TESSA

Tessa Thompson is using her star status to produce the left-of-center movies she loves, like an edgy new spin on an Ibsen classic

- By Madison Vain

Dress by McQueen; pumps ($795) by Gianvito Rossi; Panthère de Cartier bracelet ($28,400) by Cartier.

TESSA THOMPSON FINALLY HAS A MOMENT to sit down. She’s been on a whirlwind sprint through summer haute couture fashion week in Paris—show after event after photo-call—and the start time for another looms just a few hours away. For now, though, while a hairstylist works away behind her, freshening her signature braids, Thompson talks about what promises to be a(nother) very big fall for the forty-one-year-old. In October, she stars in Hedda, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1890 play, Hedda Gabler, and the first feature from her production company, Viva Maude. Then, also out before the end of the year, audiences will see her on Netflix, anchoring the thriller His & Hers opposite Jon Bernthal. (Viva Maude also produced.) What’s it like to see all this work coming to fruition? “I feel really proud,” she says.