Thandie Newton bares the real about wearing costumes on set.
HBO’s latest star just wrapped her first primetime premium network series, Westworld, and it looks like fans can’t wait for more. Already filming its second season, which is slated to premiere in 2018, the 60-minute drama follows a fictional Westworld hosted by a madame named Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton). As a madame, Newton’s character is required to wear some enticing apparel including corsets, fishnets, and high-cut lingerie – but in reality, these are all things the London-born actress would rather forgo when it comes to costume design. In fact, she says she would rather make like PETA and go naked!
“I found myself more empowered naked than I did with the saloon outfit on,” Thandie told her 1.75 million viewers while referring to her 1970’s ensemble during a recent interview with the Daily Mail. “I was more comfortable naked because the costume was the most potent objectification of a woman, with the boobs pushed right up [to] the tiny waist. It’s an invitation for sex.”
‘The fishnet tights, the little heels with the laces… It’s all about sensuality. It’s about eroticism. It’s about ‘Look, but don’t touch.’ It’s all there to make the invitation for sex as provocative as possible and then the promise of satisfaction is practically just there.”
HBO/Westworld
As the conversation continued, the recognized thespian, who’s performance in the HBO sci-fi western garnered her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, also brought up the issue of race stating that you have to work twice as hard on set not just as a woman but a Black woman.
“In every role, in every job, every line of work, as a mother you just have to be twice as good and if you’re black you have to be twice as good on top of that.”
HBO/Westworld
While working on the set of Westworld, Newton got the chance to feel (more) respected as she was able to throw her threads to the side and give fans something close to a full frontal. (So far, no one is complaining.) Though the western series is giving Thandie the opportunity to show off a proud body of work, it’s not the only project that’s featured her sans clothing. The actress has appeared in several big and small screen productions that highlight her in her birthday suit including The Slap (2015), Rogue (2013), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Beloved (1998), and Gridlock’d (1997).
