Heida Reed
Girl. Woman. Actor.Idiot
“Stella is badass but also a bit of an asshole,” smiles Heiða Reed. “She doesn’t give a damn what others think which is the exact opposite of Elizabeth in Poldark.” by Cristopher Kanal Photos of Heiða as Stella Blómkvist by Saga Sig, courtesy of Sagafilm and as Elizabeth Warleggan in Poldark by Robert Viglasky ©Mammoth Screen Ltd.
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wenty-nine-year-old Reed is reflecting on her new role as the title lead in “Stella Blómkvist,” an Icelandic neonoir premiered in the fall of 2017 that has been said to breathe a new life into the Nordic noir genre. The rising star is best known up until now as Elizabeth Warleggan in the hit British period drama “Poldark.” As Elizabeth, Reed is restrained, sullen, sultry but so very English. In reality, Reed, born Heiða Rún Sigurðardóttir, is the bright flip-side: forthright, funny and self-reflective.
Striking, raven-haired with piercing green eyes, the Icelandic actor certainly looks the part of the femme fatale and brings intuition and intelligence to the role of Stella. STELLA BLÓMKVIST “Stella herself is a bit of a loner, a rogue lawyer that works completely on her own for her own benefits” explains Reed. Trouble loves Stella. Set in a parallel and highly stylized world, against a backdrop of bleakness, beauty and volcan ic activity, Stella’s investigations in season one alone include the murder of a young assistant to the Prime Minister of Iceland that leads her onto a murky trail uncovering murder, blackmail, sexual exploitation and corruption at the highest level. Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson (Black’s Game and Trapped) and co-starring noted actors Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, Stella Blómkvist is a twisting helter-skelter. “Stella came to me at the perfect time, and I feel very fortunate to get to have a career in two different languages,” Heiða says. Reed loved being back home in Iceland for the filming and enjoying simple pleasures such as the “pure, fresh, geothermal water” as well as an opportunity to live on her own for the first time in Iceland and reconnect with the land of her birth. Reed left Iceland when she was 18 and never got a chance to have her own place in the heart of Reykjavík. “I definitely think of myself as an outsider,” she reflects. “I’ve been away long enough to feel out of the loop, and Iceland moves so quickly. But it only takes a little time for me to feel comfortable again and the more I work in Iceland, the easier it gets.” HEIÐA’S POLDARK SAGA Reed is currently on location in Cornwall and Bristol filming the fourth series of the hit drama Poldark, which will air this summer. Reed shot to fame as the repressed love of dashing hero, Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner), who ends up miserably married to Poldark’s cousin. The wild, western Cornish coast provides
the suitably tempestuous backdrop to the romance, feuds, betrayals and intrigue. Love across the classes that even today in the 21st century still energetically preoccupies both the English imagination and public life is a key theme in Poldark. The upper-class Ross Poldark shocks society by marrying an illiterate maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson). Reed found herself at the center of controversy in 2016 when Poldark came under fire for a perceived rape scene between Elizabeth and Ross Poldark. The hurrah focused on the apparent ambiguity of the action after Ross violently confronts Elizabeth after learning she had agreed to wed George Warleggan (Jack Farthing). Elizabeth resists her former lover before consenting. A much publicized debate ensued that mirrored a similar fracas from the early seven ties when Sam Peckinpah’s film Straw Dogs (1971) starring Dustin Hoffman was released. Back to 2016 and Reed commented at the time that drama should be placed in historical context: “Things that are very serious now weren’t looked at that way back then.” In 2015 Reed acted in Scarlet, a play that focused on sexual harassment, at London’s Southwark Playhouse. With the disturbing revelations of the behavior of some of Hollywood’s most powerful players and the emergence of the #MeToo campaign, the spotlight on sexual misconduct and assault in the workplace has never been so intense. “It may seem to some like we’re regressing but I can only look at these many, many revelations as a step for ward,” Reed reflects. “Hopefully we’ll be entering a new era of the industry where people treat each other with respect. I hope I’m not being naive.” Reed reveals that she struggles with some of the demands of Poldark’s cost ume department, particularly the show’s famous bodices that both sartorially reflect the times and act as a metaphor for the reined in, repressive nature of Georgian society. “I hate that corset,” she says adding that on shooting days she must get up at 5 am to be fitted into it and often is in costume until shooting wraps at 8 pm. Horses feature significantly in Poldark, but Reed is not happiest in the saddle. “I’m actually always in subtle fear for my life while riding,” she confesses. BECOMING HEIDA REED Reed grew up in Breiðholt in the suburbs of Reykjavík with her pianist father and dental hygienist mother and had a “typical Icelandic childhood.” As a child, Reed loved to sing, dance and play football and in the long winter months “build snowmen and igloos.” An early passion for film was awakened after watching Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge. “I wanted to be an actress from a young age after my dad mentioned I might be able to Issue on 39