Beth Harmon is remote and aloof, a woman of few words, and marches in a time measure that’s just slightly out of sync with the rest of the world—a peculiar gait that is the source, perhaps, of her complete domination at her one true love, the game of chess. Anya Taylor-Joy, on the other hand, is warm, cheerful, and more than willing to tell you what’s on her mind. However, Beth’s oddball energy is Taylor-Joy’s, too, and maybe that’s what has led to Taylor-Joy’s mastery of her own arena: the screen. Certainly, that’s never been more clear than in The Queen’s Gambit, the new seven-part Netflix miniseries.
Raised in an orphanage, Harmon is left with two things: a crippling reliance on tranquilisers and a marrow-deep, abiding need to play chess. Learning the basics of the game in the orphanage’s dank basement, Harmon comes to play chess like everyone around her breathes. Her seemingly effortless game takes her from Lexington, Kentucky across the world over, and her breath only truly hitches when she comes up against the cold-blooded Russian champion, Borgov.
Chess is Harmon’s refuge, a solitary universe that she can control and use to hide from other people and her demons. To achieve complete victory over the Russian and that universe, however, as in Tevis’ novel, Harmon must face and make peace with the rest of the world and—more importantly—herself.
Based closely on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel of the same name, The Queen’s Gambit charts a new course through the tried-and-tested conventions of the ‘destructive genius’ show. Part of that is Taylor-Joy’s doing; Harmon is imbued with a vulnerable stoicism that makes you want to reach through the screen and give her a hug (though she’d probably freeze up, unsure of how to respond). But creators Scott Frank and Allan Scott and production designer Uli Hanisch have also somehow distilled the essence of the genre and injected the world of The Queen’s Gambit with it. The show’s muted, hazey suburbia—blunted further by the effects of constantly “refurbishing [one’s] tranquility” (read: numbing oneself in a distinctly ‘50s manner)—is interrupted by the swooping, ritzy trappings of Vegas, Paris, and Moscow, where Harmon trounces some of the most cunning sportsmen in the world, until it all comes spiralling down.
A strange introspection isn’t the only trait that Harmon and Taylor-Joy share. Both are, at the risk of fawning, utterly charming. Taylor-Joy calls the people she speaks to “my love” and “darling.” When she hears a question she finds particularly intriguing, she lets loose a contemplative, “Ooh,” and looks off to the side, as if the answer were scrawled just off-camera, rather as her chess-playing alter-ego looks to the ceiling during matches for her next move. Speaking with Vogue Singapore over Zoom, Taylor-Joy revealed that the same prim thoughtfulness and bewitching (no Eggersian pun intended) intensity is as innate to her as it is to Harmon.
On what draws her to the offbeat loner-type roles she chooses…
“I guess that’s kind of how I identified for the majority of my childhood and into my young adulthood. I only really found my community when I started making films. And I only started working when I was 18. So there were 18 years of being that lone wolf, offbeat individual. And I guess these characters—I feel like I have the perspective to be able to tell their story, but it’s also a form of catharsis for me. I don’t overthink it that much when I take on the roles, but whilst filming-slash-post-wrap, I’m like, ‘Ah. I clearly had to purge some stuff through that. That was good therapy for me.’”
On who she had in mind when she was preparing to play Harmon…
“Weirdly, myself, actually. I present, I think, a lot more bubbly and, “I love everything,” but Beth is definitely a voice I’ve had in the back of my head for a long time. A kind of deadpan, not socially cognisant little voice has been in my head. Because of that, from the first second I read the book, I didn’t really have to do a lot of preparation in terms of finding the character. She was just there.”
On how close she became to her character…
“More than anything, something that was important whilst we were filming was learning to disconnect what were Beth’s feelings and what were my own. Because we were so close that many times, when Beth was having a bad day, I would find myself having a bad day. You then have to go, ‘Wait. There’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with this situation. It’s fine. It’s just the character.’”
On how Harmon has influenced her personal style…
“Ooh. I grew up quite a tomboy. It’s not that I didn’t like clothes… It’s just that I wasn’t really aware of them. And I really like how Beth puts together an outfit. I now pay more attention to the whole thing rather than just: ‘Oh, I’ll wear this shirt, and I don’t really care what else is around it.’ I pay more attention to how an outfit comes together. And I thank her for that.”
On saying goodbye to the character, and what Harmon has given her…
“Truthfully, I was completely heartbroken saying goodbye to Beth. I was so glad that I had seven hours with her. If it had been a movie, I would have been destroyed. It would not have been enough time for me to process our experience together. What Beth learns—you don’t get brownie points for hating yourself. Nobody applauds you for thinking that you’re not a good person, or thinking that you’re not enough or worthy. And I’m still working on that. But, you know, everyone’s a work-in-progress, and I’m definitely better at being kinder to myself since playing Beth.”
On what people can learn from Harmon’s independence…
“Ooh. I think people—not just for women, but specifically it applies to women—love to put other people in a box, and they’re not comfortable if you are in any way outside of that. And that’s reductive. Human beings are so complicated and messy, and it’s more enjoyable if we go through life embracing everybody’s weirdness. Embracing the fact that, for instance, someone loves chess and nice clothes and has a bit of a thing for boys. It’s more important to accept yourself as a whole individual.”
On why The Queen’s Gambit has resonated with audiences…
“I think every human being has a part of themselves, big or small, that believes they don’t belong. Or believes that there is something different about them. What’s beautiful about Beth is that she finds a place where she belongs, but then ultimately has to learn that unless she makes a home within herself, she’s never going to be happy or content. I think the show also has a beautiful element in the idea that working together gets you further than working by yourself. And when we’re all so isolated, it’s nice to remember that.”
On The Queen’s Gambit’s hairstyling…
“Daniel [Parker, hair and makeup designer] and I got on like a house on fire. We were a lot of trouble together; he’s wonderful. When we first discussed it, the baby bangs were particularly important because we just wanted her to not fit. We wanted her to be an easy target. Even though she kind of rocks them! After that, we came up with the idea that she looks at women in film and TV when she’s deciding what to do [with her look], because she doesn’t have one sole mother figure. And so with that first little cut, which was more ‘fifties,’ we called that ‘sexy kitten,’ which is ridiculous, but fun. And then the Natalie Wood one; that was a picture that came up in our first-ever meeting. We knew where we wanted to end up.”
On her favourite makeup looks…
“I loved the eyeliner under the eyes. I know that that’s Beth at her worst. But I was like: ‘Girl! This is a good look! We should rock this a bit more!’ We had a lot of fun with it. Oh! And the lipstick; that was really important. In the sixties, paler lipsticks were more of a thing, but because of Beth’s connection to Alma, we wanted to make sure that when she went to Russia, she was wearing Alma’s lipstick shade. That was her way of paying homage to her.”
On being allowed to take anything she wanted from the wardrobe after wrapping…
“So, true story: because so much of the shopping was vintage, and because Gabrielle [Binder, costume designer] worked so closely together, she at the end was like, ‘This is your wardrobe. So just come into the wardrobe truck. Pick whatever you want. Take it home.’ I got on the bus; I picked my stuff. I was like, ‘This is amazing. I never have to shop again.’ Because shopping really stresses me out. Anyway, the show has done so well that all of the clothes are now in a museum in Brooklyn. [Laughs] Which is obviously wonderful. So I hope to get them back after they’re done—being in a museum.”
