Tilda Swinton refuses to abide by Covid protocols on set of new film

Actor was told to ‘wear a mask at all times’ while shooting on location in Ireland

Tilda Swinton has admitted to defying Covid protocols on the set of her forthcoming project.

The 62-year-old actor will be shooting her next film in Ireland, where she claimed she was “told to wear a mask at all times”.

“I’m not,” Swinton apparently said during her keynote speech at the South by Southwest Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas, on Monday (13 March).

“I’m sure this is being recorded,” the Snowpiercer star acknowledged, per Variety. “I’ve had Covid-19 multiple times so I’m full of antibodies and very healthy.”

Recounting her experience with Covid, she remembered: “I was coughing like an old gentleman who smoked a pipe for 70 years, and had nasty vertigo.”

“I got off relatively lightly, but the worst thing is how it affected my brain.”

Swinton recalled doing “two films that I had to learn a lot of text for”.

“I’m normally quite quick at studying, and picking stuff up, but this was like chewing a really big piece of gum,” she added.

“I couldn’t remember my lines. [I have recovered] More or less, but I’m still forgetting things. I have to work my brain!”

Tilda Swinton (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

It’s currently unknown what film Swinton is shooting on location in Ireland.

The Independent has contacted Swinton’s representatives for comment.

The British actor was in attendance at SXSW in support of the world premiere of her latest comedy Problemista.

Directed by and starring SNL writing alum Julio Torres opposite Swinton, Problemista follows Alejandro (Torres), a struggling Salvadoran toy designer who takes a job assisting a turbulent art-world outcast (Swinton) to save his expired work visa.

Swinton is also set to star alongside Michael Fassbender in David Fincher’s new thriller The Killing, which is scheduled to release in cinemas in November.