British actor Jessica Henwick, who has been a part of blockbuster franchises like Marvels, Matrix, Game of Thrones, Star Wars and Blade Runner, is currently making headlines for her starring role in Joe and Anthony Russo’s 2022 film ‘The Gray Man,’ which premieres on Netflix on July 22. Henwick plays Suzanne Brewer, the dynamic CIA Senior Officer who oversees the Sierra team, an undercover government unit, along with the Head Director of the federal agency.
In the film, Henwick’s character faces a lot of sexism and misogyny at the hands of her colleague Denny Carmichael, played by Rege-Jean Page, and former batchmate Llyod Hansen (Chris Evans), who is also one of the main bad guys in ‘The Gray Man’. During a virtual roundtable interview, the actor spoke at length about her experience playing a female officer in a male-dominated field.
“That scene was quite cathartic. I think what she goes through is unfortunately very common. She works in a male dominated field. She’s a woman and she’s quite young for her position of power. But yeah, I really just tried to put myself in Suzanne’s shoes in that scene. Danny, Lloyd and Suzanne all went to school together. They have history. I wouldn’t even say a toxic friendship, it is a very toxic trio. So I really tried to put myself in her shoes in that moment. And yeah, I hope we did a good job. I hope I hope it’s a surprise. But that when audiences see it, they understand it,” Henwick told us when we asked her about her face-off with Evans in the film.
Henwick further spoke about the “wonderful time” that she had while filming for ‘The Gray Man’. She joked that working with Rege-Jean Page was “just a nightmare,” before adding, “We got along from day one. I had such a wonderful time. And we we were shooting this on and off over. It was seven or eight months from stop to finals. It was a long movie and he stayed in his American accent the entire time. We finally wrapped eight months later, and he swapped into his natural accent and I refused it. I still refuse it. I don’t like it. I don’t want to hear it.”
‘The Gray Man’ marks her first collaboration with The Russo Brothers. Heaping praise on them, Henwick said, “I was consistently blown away by the generosity of the Russos and our cast members. Everyone kills it. When I watched the film for the first time, I found Julia (Butters) so amazing. For me, she is the heart of the film.”
Henwick continued, “Chris and Ryan were both wonderful. I spent a lot of time yelling at Chris. He spent a lot of time belittling me. He’s very good at it. He’s very talented, obviously has a great working relationship with the Russos. And it was lovely seeing how they would just spark off each other and they would come up with lines together and just make magic. Ryan was not what I expected at all. I expected him to be very serious and kind of somber and he wasn’t he was such a joy and he was a Joker. I think he has a a great twinkle in his eye. Talking about his performance, I think he really brings it to life for me. I was constantly blown away when I was working with him.”
