Anya Taylor-Joy Talks New The Lord of the Rings And Role As A Lethal Elf! | This Morning

Anya Taylor-Joy joins us now. I mean, this is cool. It's a cool part for a cool girl. Thank you. It must feel so nice to play a part that's like this. Because it's so rare for a woman to play a con man, con woman. Yeah, and also to be morally ambiguous, you know. I think people only ever really are concerned with if a female character is likeable. It's not really a conversation that's ever had about a male character. And so I was excited to play somebody that was complex. And sometimes you root for her and other times you're a bit, I don't know, you know. So Lucky is the name of your character, Lucky is the name of the drama as well. It's going to be released on Apple TV, the first two episodes on Wednesday the 15th. We've had advance copies, so we've seen a lot more than that. And it's very, very watchable. Thank you. I mean, it really is. Anya, just explain a little bit about what people can expect. So Lucky is an exhilarating, elevated crime drama following a con woman named Luciana Armstrong, or Lucky. And her father drops her in some very hot water. She has to survive that but also make choices about whether she wants to just survive or actually live life on her own terms. She's so clever and smart through it all as well. She's a real chameleon, isn't she? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, she just kind of follows it all through. Rhys Witherspoon is an exec on this. Did she approach you about doing the part and producing too? Yeah, it was so exciting. I got a call saying that Rhys wanted to send me a book and that she wanted to co-produce it with me, which is obviously the most incredible sentence to hear through a telephone. And then when I read the book, I felt like I really had something to add to it, which you want to feel as a producer. And from that moment on, it's been the most peaceful collaboration. It's a very physical part though. Yeah. I mean, you are running, you are fighting, being beaten up. But poorly. Yes. You know what's intriguing about that is I've had a lot of opportunities to play the absolute best at my field in whatever. And you're actually quite protected within that because you're very slick. Whilst with Lucky, there is an element of wanting to feel like she was really, really in hot water. Yeah, she's scrappy. And that she could be caught at any time. So the only way to do that was just to kind of throw myself into it. So did you go to the gym and watch yourself running in the mirror and go, no, that's too good? No. I need to run a bit. I should be in the state where I'm going to the gym, but my work keeps me fit. I show up, then I run all day long. But the one thing you haven't done is learn how to drive. Still no. Even though you're driving in all these Mad Max movies. Yeah, I keep driving in movies. Does anyone know that you don't have a driving license? Oh, they all know. They all know. And they're all right with you driving? Because Lucky does a lot of driving. It's not my department. They ask me if I can do it and I say, sure. It's like that form that you fill in when you go for jobs. Horse riding. Exactly. I've trained. I've not hit anybody yet. I remember I was driving with Miles Teller in the car and he was a bit anxious. I don't know why. But yeah, always hit the mark. So all good. It's fabulous. It's a really, really, as Kat was saying, it's very engrossing. It's great to see her character and see the journey that her character goes on. Thank you. We really enjoyed it. It was a wedding on the weekend and you were invited. We're not really supposed to ask you. But what can you tell us about Taylor and Travis's wedding? It was fabulous. Did you see the story today where someone's gone around the outside picking up rubbish and is selling it online to people? No. So you didn't lose an AirPod? No. Someone's lost an AirPod and they've sold an AirPod. No. She's not going to give us anything. Was it romantic? It was beautiful. She's so good at this. Can we also talk about your other new movie that you're about to go and film as well, Lord of the Rings? Yes. Who do you play in that? I mean, the way that they're selling her is a lethal elf, which thrills me to no end. A lethal elf? A lethal elf. I mean, all the elves are pretty lethal anyway. I mean, they are very smart. I know, but it's such a cool title. I'm like, yeah, I'll be a lethal elf. That sounds great. So what do you have to do? Go to New Zealand? And how long are you going to be there for? Have you been before? I've never been before. I'm really excited to go. I'm going to get my brother out to visit me, which will be so much fun. He's a real daredevil, so he'll be doing some stuff that I will not be doing, and that will be fabulous. There's a lot to do down there as well, isn't there? I know. I just don't believe in bungee jumping. I just don't get it. I don't get it. I'll jump out of a plane. Oh, okay. But this just makes no sense to me. Sure. Yeah. Would you do it? I've done it, yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah, I've done quite a lot. Did you like it? Yes. Yeah, it's extraordinary. And actually more fun than skydiving. Does it crack your back? No. Does it make it worse? It's a sort of slow thing that slows down, and then you bounce back up. The ground rush is much more intense on a bungee jump than it is on a parachute jump, because you can't see the ground when you jump out of an airplane. Right. But the ground comes at you really fast if you're tied to a bungee. Oh. He's not selling it to me. Is he selling it to you? Not really. But the idea of being part of the Lord of the Rings history as well, I think, is it's a film that I can remember going to Cannes to watch the initial little bit that they'd put together before it came out. And everyone being so excited. You think about what it's achieved as sort of an extraordinary history. It's amazing. The legacy. It's incredible. And also, I don't really get that many opportunities where my job is to be more whimsical. Like, it's fully my job to go and be even more away with the fairies than I already am, and that's fantastic for me. So what are you going to steal from Lord of the Rings? Because every time you make a film, you take a little bit of something. I do, but I will say I don't steal. No, no, no. It is given to me. Oh, is it? Or you borrow until it's used for the next time. Luckily, the people that I work with tend to like me, so they give me a little present at the end of it. So you had the bow one time. Yeah. You did the bow from that film. I took a bow. There was a bow that was like a hair tie or something. Oh, no, my hair ribbon. Yes. Yeah, from The Witch. Yeah. I've been collecting kind of an impressive armory, to be honest, of non-fireable weapons. Weapons? Yeah. Oh, cool. I have a bunch of really cool weapons. So I've got like a Viking sword and my knife from Dune, and I'll probably get another knife from Lord of the Rings. That's so cool. Didn't you use one to cut your wedding cake as well? Yeah. But you used one of the swords, right? I pierced through my wedding cake with my Viking sword. That must have been quite intimidating for your husband. It was so fun. We had such a good time. Yeah, I just wanted to make it as metal as possible. So it was like a giant, anatomically correct heart cake, and I pierced it with the sword. Wow. Good morning. Yeah. I think she fits in just brilliantly here. Yes, there's enough Lindsay in that. There is loads. With all of us. And thank you so much for dropping by and seeing us. Thank you for having me. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the show. We really did. As I said, the first two episodes of Lucky will be released on Apple TV on Wednesday the 15th of July.