Glass Onion’s Jessica Henwick on ‘Imposter Syndrome’, on-screen diversity and her obsession with 3,000-piece jigsaw puzzles

Hi Jessica! You recently attended the premiere of Glass Onion, where you were reunited with many of your cast members. Who was your favourite fellow actor to work with on the film?

Maddie [Madelyn Cline] and I definitely became closest. But Kate Hudson is such a joy to work with and I feel really lucky I got to share so many scenes with her. She’s phenomenal.

How was the dynamic playing her character’s assistant? Did you guys ‘method act’ off-screen at all?

No, I don’t do method acting, it’s not for me. But I do find that when I’m playing a role, I absorb some of their qualities. And so definitely at times I felt like Peg [the name of Jessica’s assistant character] amid this group of legitimate acting heavyweights and celebrities. I was like, what am I doing here? Like, I should not be here. Which was a combination of me, as Jessica, feeling that, but then also absorbing Peg’s mindset.

I can imagine it’s overwhelming. This has been such a huge breakout couple of years for your career, and you’ve been working alongside these established A-list celebrities from the older generations whom you probably grew up watching and being inspired by. Did it feel like Imposter Syndrome?

It was total imposter syndrome. I was talking to my brother about this the other day. Like, wow, I’m working with all these 90s and early Noughties action stars as well. I’ve obviously worked with Keanu [Reeves, in 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections] and I just worked with Edward [Norton] on this. I’m like, who’s next? I need to work with Nicholas Cage! 

The Glass Onion is a murder mystery film. What role would you be most likely to play in an actual murder mystery? For instance, would you be the one who solved the crime, the one who did it… or the one who got killed?

I think I’d be the one to solve the mystery, because I’m obsessed with puzzles. Every Christmas my family gets a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, and it really triggers me to see it incomplete. So once it’s started, I have to just finish it, or else I get angry. It’s a weird OCD thing for me. We do it every year, and it drives us crazy so we’re always like, never again – this is the last year. Then someone, usually me, will buy one.

Have you bought one for this coming Christmas?

My brother has. I’ve already seen it at the house. It’s a 3/000 piece this time, so he really hates us.

That’s gonna be a fun Christmas for all involved. I’ll be thinking of you. You recently returned from filming The Royal Hotel in Australia, was it lonely being in a different time zone to your family back home in the UK?

It definitely gets lonely. I’m torn between two places right now. A lot of my friends are in LA, and my team in LA are my support system. But then obviously my family, and some of my other friends, are in London. So it’s hard to never be around and to always feel like you’re missing their big life changes, but you learn to prioritise. I’ll do however many jobs in a row, but right now I’ve just said, OK, I’ll take the rest of the year off. I’ll do press, then I’ll spend the rest of the time with my family.