Tessa Thompson was on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote Sylvie’s Love on Amazon, which is an absolute gem of a movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film that delightful, and my friends who watched it with me over Zoom loved it too. Some people found it a little slow, but it has that older movie throwback feel in that the pacing is measured and you get to know the characters. I have a lot of affection for Tessa after seeing her sublime performance alongside Nnamdi Asomugha (Kerry Washington’s husband!). Tessa has been mesmerizing on screen ever since I first saw her in Creed though she she doesn’t get enough attention. Tessa is co-starring in Thor: Love and Thunder where she plays Valkyrie. (She was awesome in Ragnarock too!) She told Jimmy that she was about to fly to Australia, where they’re currently filming. She has to quarantine in a government-run facility for two weeks and they won’t give her special celebrity treatment either. After that she gets to move around and go out like the beforetimes. Jimmy interviewed Tessa’s costar Natalie Portman a few weeks ago and Natalie said things are pretty much back to normal there. We’ve also heard from Kate Walsh, who is living and working in Western Australia, that it’s ideal there thanks to early lockdown and everyone adhering to restrictions. I didn’t realize Australia had their own quarantine facilities and I wanted to talk about it. Here’s some of what she told Jimmy and that interview is below.
She got in a car accident driving to a cabin on New Year’s
I have been staying in although for New Years eve… I drove up a mountain to go to a cabin. I thought ‘this will be totally safe because I won’t see anybody,’ but I got into a car accident. I did have a socially distant interaction. I got hit by a big monster truck on the highway. I’m safe and actually the driver was very lovely.She’s about to leave for Australia
I leave to Australia in a couple days. It feels like an alternate universe I’ve almost forgotten what those things are like. You get escorted by police to a quarantine facility and stay there for 14 days while you’re monitored. Once you’re out it’s sort of things back as somewhat normal. [The quarantine facilities] are all government run. You don’t get any [special] treatment just because you happen to be in movies, you just go to a government place and you hang out. I think the only thing that I get because it’s Marvel is that they’re going to send me a piece of workout equipment because I have to be in a superhero costume. Otherwise I’m just going to be hanging out. I don’t know what the place is like. I’m grateful. It feels a little like survivor’s remorse.On the first things she’s going to do after quarantine
In Australia they have these things called jaffles, they’re like sandwiches without crusts. They feel like a Hot Pocket as a sandwich. I want to have one of those because I remember they’re delicious. I feel like I should take requests from people, what I could do for them as their proxy in Australia. I can Facetime people in.
Jimmy then told Tessa he wanted her to go around hugging people and shaking hands. Tessa said she misses acquaintances and casual friends. Same. Read how she describes herself and says she doesn’t get special treatment because she happens “to be in movies.” She doesn’t call herself a celebrity or famous or even an actress. Plus she says she has to fit in the costume still, not that she has to stay in shape. She’s very careful about sounding down-to-earth because she is.
As for the quarantine facilities, as I mentioned I didn’t realize that they were government-run. I assumed they just made people quarantine themselves, but that makes perfect sense and explains how Australia has been able to keep covid cases so low. They really get a handle on any stray cases and are vigilant at locking down with every new case and fining people who violate lockdowns. Tessa will likely be quarantining in Sydney where they’re filming. Some Australian quarantine facilities are said to be like vacation spots but the hotels the government is using don’t get as high marks. They do charge people for staying in them too and it can be expensive at around $2,300 USD for two weeks, although that sounds about right for a hotel stay with food. Imagine if the US had done something like that, but it would have required the national government to care about people dying instead of actively trying to kill them.
Here’s that interview! Tessa said Kerry and Nnamdi were “falling in love” during the time they were filming but that she didn’t realize that back then. Kerry really keeps her personal life on lockdown. Tessa does too.
photos via Instagram
love her!
She’s so pretty, and so cool.
I like Tessa Thompson because she seems like a bad*ss. But she looks so much like the meanest, most two-faced popular girl in my high school (the one who passed out brownies with laxatives to everyone she didn’t like pretending to be nice) that I feel repelled every time I see Tessa’s picture and I have to take a second to remind myself that Tessa is not this girl. It took me a couple of episodes of West World to realize why I was having this reaction.
