In Okja, Netflix’s upcoming film about a young girl bent on exposing an evil corporation, the always-brilliant Tilda Swinton stars as “the heir to a rotten great fortune built on the corrupt and morally repugnant initiatives carried out by her father.” Swinton explains her character “Lucy is not a great actress, has precious little natural charisma and needs to force the shtick to a somewhat painful degree.” As such, “The spotlight is not her natural habitat and the sense of disconnect is palpable.”
Hmmm.
Sounds like another charisma-free, blonde heiress with a startling disconnect we all know and loathe, doesn’t it?
When asked if first daughter/White House advisor Ivanka Trump indeed influenced the role, Swinton replied,
“When we shot in New York last summer, I stood watching the Republican convention on the television in our lunch break dressed as Lucy, watching a different daughter of a different dubious dynasty addressing, from a high podium, a big crowd with glossy blond hair, expensive orthodontics and modeling her Barbie-perfect modest pink dress (concurrently on sale online).”
But does that mean she actually took notes from the current “assistant to the president”? Well, as Swinton herself put it, “Chicken? Egg?”
Although Okja was loudly booed at its Cannes premiere, the trailer looks pretty badass. In addition to Tilda, it stars my fantasy lover Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead (“GLENNNNNNNN!”), Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, and a lovely CGI hippo/pig hybrid that steals the trailer. It’s also written and directed by the brilliant Bong Joon Ho (of Snowpiercer fame). (And if you have never seen Snowpiercer, MY GOD, would you Netflix it NOW?!). So, yes. This is going in my queue ASAP.