Kaya Scodelario talks ahead of the release of The Maze Runner about her role, joining the young adult phenomenon, working with director Wes Ball and life on louisiana set
Kaya Scodelario made a big impact on British TV audiences with her first role in E4’s SKINS, which started in 2007. Then 14, Scodelario had never acted before but she overcame nerves at the audition and became one of the show’s most enduring characters, starring alongside Nicholas Hoult and Jack O’Connell in the show’s four seasons.
She made her feature film debut in 2009, in Duncan Jones’s sci-fi indie Moon, and followed it up in 2010 with roles in Shank and Clash of the Titans. She earned critical plaudits for her turn as Cathy in Andrea Arnold’s stripped-back retelling of Wuthering Heights in 2011 and starred in the romantic drama Now is Good in 2012.
In Wes Ball’s The Maze Runner she plays Teresa, whose arrival into the mysterious Glade takes her fellow teenage captives by surprise. Some excerpts from her interview:
How did you hear about the projectIJ
I’d heard about the script going around before I’d read it. A couple of my friends had seen it and said it was really interesting — very different and fun. And then I read it and liked it. It was a social experiment: How are these kids going to react enclosed in this spaceIJ The thought of it made me feel claustrophobic and angry. It affected me straight away and I wanted to find out how they got out. And it was Wes’s energy and passion for it. He wanted to do something great, and I wanted to be a part of that. So I auditioned for Wes on tape and sent it over and I got really lucky. I got to go to louisiana and helped audition to find Thomas — to find Dylan O’Brien.
What were your thoughts about the charactersIJ
The characters were well-defined. Not all of them feel the same: There are people that are willing to settle for life in the Glade and want to make that work. And then you have the ones that want to question it, but don’t feel like they can just yet. Thomas comes along and is the catalyst for all these other characters to evolve and open up and find themselves. It would be a weird, self-organised world, and where would you fit into thatIJ
What went into finding TeresaIJ
It was scary but also enjoyable to not have to do any research. She has no memory: She’s just turned up there. I wanted to go into it very instinctually. How would she reactIJ It’s a fight or flight kind of thing. The first scene I shot was me coming up in the box and I remember walking over… I’d met the cast but there were 30 other boys there and I didn’t know any of them. Ten minutes later, I’d got on along well with everyone, but it’s like that first day of school feeling. I had to get rid of that because that’s not how Teresa reacts. She’s fighting, throwing things and shouting at them.
Teresa is strong-willed. Did that made you choose this roleIJ
Definitely. I’d like most girls would react like Teresa in that situation. She knows a lot more than she lets out and she keeps internalising. She’s just thinking quietly, watching and observing. That is a lot truer, and it sets her up for the second and third installments if that’s where you learn the truth about her. I liked that she was a bit of a mystery.
Mystery is the key word. Did reading the script make you want to pick up the other booksIJ
I’ve read the second one now recently because I’d watched this and I thought the time was right. I love it. I think it’s really exciting. Again, it’s another journey. It’s not that everything’s explained straight away. So much is happening and there are lots of new characters.