To be fair, Hale is an asshole. It took seeing her in something else for me to realise I was a fan, because she plays her so well!
I had some friends that encountered her in a cafe in Paris and they said she was SUPER NICE. Took pics with the family, gave autographs to their teenage sons. I always like hearing about celebs being great to their fans.
Jane Krakowski spoke about the Australian quarantine facilities on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” last weekend. She said they don’t even give you a key to your room, because if you can’t leave to go anywhere then you don’t need a way to get back in! Sounds Draconian, until you think about how that’s how little it would take to get ahead of COVID and we (USA) just won’t do it.
What would I want Tessa to do in my proxy after quarantine? Just walk around in public without being in fear of everyone and everything being contaminated and possibly killing you. That sounds nice.
I love Tessa, but we’re in the position we’re in because we DON’T hug, Jimmy! Love, all the Melbournian extended Stage 4 lockdown alumni
(Seriously guys, we ain’t f*cking around. We locked down hard at 790ish cases a day after mandatory masks didn’t do enough, and eventually got to 0 for nearly 2 months only for Sydney to reintroduce it. The only reason it got that far is because our Premier faced extreme resistance from industry and political opponents against locking down. I’m still masking up everywhere, missing my family interstate (another relatively COVID-free state) and avoiding crowds and close contacts as much as possible until we can get the vaccine. I can’t imagine what it’s like overseas, but we sure as shit ain’t dropping the ball now after fighting so hard to control the numbers. We are indeed very lucky to be the island continent right now, and hotel quarantine is a huge part of that even when mistakes are made.)
Lockdown in Melbs was hard.
But watching the rest of the world fuck this up is even harder, tbh.
People are dying in droves. It is harrowing.
It really is. America especially. Trump has so much blood on his hands.
Just praying we don’t go back in to lockdown again :/
The quarantine facilities are hotels for the most part that have been taken over by the state governments to run as quarantine facilities. Often you can’t even open a window or go out for a socially distanced walk/fresh air break. And yes, we have to pay around AUD$3000. Why we can’t quarantine in our own homes with monitoring is beyond me. And tens of thousands of Australians remaining stuck overseas with no repatriation assistance by the government is a disgrace. People have have exhausted all their savings trying to get home, lost their jobs, have no access to government income support, cannot attend the funerals of loved ones or been able to visit family members who are at end of life stage, families separated for nearly a year due to border closures – all disgraceful. Not to mention a violation of human rights law.
Yep, seconding this! As one of the estimated 35,000 to 100,000 Australians stuck overseas, largely due to the fact that they’re only letting a very small amount of people in per week plus the horrifically inflated flight costs to get there (plus the quarantine costs), please don’t praise the Australian government’s actions during this situation. It is appalling.
How long have you been overseas?
I live in Europe but have been trying to get back for around six months now. This does, however, mean that I’m fortunate enough to have my apartment, my job etc. – that is, I’m not staying in hotels (and paying all the additional costs involved with this) and am still able to earn an income, unlike the situation a lot of people currently find themselves in. Some family said they got stuck in Canada, for example, and it’s going to cost them $70,000 to get back? The fact stories like that are being reported and the government doesn’t change the policy is incredible.
And where are the corona virus cases in Australia coming from? Arrived travellers. It sucks you can’t come home when you want to but at least be intellectually honest that your sector poses the biggest risk to public health. Everyone was warned at the start to get home ASAP if they wanted to make it back.
“Why we can’t quarantine in our own homes with monitoring is beyond me.”
It’s because this doesn’t work. That’s what Canadians coming back are supposed to do and when you interview ppl at the airport, they’ll be: “Sure, I’m totally gonna quarantine. But my buddy here is gonna give me the 2hrs-long drive home in their car w/o open windows cuz winter. And then we’ll go to the grocery store to grab stuff for our quarantine. And then we’ll totally not leave the house. Except to see some friends but we’ll stay in our car.”
People don’t know what a quarantine means and the best way to ensure it’s really done and well monitored is to not have them quarantine home.
