Tessa Thompson had to ‘fight’ for role in Sorry to Bother You after Marvel fame

Tessa Thompson has revealed that she was almost dropped from her role in Sorry to Bother You because the director feared she was “too visible” because of her Marvel work.

The Westworld actress has revealed that director Boots Riley offered her the role of Detroit in his 2018 independent movie, but tried to take the part away after she made her Marvel debut as Valkyrie in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok.

During an appearance on Collider’s Ladies Night podcast, Thompson explained that Riley feared she had become too visible to be in an indie film – so she had to convince him that she still wanted to be involved with his project.

“You would think that it’d be easier to make interesting indie movies (as a Marvel star), but Boots Riley offered me a role in his film Sorry to Bother You. And then by the time he went to make it, I had made a Marvel movie, and he told me that I couldn’t be in Sorry to Bother You anymore because I was too visible,” she shared. “I said, ‘No, sir. I have the email of you offering me this movie. Please.'”

Thompson went on to reveal that she suggested auditioning for the role – even though she had already been offered it – to prove that she was still the right person to play Detroit.

“I auditioned for him. I said, ‘Let me prove to you, I promise you I can still do this.’ And so I got on a Zoom with him and (co-star) LaKeith Stanfield and we had a chemistry test and he said, ‘Fine, you can be in the movie,'” she recalled.

“But because I had made a Marvel movie, he just didn’t he didn’t think that I could enter that indie space,” she added, noting that she didn’t expect to be “seen in a particular way” after she joined the MCU.

Since Thor: Ragnarok, Thompson has appeared in several Marvel films, including Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder and The Marvels.

She can currently be seen in Nia DaCosta’s reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. Hedda is streaming now on Prime Video.