Current:Home > reviewsIn ‘The Crow,’ FKA Twigs had to confront herself. What she learned was 'beautiful.’ -TradeWise
In ‘The Crow,’ FKA Twigs had to confront herself. What she learned was 'beautiful.’
Algosensey View
Date:2025-04-10 21:41:18
FKA Twigs is ready to exhale.
On Monday night, the Grammy-nominated artist unveiled her upcoming album, “Eusexua,” at an intimate listening party in New York. “It was honestly incredible,” Twigs says over Zoom the next day. “I woke up and I feel like a massive weight is off my shoulders.”
She’s grateful, too, that she gets to share her new movie this same week: “The Crow” (in theaters Friday), a reboot of the 1994 gothic superhero film starring Brandon Lee. The supernatural romance follows a brooding young man named Eric (Bill Skarsgård), who quite literally travels to hell and back to save his girlfriend, Shelly (Twigs), after she’s murdered by a gang.
Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox
Although extremely violent at times, the R-rated movie is unexpectedly swoony and delicate as the couple bond over past trauma and their insatiable thirst to live. “It’s quite beautifully broken,” Twigs says, “but it’s real and it’s deep and it’s instant.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
FKA Twigs learned 'to face myself' while making 'The Crow' movie
“The Crow” proved cathartic for Twigs, 36, whose real name is Tahliah Barnett. She made her big-screen debut in 2019’s “Honey Boy” alongside Shia LaBeouf. They dated for less than a year, and in late 2020, she sued LaBeouf, accusing him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress. He denied her allegations, and the lawsuit will head to trial in October.
Twigs wasn’t actively seeking acting roles when she first met with “Crow” director Rupert Sanders in early 2022. Rather, “I was searching for change,” she says. “It offered such an amazing opportunity to break out of the loop I was in and the patterns in my life. Shelly was going through that as well, so I was able to act out a lot of my fantasies through the character.”
Sanders was struck by Twigs in her heart-wrenching "Cellophane" music video and didn't even ask her to audition. "She's got a beguiling power to her; she felt otherworldly and magical," he says. "It was very important to me that we fell in love with Shelly, and when she died, we grieved alongside Eric."
If Twigs learned one thing from the character, it’s that “I really deserve to be loved in a beautiful, tender and respectful way,” says the star, who revealed last year that she was dating photographer Jordan Hemingway. “It sounds like an obvious thing, but through playing Shelly, I realized that everybody deserves to experience a pure relationship,” whether romantic or platonic.
“I don’t want to put all of my healing journey onto ‘The Crow,’ ” Twigs adds. “But it definitely initiated something inside me: a belief in myself.” Periodically throughout shooting in Prague, Sanders would assemble the cast and crew to screen footage at a movie theater. The experience was strangely therapeutic, getting to watch herself play someone as raw and vulnerable as Shelly.
“I think I needed to face myself,” Twigs says. “It’s a bizarre life experience of not knowing exactly who I was in that moment, and then being confronted with myself on a huge screen and being able to learn through that. It's very, very weird, but I found it helpful.”
In her downtime, she also immersed herself in the city’s vibrant techno music scene, which went on to inspire her first studio album since 2019’s “Magdalene.” The new music “wouldn’t be what it was if I hadn’t experienced my off-‘Crow’ time,” Twigs says. “It’s been a really revolutionary project for me. I feel like the universe knew that I needed it.”
Along with FKA Twigs' new album, she has a Nicolas Cage movie and FX show
After "The Crow," Twigs is continuing to make inroads into film and TV. As someone who needs to collaborate face to face, “COVID, for me, was creatively a bit of a wipeout," she says. But in the past few months, the actress says she has been "diving into" development on a martial arts series for FX, which is based on her cinematic "Sad Day" music video.
The British singer is now shooting “The Carpenter’s Son” with Nicolas Cage, a horror movie about the childhood of Jesus Christ. “What we’re creating is so new. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she teases. “It’s amazing to go from this biblical-focused desert land (filming in Greece), and now I’m in a beautiful hotel in New York. I'm just thinking, ‘Wow, my life is insane.’ ”
With all her experience creating music videos, Twigs would one day like to write and direct a full-length movie. “It’s something I think about a lot,” she says, “but I want to have something really important to say.”
She would love to collaborate with filmmakers Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"), Claire Denis ("High Life") and Céline Sciamma ("Portrait of a Lady on Fire") – people who are “daring” and “work from the gut.”
“I’ve always said, ‘When the world’s doing one thing, I just want to go in the opposite direction,’ ” says Twigs, who broke out with her avant-garde “LP1” in 2014. “For me to do what I do, I have to be relentless. I want my vision to be so singular and so direct, like a laser needs to pierce through.”
She would never dare to give her younger self advice. Simply put, “that young woman wouldn’t listen to anything,” Twigs adds with a smile. “She would’ve been like, ‘You know what? I’m good. I’m on my path.’ ”
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Blizzard brewing in Northern Plains, Upper Midwest as spring storm targets region
- John Tucker Must Die Stars Confirm Sequel Is in the Works 18 Years Later
- Texas man dies after becoming trapped while cleaning a Wisconsin city’s water tank, police say
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Maple syrup from New Jersey: You got a problem with that?
- Mega Millions jackpot over $1 billion for 6th time ever: When is the next lottery drawing?
- Laurent de Brunhoff, Babar heir who created global media empire, dies at 98
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Meet the Country Music Legend Joining The Voice as Season 25 Mega Mentor
Ranking
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Hospitality workers ratify new contract with 34 Southern California hotels, press 30 others to sign
- Milwaukee officers shoot, critically wound man when he fires at them during pursuit, police say
- Judge sets April 15 trial date in Trump hush money case, rejecting request for a delay
- Trump's 'stop
- The abortion pill battle is heading to the Supreme Court this week. Here's what to know.
- Firefighters in New Jersey come to the rescue of a yellow Labrador stuck in a spare tire
- Women's March Madness games today: Schedule, how to watch Monday's NCAA Tournament
Recommendation
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
Kate, Princess of Wales, announces cancer diagnosis, says she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy
What do we know about Princess Kate's cancer diagnosis so far? Doctors share insights
Lottery madness! Could this Mega Millions and Powerball number help you score $2 billion?
'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
Trump could learn Monday how NY wants to collect $457M owed in his civil fraud case
Energy agency announces $6 billion to slash emissions in industrial facilities
Olivia Colman slams Hollywood pay disparities and says she'd earn more if she were a man