There certainly are risks and I don’t doubt that however testing upon departure and arrival is a good start as is trialling movement monitoring technology. Only a very small portion of returned travellers are even testing positive. I’d rather trial other options than effectively barring citizens from their own country. Surely an intelligent and nuanced approach is possible otherwise no one is going anywhere for a very long time.
Why not follow the UAE’s example? They’re putting tracking wristbands on people arriving in the country that alert authorities if you leave your home within the two week quarantine period. That means no hotel quarantine required and people still follow the rules.
@Ash have you seen the size of the UAE? It’s easy to have someone show up quickly if someone breaks quarantine when the country is a few thousands km2; if it takes you a few hours to go to the persons place/bring them back home, they’ll have had time to contaminate quite a bunch of people. Also, the number of cases is much higher in the UAE than in Australia, so it’s not like it’s exactly working.
I understand that capping the number of citizens coming back is problematic and how the decision of who is allowed to come in is sketchy AF, but it’s also understandable that a country wouldn’t want to get a flood of expats trying to come back to avoid the restrictions in the countries where they’ve been living for years to screw things up for everyone. The countries that have undergone a harsh lockdown and forcing all those coming in to quarantine in supervised installations, whether it’s Aus, NZ or Korea are doing far better than the rest of the world. We have a 8pm curfew here, I haven’t seen my bro since March 15, 8.6K people have died in my province, kids have missed way too much school and hospitals are starting to be overcrowded: it sucks and it’s been sucking for 10 months nonstop
I’m Australian and I support the hotel quarantine program. I have relatives overseas who were meant to be here at the moment but can’t come (to see my father, who is very unwell). That has been hard, and really stressful, but I still support the way the Australian government has handled this situation overall.
I live an hour outside Melbourne – in June/July we had over 700 cases a day and the health system was definitely feeling the strain. If we hadn’t got hotel quarantine under control and smashed those case number down to zero, we would be like the UK and USA now. The whole thing is brutal, no doubt, but my sister in law is an ICU nurse in the UK, and I know where I’d prefer to be living at the moment, and it’s right where I am.
Those 700 cases a day came from ONE case of Covid in hotel quarantine. So, to the commenter who said there are hardly any cases, well…that isn’t true, because there seem to be 2 or 3 cases every few days in Melbourne quarantine alone, and…it only takes ONE case to get out into the communnity for everything to go pear-shaped.
They’re putting people in some very fancy hotels, actually. Usually it’s the luck of the draw but I’m sure Tessa will get a nice one with a balcony and a view of Sydney harbour.
Australia tried allowing people to self-quarantine back in March. It didn’t work. 14 days in a (generally nice) hotel run by the govt with cops and the army helping out is really the best solution. Even then, the system’s not perfect and clusters have emerged. (The contact tracing is generally excellent now though).
The only way Covid is getting into Australia is from overseas. Air crews were a problem but they’ve tightened that. I’m grateful we’re being tough when I hear from friends in other countries. Some Aussies would like to shut the border but I think the balance is about right.
The caps are low, though. People are being kicked off flights and airlines are charging huge amounts for stranded Aussies to return. The hotel quarantine system can’t handle the thousands who want to come back home. The richer you are, the better your chance of getting in. That sucks. I don’t know what the solution is but it’s definitely not allowing people to quarantine at home. That would be a public health disaster.
People say Australia and New Zealand benefited from being islands and yes, that helps but so is the UK and look at what’s happening. You have to control borders, restrict travel, and install a strong quarantine system. It’s the only way.
Apart from the insanely negligent and criminally irresponsible behavior, it would be so incredibly difficult to do what Australia did. We just have too many entry points. The only way would be if we somehow restricted travel in to a few major airports and then shunted people to government facilities from there. And there are certainly enough hotels in those cities with large airports to have rented them. Would’ve helped the economy too. But even then I don’t know. We should’ve slammed them shut in the beginning. New York itself had several major airports and you’d really need to quarantine people traveling intra-nationally as well.
When we come to think of it, there aren’t that many entry points in North America. Canada has 1 long border with 1 country; USA has 2; Mexico has 3. Canada and the USA are almost akin to Australia, we’re our own island almost, and it’d be fairly easy to get everyone coming from an international flight to hotels if we wanted to.
