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Nava Mau prepares for the scene with the baby reindeer where she was attacked

Nava Mau prepares for the scene with the baby reindeer where she was attacked

“We built a structure that I would almost knock over so I could look at the pieces while lying on the ground.”

One of the most shocking and disturbing scenes in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer is when Martha attacks Donny’s girlfriend Teri, played by Nava Mau, in the pub. Martha severely abuses Teru and is also transphobic. Actress Nava Mau, who plays Teri in Baby Reindeer, has now spoken about how she prepared for such a scene, considering how difficult it must be for a trans woman to have to go through that even when acting .

At the Los Angeles screening of Baby Reindeer this week, where the cast had a question-and-answer session afterwards, Nava Mau was asked how she prepared for the scene in which Teri was portrayed by Martha is attacked. “I was able to create the emotional landscape of this scene by working with an acting coach. And we built the whole structure in such a way that it almost knocked me over. So when I’m lying on the floor I can look at the parts and know what they all are.

“So it was the relationship with Donny, it was what Martha actually said. It was the public humiliation – tied to Teri’s family backstory – that I had to keep in mind. I did the emotional work in LA so when I went to London I could do the technical work.

“In fact, me and Jessica, we met for the first time when we were doing the stunt training. And it was so much fun. It was like, “Nice to meet you, now she’s straddling me!” That was the perfect way for us to meet because it allowed us to build trust, practice consent and just feel really comfortable so we were like We could go as far as we wanted.

“We did that. I’ve said this before, but I still remember the makeup trailer when we were finishing and Jess came up to me and said, “I’m sorry.” I think we need that. We had to persevere from start to finish.”

Baby Reindeer is now available on Netflix. For the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

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