It’s so hard for actors to get their big break in the film industry, but for Anya Taylor-Joy, she was faced with two job offers at the same time early on in her career. She could have starred in a Disney TV series, or made the A24 movie The Witch, and she says she is happy with the choice she made.
Taylor-Joy made quite the impact as the young lead of the horror movie back in 2015, and she hasn’t looked back since. Her career thereafter has been full of big roles, playing the lead in the period drama movie Emma, catching the eye in the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, and starring in the 2022 historical action movie The Northman, where she was reunited with The Witch director Robert Eggers.
It could all have been very different though, as Taylor-Joy revealed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
“I remember it was the same day I got asked to be in a Disney Channel pilot, and it was so exciting to be offered anything at all that I ran around the house like a loon,” Taylor-Joy said. “But I just had this really good feeling about The Witch that made me willing to forego the Disney experience for the thing that felt unknown to me, the thing that felt sacred.”
“It gave me the cornerstones of the way I work now, which is essentially the idea that there is no hierarchy on set: you work hard, you stay on top of the shots and you don’t assume anyone else is going to do that for you,” she added. “Your title doesn’t stop at actor – you’re a creative on this film, and that’s how you need to approach it.”
That approach has certainly served her well so far, and the young actor is one of the most exciting talents around right now. Taylor-Joy is currently starring in the psychological thriller movie The Menu, and is in the middle of shooting Furiosa, the Mad Max prequel movie.
For more dark and disturbing films that Taylor-Joy would love, check out our list of the best body horror movies of all time. Or, to take a look at what her career could have been, here’s our list of the best Disney movies.