Search Results
7/11/2025, 8:20:50 PM
>The sheer variety of stories that surrounded Sonja gave Bassett carte blanche to pursue her own vision. “She was a blank canvas,” Bassett says. The one constant was the chain-mail bikini that had helped earn Sonja the title of sexiest woman in comics, according to Comic Buyer’s Guide, in 2011. “It’s preposterous,” says Bassett. “She became a character for prepubescent 13-year-olds that was never accessible beyond.” Bassett grins, sips her cocktail, then quickly self-corrects. “I mean, I loved it!” For the record, Bassett’s Red Sonja is keeping the chain-mail bikini.
>During casting, Millennium reached out to Game of Thrones’ Hannah John-Kamen to play Sonja, but Bassett decided to go with an unknown instead. She chose the Italian American actress and model Matilda Lutz, whose natural sincerity and warmth appealed to Bassett. “She’s a beautiful, feisty, tough, committed young woman who people are going to want to watch,” Bassett says. Lutz, who gained 13 pounds of muscle for the role, says, “Every day it’s either climbing or horseback riding or fighting.” As she understands her, Red Sonja is a “woman alone in the world, trying to survive in a very crazy environment.”
>During casting, Millennium reached out to Game of Thrones’ Hannah John-Kamen to play Sonja, but Bassett decided to go with an unknown instead. She chose the Italian American actress and model Matilda Lutz, whose natural sincerity and warmth appealed to Bassett. “She’s a beautiful, feisty, tough, committed young woman who people are going to want to watch,” Bassett says. Lutz, who gained 13 pounds of muscle for the role, says, “Every day it’s either climbing or horseback riding or fighting.” As she understands her, Red Sonja is a “woman alone in the world, trying to survive in a very crazy environment.”
7/11/2025, 7:09:08 AM
>>212578202
>Bassett’s script, which she rewrote half a dozen times, steers clear of sexual politics and gender. Curious and friendly in person, Bassett also is direct. “I didn’t warm to the previous script, which was much more sexual politics,” she says. “Obviously in my personal life I’m interested in that. But as a storyteller I don’t think it’s interesting.” She also eliminated a key plot point from the original 1985 film: Sonja’s rape by marauding enemies. “I have no interest in fictional women who use [rape] as an engine of motivation,” she says. “It’s not a strong motivation. She’s just a human being in the world of femininity.”
>For all her struggles, Bassett refuses to adopt many of the tenets of trans advocacy. She hasn’t disavowed J.K. Rowling and retains fond memories of reading the Harry Potter books to her children. “I can’t even remember the thing that Rowling said which is ‘bad,’ ” she says, emphasizing the air quotes. In public statements, Bassett has gone further. “Mammalian biology is divided into male and female — it just is!” she told me casually. Mention a term like “non-menstruating humans,” and Bassett rolls her eyes. She knows stances like these will disturb some. “I have friends who’ve been very much upset by what I’ve said publicly,” she says. “But I have no doubt about the biology of it. It’s nonsensical not to have ‘biological woman’ as part of your vocabulary.”
>Bassett’s script, which she rewrote half a dozen times, steers clear of sexual politics and gender. Curious and friendly in person, Bassett also is direct. “I didn’t warm to the previous script, which was much more sexual politics,” she says. “Obviously in my personal life I’m interested in that. But as a storyteller I don’t think it’s interesting.” She also eliminated a key plot point from the original 1985 film: Sonja’s rape by marauding enemies. “I have no interest in fictional women who use [rape] as an engine of motivation,” she says. “It’s not a strong motivation. She’s just a human being in the world of femininity.”
>For all her struggles, Bassett refuses to adopt many of the tenets of trans advocacy. She hasn’t disavowed J.K. Rowling and retains fond memories of reading the Harry Potter books to her children. “I can’t even remember the thing that Rowling said which is ‘bad,’ ” she says, emphasizing the air quotes. In public statements, Bassett has gone further. “Mammalian biology is divided into male and female — it just is!” she told me casually. Mention a term like “non-menstruating humans,” and Bassett rolls her eyes. She knows stances like these will disturb some. “I have friends who’ve been very much upset by what I’ve said publicly,” she says. “But I have no doubt about the biology of it. It’s nonsensical not to have ‘biological woman’ as part of your vocabulary.”
Page 1