Every person coming into the U.S. from international travel has to go through customs. It would actually not be that difficult to route all of those people to a nearby hotel for 1-2 weeks – they’d just get shuttled to a transport rather than be let out into the main terminal.
I’m Australian with relatives in England, so it’s been interesting to compare the different COVID responses. I think Australia and NZ have benefited from their small population numbers and the acts they are islands – we’ve been able to have a hotel quarantine because of that. It is really expensive to manage the quarantine, and it is a logistical nightmare to do it well, because you have to train security and hotel staff in how to prevent transmission of Covid.
I think with countries like the US and UK which have a much greater population, stupid leaders and lots of border entries, doing something like hotel quarantine would be an overwhelming logistical challenge. i just don’t think it would be maneagable.
I live just outisde Melbourne, and their lockdown was brutal. I’m grateful for what they did for the rest of the country, because now we’re able to have a relatively normal life again. Yes, many Australians are stranded overseas and there are some heartbreaking stories about families being separated, but the alternative is that we would be going through what the UK and US are going through now, and the suffering would be enormous.
Adding in case anyone is wondering – there are caps on the amount of international arrivals permitted into Australia. Therefore you can hold an Australian passport but be unable to enter your own country due to these caps. Some people have been trying to get home since March. Airlines are cancelling flights due to these caps or sometimes charging upward of $10,000 for flights. The Australian government has provided next to no assistance for most of these people. I have heard of people overseas referred to homeless shelters by Australian consulate staff. Others have ‘attended’ the funeral of a family member via Zoom link.
how are they choosing who can come back into the country? The people who have been gone since March aren’t getting priority?
It’s like a lottery really. People who can pay for business or first class flights generally get priority because the airlines need to recoup some of their costs. Some people have been trying to get home since March but keep having flights cancelled or bumped off for higher paying passengers.
Also, they allow international sportspeople in for reasons that are beyond me.
I’m Australian and I thought jaffles were American. Is it just a cheese and tomato toastie?
And nobody is shaking hands anymore. Really, I’m so thankful we don’t have to do that anymore, we don’t have to do the elbow bump either. Let’s just use words to say hello.
Kit, Jaffles are what you make in an old fashioned sandwich toaster. Originally, they were made with a jaffle iron that had a long handle and held one sandwich, you could hold it over a gas burner stove or a camp fire.
I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about how good jaffles are!
I have a Breville ‘Original ‘74’ Jaffle Maker and when it’s Winter and you want something a bit fancier or heartier than a plain old toastie, the jaffle really is THE QUEEN of toasted sandwiches. Oh and they do actually have crusts, unlike what Tessa says in this interview; they just become fused together to seal in the filling.
P.S – Melbourne and in particular our 2nd lockdown WAS hard but it’s definitely been worth it. It’s heartbreaking hearing how grim it is in the U.K right now.
I had a friend that had to go home to Australia for visa reasons, and it cost her a small fortune. Like others have said-they have a cap on the number of people they are letting in, but they are also prioritizing first class and business class passengers. So she, her husband, parents and in-laws all pooled funds so she could get home and pay for the hotel.
You do t get to pick the hotel and they all cost the same. Whether you are in the 4 star or the 1 star travel lodge. She was in the latter in Sydney and came in to find her $3000 room hadn’t been cleaned. The guests all threw a mini revolt and eventually got themselves moved. But the pictures were gross
Also didn’t Nicole Kidman and Keith urban get to do their 14 day quarantine in their mansion? How did they get a exception?
Probably because they’re Australian citizens.
I don’t think it was that, because I think there are some other high-profile non-citizens that have been allowed to quarantine at home.
I think, for the really well-known celebs, the government doesn’t want them at a hotel because it might mean that staff and other people quarantining at the hotel might try to break the quarantine to see them (basically, it would create issues).
Also, given how well known they are, they would be papped as soon as they went out and charged for breaking quarantine, so I think the govt is satisfied they will actually quarantine properly at home and won’t break the rules.
I think Tessa isn’t well known enough to warrant this special treatment.
