Maggie Gyllenhaal is a smart cookie. She knows that if she speaks out against her co-star on The Deuce, James Franco, she’ll make headlines and probably alienate people she works with. She knows that if she makes excuses for him or otherwise tries to explain away the many credible stories about him, she’ll also alienate people. She’s liberal and outspoken about it, so I like to think she sides with victims, believes the victims and doesn’t give men passes because she knows them. We don’t know though, because she’s not saying. Maggie did an interview with Huffpo promoting her film at Sundance, The Kindergarten Teacher, and she said she’s not about to talk about #metoo on the red carpet or in an interview because it’s just too complicated and nuanced a topic.
“I have come to feel, over the past week — well, over the past few months — I’ve come to be really clear about the fact that this is the very beginning of something, and I am really in the process of processing it, of thinking about it,” she told HuffPost.
“I’ve had incredibly interesting, private conversations with my friends and with my colleagues. Obviously this is an issue that is very important to me. But my thinking about it and my thoughts about it are very complicated and nuanced, and I don’t think that, in this moment, a 20-minute interview, and maybe in particular a red carpet, for me, is the place to have the conversation.”
The night before I met Gyllenhaal, she’d declined to answer Marie Claire’s questions about James Franco, her costar from “The Deuce,” whom five women have accused of harassment. Celebrities being asked to comment on their costars’ alleged transgressions is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario, especially as #MeToo becomes more of a national talking point.
“Now, the nuances, the gray areas, the complications are things that I am literally thinking about and talking about all the time,” she told me. “It’s on all of my most interesting friends’ minds all the time. I’m sure it’s the same for you. But it’s going to take more time for me, more thinking for me, more reading, more considering. I don’t know that a short interview is ever going to be the place to have the conversation, for me.”
“There are other things I can say, like a woman should decide whether or not she wants to have a child,” Gyllenhaal continued. “That’s really easy for me. I can say, ‘I support Planned Parenthood.’ I can say many, many things like that — it’s not that I don’t want to mix politics with myself as a public figure or myself as an artist. But I also really do feel like this movie that I made is a poetic expression of some of my politics about [this movement]. It speaks better for me than I can speak right now in an interview with you. And that’s a gift. To be able to say that about the work you have, what a gift.”
I haven’t heard the story yet that Maggie didn’t answer questions about James Franco in an interview with Marie Claire. MC is probably still working on that article. She does have talking points here – especially the one about how a short interview is not “the place to have the conversation” since she said that twice. She’s watched her colleagues get these questions, she’s seen how the press reacts, and I’m slightly disappointed, but it’s her prerogative not to talk about it. Women are the ones being asked the most, which is interesting because we’re most often the victims. We shouldn’t be accountable for our coworkers, our bosses and our friends but we’re still asked. I like how Amy Schumer answered this question though. The perpetrators should be the ones answering for their crimes, and the people around them should talk about it if they want to, without making excuses for predators.
Ethan Hawke looks so much like Jeff Bridges here, right?
Photos credit: WENN, Getty and Instagram/Maggie Gyllenhaal
I mean what do you do if something like this comes out while you’re co starring on a tv show? It’s not like she can walk off unless the show gets canceled.
She is saying it’s important and complex and she wants more time to think about it before speaking publicly. I have no problem with that. I’d rather someone be thoughtful about it, and she knows every work will be picked over.
That said, I do think an interview CAN be a place for it, if the person is willing to discuss it, and I think it needs to continue being brought up and discussed. I also have no issue with it being brought up, say, the next time someone interviews Casey Affleck.
Nuanced thoughts my azz. It’s basically an excuse to say – “my career is more important than calling out toxic men”.
Agree.
The problem with that is that she is under all kinds of contractual obligations for movies and possibly advertisers. She can’t just say whatever she wants especially if she is promoting something involving an accused person. Additionally, it is not a celebrity’s JOB to answer questions about anything other that his or her work. Given how many horrible interviews have been written ( like the Azziz article and the Uma article) I can see how she wouldn’t want to just give a quick soundbite or have her words taken out of context. And, there is nothing wrong with her putting her career first. She has a family to support. I would do the same.
I think an interview IS the place to have the conversation.
Exactly. How do we address all the complicated and nuanced issues here if we do not talk about this publicaly? Also I generaly distrust people who say things like “Obviously this is an issue that is very important to me”. Especially followed by BUT. If something is important you act on it instead of declaring it.
