The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” explores the real cost of...

Genius has a price. This is what a young woman learns on Netflix

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new drama The Queen’s Gambit. In the seven-part limited series based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, a young girl learns that she has an extraordinary talent for playing chess.

The story takes place in Kentucky in the 1950s, where Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) faces the tragic death of her mother and ends up in an orphanage. However, her misfortune leads her to discover the meaning of her life when she plays a game of chess with the caretaker of the orphanage. Your talent for the game is immediately apparent.

She will also face a new challenge; The state provides the children there with tranquilizers as tranquilizers, which lead them on the dark path of addiction. As a teenager she is socially awkward, but through play she finds her purpose and turns into a notable competitor.

She also has an eye for fashion and, like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, transforms from an impressively skilled outcast to a glamorous champion known around the world while masterfully dominating the traditional boundaries in that of men Conquered the world of competitive chess. If you

“This is a coming-of-age story,” said series writer and director Scott Frank in an interview. The two-time Oscar nominee stated that although the series has a slow burning feel to it, the book will be read like a thriller. “It’s great read. A really, really wonderful book, ”he said. “I had never seen a character like this before.”

This is why so many in Hollywood over the years have reacted to the book, which was first published in 1983. “You just can’t take it off even if you don’t know anything about chess.” Tragically, Tevis would never know how his novel touched so many readers. He did not live to see his success and died shortly after the book was published.

The novel went through many hands in the world of television and film and became a feature film in the 1990s. “It failed because it just wasn’t the type of movie that was being made at the time,” says Frank.

“A lot of directors tried to make it. Heath Ledger was to direct this as a film a few years before his death. This would be his directorial debut, ”he says. Allan Scott, who co-designed the series, owned the rights to the book and eventually decided that episodic might be the best approach and eventually found his home on Netflix.

Although chess is the main reason for being the protagonist in this story, Frank explains why you don’t need to know the game to relate to Beth’s story. “The real cost of genius is the most important topic of the book for me. Beth has this present and it takes a piece from her. There is an enormous burden associated with genius. She has cheat syndrome and to me she is her own antagonist. Chess is just the world it moves through. ”

Another issue, especially in the current pandemic, is loneliness. “Having a gifted brain can really be a curse. Beth is so smart that she is isolated from other people. Her victory is not so much about chess as it is about finding a group of people, a family that she can call her own. She starts as an orphan alone in this world and ends with this group of people she know and love. ”

Regarding the lead role, Frank talks about how other actresses have been suggested to him, but Taylor-Joy has always been his first choice. “I had seen your work and found it great and fascinating. She’s a great actress and can convey so much with her eyes and the slightest expressions on her face, and we knew there would be lots of close-ups with this role. She also understands production and how things work on set. I really wanted her from the start. ”

This story of triumph over adversity premieres at the perfect time, and Frank hopes viewers will tune in. “People are looking for connections, and I think this story is relevant to our current world in many ways.”

The Queen’s Gambit is produced by Frank, Scott and William Horberg. Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling and Bill Camp complete the cast.