An Interview with the Jaimie Alexander #ThorDarkWorldEvent

I was provided an all expense paid trip by Disney to Los Angeles.  All opinions are my own.

As part of my trip to Los Angeles to attend the red carpet premiere of Thor: The Dark World I was able to interview Jaimie Alexander, who plays the Asgard powerful and beautiful warrior Sif in the movie. Sif is one of the defenders of Asgard, and fights to defend the realm from all kinds of enemies.

This movie has quite a few strong female characters, including Sif, astrophysicist Jane Foster, Foster’s assistant Darcy Lewis and Thor’s mother Frigga.  It is nice to see a superhero movie where the women have some meaty roles and are part of the action!  And when it comes to battles Sif is at the front with all the other warriors.

Jaimie Alexander was very fun to interview, because she was open and was clearly passionate about her character and about the message she wants to convey through the character.  She was also funny and charming!

Not surprisingly a lot of the questions for Alexander centered around how it felt to play a strong physical female character.  She said,

It’s an amazing feeling. Especially when the character is written so well like my character is. It’s about her, personally, and the physically follows. And I think that’s the way to write a female character really well, and Marvel does that. So, for me it’s been a dream come true.

The role required quite a bit of preparation on her part, and training with weight lifting, yoga, Pilates and fight training with a stunt woman.  Alexander likes to do as much of the stunt work as she can herself,:

I like it. I’m like, that right amount of crazy. But there are certain things that I’m not allowed to do. Anything with fire. I can’t be lit on fire, clearly, because I wouldn’t be able to finish the film. I would look a little different. As for the jumps, the fighting, the weapons,  I do most of my own. There are some things that Sif does that are just completely impossible for any human being to do, and that’s when the CGI comes in, but it’s rare.

She loves the sword fighting,

I am weirdly good at it. I won’t deny that. I gotta give myself props. I’m actually a little too good at it. It kinda freaks people out sometimes.

And she said her favorite scene in the movie was an opening battle scene where she flips off a horse!  But despite all the battles Sif gets to show a different side in this movie.

You get to see a very vulnerable side of Sif. And you also get to see what her fellow Asgardians mean to her. Now, in the first movie, we explored that a little bit. She’s very protective. Her first priority is to protect her fellow Asgardians and the throne. This one, there’s a little bit of heartache but it’s really amazing, because she’s very selfless. The heartache is definitely an underlying tone to her. And then she kind of puts it aside and says, “You know what? I have lives to save. I’m gonna put that first,” so you kinda get to see what she’s made of a little bit.

Growing up Alexander had some strong female role models:

There was a superhero named Wonder Woman that I definitely looked up to growing up, and actually, Sigourney Weaver. She was always my favorite. She seemed to embody a sense of humor, while being stoic and being powerful, and also being feminine. And, to me, she is the ideal woman.

Now Alexander knows that she is role model for many girls, as one of the few female warriors seen in films.  Just last week she met with the girls who won the Ultimate Mentor Adventure Contest, which was designed to promote science fields to young women. She clearly takes being a role model seriously, and goes to schools to talk to girls about positive body image.

I know you guys look at me and, you’re like, “You’re tall. You’re thin.” I have less an A-cup, okay? So there are things about me that aren’t Hollywood standard. And I actually really like it. I have tattoos. I grew up with four brothers. I was a high school wrestler. I did all of these things that aren’t typical of a young woman. So, for me, I like to embrace that side of my personality and let my, I guess my uniqueness, show, and I try to say to young women, I say, “Don’t be afraid of yourself. “Work what your momma gave you, and appreciate it, because everybody is different, and nobody is duplicates, so no one can actually be you, so you have that above everyone else.” And I try to incorporate that in Lady Sif, where her costume is — she’s covered. She’s not revealing anything. Yet, she’s feminine. But she’s also tough, so you really see her personality before you see her physicality, and that’s most important.

She was clearly confident enough in herself to wear a daring gown to the premiere!  She did our interview wearing a green fake fur coat, which she said made her look like “green Wookie”, and told us her gown was black and a little uncomfortable.  After seeing the dress I think that was probably an understatement, but uncomfortable or not the gown made quite a statement, and had everyone talking!

Learn more and connect with Jaimie on twitter or on Facebook!  Have you seen Thor: The Dark World yet?  Let me know what you thought, or if you are planning to see it soon!