But perhaps not a 20 minute red carpet interview, where everyone’s looking for one 20 second sound bite, and a longer, nuanced discourse just isn’t going to happen. It would definitely take a lot of planning to come up with a truly deft, nuanced comment to sum up what are, im sure, very complicated feelings about James Franco, her work with him, and harassment problems in the industry in general.
I don’t believe James has been canned by HBO, so I do think he will continue on. Has anyone heard differently?
I like the point you made about asking men. I’d like to hear a woman who’s asked about it reply, “When media floods men with these questions you may come to me. Until then…prioritize the message.”
It’s about people with power.. the ceos, the executive producers, lawmakers, etc
Exactly. Corner THEM. Follow THEM. Interrogate THEM. Make them uncomfortable, put them on constant display and push them to the edge.
Yes, this is an excellent point. Why isn’t everyone tracking him down and shoving microphones in his face, and those of his male actors/writers/producers?
I agree. Someone needs to corner James Franco and ask him these questions. All the time every time. I don’t care how uncomfortable he gets. Ask!!!
The red carpet is not the place to have a conversation other than a very brief, supportive remark. Even a short interview about whatever she’s working on isn’t the place either. Not to mention-every interview /comment actors are giving currently are being parsed and criticized by those on all sides. Talk about a losing proposition.
I suppose it feels really easy to criticize Maggie for not addressing exactly what we want her to address, how we want her to do it, and when we want her to do it. But isn’t that part of the problem?
There is nothing wrong with what she said. None of us have any idea of what she’s facing personally, nor is it up to us to dictate how she is handling the fallout from being professionally associated with a creep.
Give her EVERY DAMN MINUTE she needs to process her situation and determine how she proceeds. The truth is that coming out guns blazing, saying inflammatory stuff, COULD be detrimental to her career…and WHY should she become collateral damage from another man’s transgressions?
Take your time, Maggie. You’ll figure out how and when to address it. It’s EXTREMELY uncool for anyone to dictate what your process is.
I want to hug you for this comment.
At this point I just want the women of the industry to be left the hell alone until no man in the business can step on a red carpet, an interview room or any other public place without having to answer these question.
How is this focus on the women feminist?!
Agreed. I don’t mind her answer.
Well said @Isabellalunatuna! I think this whole journalistic bent (and yes, I am rolling my eyes) smacks of prurient gossip: “YOU worked there/with him, what did YOU know? Did YOU suspect anything?”
Find the perpetrators, not their co-workers, if you really want to do some investigative journalism. Relentlessly pursue THEM to commit to interviews, and then ask the tough questions-no softballs, no careful couching of words.
End thread! *slow clap*
Hugs to my like-minded internet friends. True compassion requires the acknowledgement that every person is different, and what we may desire to see and hear may not be congruent with what she needs to work her way through the situation. What if she experienced trauma at Franco’s hands? Who are we to say that she has to ignore her own needs for healing? Blah.
Agree with you here. How can we give women agency and power yet demand answers. The simple answer is we can’t. All in a 20 minute red carpet interview where she’s supposed to deal with an enormously fraught situation and then quickly wrap it up and say who designed her dress, and jewelry and that she chose a long-wearing matte lipstick for the evening.
I don’t see a problem with what she’s saying. If anything, it struck me more as a criticism of the current process – expecting women (and other victims) to not only carry the burden of the experience but able to process and regurgitate it in soundbite form in a short period of time. Ultimately, nothing is getting solved if the victims are still being expected to carry the weight of the movement.
Considering the craze around saying the wrong thing I don’t blame her. People are allowed to have complicated thoughts about this especially because the people they are asking are by no means experts in the matter. They would do better to ask government officials to pass laws instead
I see no problem. No one will be happy with her answer anyway, because it won’t satisfy people that want perfect answers and thoughts. God forbid, it’s not.
So she’s taking her time to think about what she’s going to say. When did that become a character flaw? Also, why does she have to answer for this? She DOESN’T. She can and probably should just say “Why aren’t you asking James these questions directly? Why am I being made to answer for his bad behavior?” Seriously, the conversation with her should be about HER experiences, not about someone who hasn’t done something directly to her. That is how you add to the conversation.
Ultimately people jump on everyone in this fast social media age and the way several different stories have been mixed together makes this not a cut and dry discussion. I can’t blame Maggie for trying to organise her thoughts and she doesn’t owe anyone her opinion or her interview on this subject if she doesn’t want to. We need to stop bullying actresses and actors. They are actresses and actors, not huge agents for change. The puppet masters behind the scenes are the ones with the true control and power. It’s just easy to attack celebrities and actors.