Anya Taylor-Joy revealed that she could relate with the historical character she played in the latest release, The Queen's Gambit. The drama series revolves around feminism, alcoholism, drug addiction, adoption, and chess.

However, the 24-year-old actress opened up about the character's relatable aspect and shed light on what she found interesting about the entire series. The actress said she was offered the role in 2018 while working on The Dark Crystal and Peaky Blinders.

She explained that Scott Frank, who wrote and helmed Godless spoke with her about the new project while the script wasn't ready. However, the director shared the book with the actress, which she read over 243 pages within a couple of hours.

It was Walter Tevis' novel, The Queen's Gambit released in 1983. The actress said that she was in love with Beth Harmon's character the moment she began reading the book. Taylor-Joy further said that the fictional chess prodigy was so interesting that she started to see herself through the character's eyes.

Taylor-Joy disclosed that she immediately fixed a meeting with Frank following the book's completion in London. The actress recalled that she couldn't hold back her enthusiasm about the book and yelled at the filmmaker that the book is not about only chess, but the lead character might also have red hair.

Frank agreed with the actress and acknowledged her observation on the spot. The actress emphasized how she could relate with the core of the character while in real life, she is a happy person. On the other hand, the character battles addiction during her chess tournaments across the globe.

"One of the main things that I connected with her on was her inherent loneliness. I always had that especially growing up," she explained. The Miami born belongs to a big Latin American family, and she moved to England after spending six years in Argentina as a kid.

The actress noted that she was a tomboy growing up while she entered Hollywood following her modeling projects. Interestingly, she didn't take any acting classes and landed in The Witch, released in 2015.

She explained that Harmon's character in the film is intuitive as a chess player, and so is she but as an actor. It seems that her instincts have worked really well in her favor as, within the span of five years, she managed to work on 20 projects, and most of her work released in 2019.