They paid a massive amount of money to get security etc at their house up to government standards, organised it months in advance, could prove that their quarantine location met the standards and that they would be monitored and kept in by security they paid for the whole time as per the rules. Anyone can do it, most can’t afford it. Additionally Kidman was bringing a production worth a lot of money and creating jobs and they were doing pre-production together in lockdown at the location.
I’m Australian, and if I had to quarantine in a hotel and pay $1000’s to save one person or however many I would infect if I happened to have COVID. I would. Human rights violation?
Being a selfish person when we live in this lucky country with all that we have because you think it’s Draconian. That is just stupid. People are dying.
You’re missing the point and/or being deliberately selective in your response. Everyone has a right to return to their country and should be able to rely on their government for assistance in times of need. Can you not possibly conceive of a scenario whereby you might be overseas right now and need to return? Surely you have empathy for people in those sorts of situations?
Also to add to Vaper’s point: Your point, Morgan, assumes that people actually have the option to “quarantine in a hotel and pay $1000’s to save one person”. The vast majority can’t even get on a plane right now solely because of the government’s caps, let alone be able to quarantine. How is it “the lucky country” when its “lucky citizens” aren’t being provided with their legal right to return to it?
Well, it’s the whingeing from people about their human rights being violated and who think they have the right to come in and out of covid free zones and possibly infect hundreds of others that I think is disgraceful. The reason we are strict is because people lie. It only takes one to think they have the right to do or have or be where they want regardless of how it impacts on the entire community to introduce an outbreak. Every time the virus has gotten away from us has been because people lied or broke the rules. We’re making sacrifices for each other. Of course its not ideal. Do we want to live this way? No. Would we love to see Granma? Sure. Do I want to give Granma (and all her friends) Covid? No. We do it because it has to be done if we are not going to become like the US or the UK. You talk about your human rights- what about others human right to be safe from exposure to deadly illness? To know that when we interact with others we can do so in the reasonable knowledge that we are all following the same medical guidelines? Sure, the Federal government has its eye on the the dollars, but in general the States are focused on protecting the people. There are no human rights being violated in asking people to isolate or restrict their normal behaviours for a short period of time in the the interests of their own and others safety. I don’t even want to hear this nonsense being encouraged in Australia. We are perfectly capable of enduring these restrictions and adapting until the virus is managed, just like we’ve done in every other crisis.
I’m talking about the human right to enter your own country, not a human right not to quarantine obviously. Or are you referring to the fact that Australia s doesn’t have a bill of rights? I’m talking about the response being proportionate and time-bound. I’m not even talking about quarantine, just acknowledging that the caps and capacity to manage the quarantine facilities are obviously related.
I’m sure we will have to trial other approaches at some point of course because hers immunity takes some time to achieve.
Vaper, I understand, but disagree with your point that people have a human right to enter any country at will, simply because it is theirs. There will be circumstances, however stressful or frustrating or tragic, where it is not right or possible for people to return home as they would like. I do think Australia should protect and help its citizens wherever they are, and if people are being blocked from returning, they should be assisted until they can. I think cap restrictions, particularly with the new strains around, are unfortunately, a necessity at the moment, simply because we have the cruise ship examples of many people entering the country simultaneously, unsecured quarantines and resulting outbreaks and deaths. We’ve seen it before, so we’re being more cautious now. It’s horrible for those caught up in it, though, I do agree. Hopefully quicker and better, more efficient ways will be found to bring them home soon.
I first saw her in Veronica Mars, she was Wallace’s love interest for a season, and she was a brat. Once i got over her role in that, i have loved her, she is great in everything.
And i don’t have any money, but if i did, i might go to Australia to quarantine, then run around hugging strangers- i’m not even particularly a hugger, but man, do i miss life.
I love Tessa and will definitely check out Sylvie’s Love this week. Sounds like a movie I’d really enjoy.
Side note: I was like “isn’t Kerry Washington’s husband a football player?” And he was, turned actor and producer! That’s really cool.
I was able to get tickets to some of the virtual screenings at Sundance, including one with Thompson called “Passing.”
Love her style
It’s not about Tessa so I hope this isn’t thread jacking but I’m a little confused… How were Kerry and Nnamdi falling in love while filming? Haven’t they been married since like 2013? And wasn’t this filmed just recently? I think I missed something.
I’ve been wondering the same thing!!
