actor, to be in such incredible, fantastical worlds and to really get to play characters that you don’t get to live like, in real life?
CHRISTIE: It’s what I love most, in all the world. What I love doing most, in all of life, is that. I feel unbelievably lucky to have these opportunities. I’m dedicated to working as fully as I can on projects. I love working with auteurs. I really do. It is a huge privilege to be able to work with people with truly singular visions, like Peter Strickland, like everybody on Game of Thrones that made it come to life, and like Neil Gaiman and Allan Heinberg. I love the comics too. I love that they were about dreams. Dreams fascinate me. I love the work of David Lynch, and those comics seem to be dealing with something that’s abstract and beyond ourselves, hallucinatory yet incredibly human. They seem to be doing the impossible, which was capturing and writing about the power and ebbs and flows of the human spirit. And I’ve wanted to work with Tim Burton my entire life. I had the most fantastic experience working with him. He is such an inspiration, so respectful, kind, creative, hugely inspiring, and a master iconic filmmaker. He’s a truly great filmmaker. He’s so exciting to work with because he’s so open and creative. I feel very lucky to have worked with him. I had an incredible experience. Jenna Ortega is very special, indeed, and extraordinary. I just feel unbelievably lucky that there are people out there that can see something in me that is very different to the next person. One person sees me as Brienne of Tarth. Another person sees me as Jan Stevens. Another person sees me as Lucifer. Another person sees me as Larissa Weems. Armando Iannucci was able to see me in David Copperfield. I feel really fortunate, and working on those projects is pure joy.
Flux Gourmet is definitely one of the types of movies that I spent time in art-houses seeing, when I was growing up. The more independent and strange and weird and surreal, the better. I was always just fascinated, even if I didn’t fully know what was going on. I felt the same way with this. I think that’s also why I’m such a big fan of David Lynch. Thank you for talking to me about it.
CHRISTIE: No, thank you. What I feel about the wonderful strangeness and weirdness of Peter’s films, of this wonderful film, of those tiny and brilliant and blazing art-house films and independent cinema, which we need to keep investing in, is that we need to support our creatives and our auteurs. Often, through the strangest expression, we can connect to great humanity and parts of ourselves that we fear maybe nobody else has or can see, and will remain unseen. I’m so delighted to be able to play such different characters and such different women that we don’t necessarily always see on our screens and in our filmmaking and in entertainment. I really hope to continue doing that.
Flux Gourmet is in theaters on June 24, 2022.