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I love that Geena Davis is back in the news right now. She’s promoting her documentary, This Changes Everything about the lack of gender equality in Hollywood. Geena did a Q&A with USA Today about the documentary, and about her other work, including her new role on GLOW on Netflix. She also told a disturbing story about a director who asked her to sit on his lap as part of an audition. Awful. Here are some excerpts from her chat:

On if the mostly female cast and creative team on Glow create a different atmosphere
It does. The more diverse a group is, the more creative, successful and productive it is. They’ve done research that companies with more women on the board make more money. It doesn’t seem to spur people to make dramatic change even though there’s a financial incentive, but it certainly is true. And there’s definitely a different vibe when it’s mostly women. I always say men don’t know what we’re like when we’re alone. It’s really, really true. We have a special way of relating with each other, and that’s very inspiring.

On if she wishes should could have played other characters in her films
When I first read “Thelma & Louise,” I thought I should play Louise. I was convinced of that. My acting coach said, “You’re getting to a place in your career where you should be the more mature character,” but we were wrong. The second I met Susan Sarandon, I was like, “Well, obviously, she should play Louise and I should be Thelma,” because our relationship was just like that instantly. I looked up to her and admired her tremendously, and she’s the cool, steady hand. So that was one instance where I was also attracted to the other part.

On if she experienced disturbing experiences as a young actress
There’s probably a million examples. One was very early on: I was auditioning for a part where in one scene, my character was going to be sitting on the lap of the male character. The director said, “Just act the scene out with me,” and made me sit on his lap. It was kind of a sexy scene. I didn’t want to do it, and I was very uncomfortable, but I didn’t know you could say no. So hopefully in the time of #MeToo and Time’s Up, women aren’t going to have to suffer through that. It’s pretty standard that you don’t meet alone with a man in a private room or hotel suite anymore, but plenty of that stuff goes on and has gone on for a long time.

[From USA Today]

As Geena noted, harassment, assault, and other intimidating behavior has gone on in Hollywood for decades, and is still going on. Her story is awful, and Chloe Grace Moretz has a story in the documentary which USA Today recounts which is awful, too. It’s overwhelming to think about the fact that for every story we hear, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of untold ones that are equally atrocious. The next time I watch one of Geena’s earlier films, I’m going to be paying attention to see whether she sits on an actor’s lap. I can only hope that that director (and the one in Chloe’s story) hear these stories and get anxious that they eventually might be unmasked.

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A post shared by Geena Davis Institute (@gdigm) on Aug 8, 2019 at 2:35pm PDT

photos credit: Avalon.red and Getty