Tessa Thompson is my and my H’s current favorite actress. We like everything she’s been in!!!! She’s one of the only people who when we see her listed in a cast, we’re like, Okay, we’re seeing it no matter what b/c we always love her work!!! Sylvie’s Love is currently my #2 movie of 2020 (Promising Young Woman is my current #1).
It’s not just Australia. Other countries such as New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, etc. have quarantine hotels for people arriving to the country. They’ll test you, but even if you’re negative, you have to stay the full 14 days. They bus you from the airport to your facilities. In New Zealand, they’ll let you out of your room for a walk in a designated space. But they discourage running. In Thailand, you can get yoga mats or spin bikes for your room. I think I read somewhere that hotels in Hawaii will give you keys that work once. So if you leave, you can’t get back in and you’ll have to to the front desk to sort out your keys and of course, tell on yourself that you broke quarantine.
Oh, didn’t mr Snapchat refused to go the Australian quarantine hotel when he went to Australia to be with Miranda Kerr?
New Zealander here, who came home from the US in October. We were met off the plane by Aviation Security, bussed to a government managed isolation hotel, where we stayed under the supervision of Aviation Security, the New Zealand Defense Force, the police, private security, and healthcare workers. You can leave your room to buy coffee at the barista cart (masked, no sharing the elevator with other groups, no lingering), get some fresh air and say hi to visitors through the fence at the hotel forecourt, and take a daily 45 minute walk (ours was a loop of a parking garage ramp). Three times a day there’s a knock on the door and food bags are delivered. Health checks every day, and Covid tests on Days 3 and 12. After that you’re released and it’s like being a time traveler. Life is as it was in the Beforetimes here. Just masks on public transport and scanning a QR code at shops, etc, to keep track of where you’ve been on the Covid tracer app. Totally worth the 14 days. If you’re staying less than 90 days you pay, otherwise it’s government funded. Considering they pick up single to double digit numbers of positive cases in Managed Isolation each day, and those people would have (surely unintentionally) walked off the plane and seeded a community outbreak resulting in a lockdown (with all it’s associated economic cost), I think the costs to the country are well worth it. BTW, only NZ citizens (Kiwis), their families, and a few exceptions for workers with critical skills, or for high value (to NZ) projects like movies or sports competitions are allowed in
American who’s been in Australia since 2008 here. I can attest that life is more or less back to normal here. I feel guilty telling my American friends and family that when they’ve been affected so badly. But the fact is, Australians adhered to government recommendations right away and didn’t make it political and it’s not just luck that we haven’t been so badly affected here. The long quarantine, and the fact I’d have to pay out of pocket (approximately $4000 AUD) is also the reason I won’t be visiting my family in the US anytime soon, unless someone dies, I’d go into my piggybank for that, but otherwise I’d rather save my money up for Fiji or somewhere that’ll hopefully be in our covid-free travel bubble soon. That’s okay though. It’s a pretty good spot to be “trapped”.
This pandemic has really brought home to me how much Australians like rules. I think we have this image of ourselves as rebellious but we’re not at all. Irreverent, perhaps but not rebellious. That rule-abiding core of Australia is both good (stability) and bad (apathy) but in a pandemic it’s freaking useful.
Kiwi here. We live in a surreal bubble that is largely due to quick acting and community adherence… what is interesting in this debate is a feeling of “Well you left” about people stuck overseas. About 20% of NZ’s population lived overseas pre-COVID. While it has been difficult for some people to get back, those who are stuck did have options earlier. There is generally this feeling of people made their choices about where they were living and now they are stuck with it. There has always been a thing with ex-pats saying that the grass of greener in aus/uk/canada and that if those of us who stayed are missing out on culture/money/opportunity. So now it’s a little bit of smug, “Is it greener? Really?”.
There’s a little bit of that attitude in Australia. Not so much the “grass isn’t greener” schadenfreude but the general attitude of “you were told to come back and you didn’t” tut-tutting. However, while some people foolishly dismissed the warning, many people’s situations simply changed, which isn’t their fault. Now they’re stuck unless they’re cashed up. I have empathy for those people. Few appreciated back in March just how long this would go on. I don’t think governments even understood really.