Dauntless confidants

Longtime friends Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson are back together for a bold 'Hedda' collaboration

- BY MARK OLSEN

"HEDDA" star Tessa Thompson, left, and writer-director Nia DaCosta inject issues of race and sexual identity into the classic tale.

As the saying goes, get yourself a friend that looks at you the way Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson look at each other.

The duo have now collaborated on “Hedda,” an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 play “Hedda Gabler,” written and directed by DaCosta and starring Thompson. The film is in theaters now and launches Wednesday on Prime Video.

Having known each other now for some 10 years, when asked to describe their relationship, DaCosta declares Thompson to be “basically my best friend.”

“It’s just a real gift to be able to collaborate with someone that you trust completely,” says DaCosta, her mouth widening into a smile as she adds, “and that you can be a fool in front of.”

“Hedda” had its world premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. The next day DaCosta, 35, and Thompson, 42, are sitting in a pair of side-by-side armchairs in a hotel suite amid lights and cameras while on a break from a series of television interviews.

The two first met as part of the 2015 Sundance labs, where DaCosta was developing the project that would become her debut feature, 2018’s crime drama “Little Woods.” It was while at the labs that DaCosta asked Thompson to star in the film — “She said when I make this movie, not if I make this movie,” recalls Thompson — and the two have been friends and professional sounding boards for each other ever since.

In “Hedda,” Thompson plays Hedda Tesman, formerly Gabler, recently married to George (Tom Bateman), an academic struggling to secure a new position. Having borrowed money to buy and renovate a grand home, George and Hedda throw a big party in hopes of impressing his prospective new employers.