Rose McGowan has been making a lot of waves lately by openly discussing her dissatisfaction with how Hollywood treats women, but she’s hoping to grow those waves into a tsunami. Her feminist battle gained prominence when she revealed a sexist casting call she was sent on and escalated when she said her agency fired her over speaking up. She isn’t stopping here, and she’s speaking even louder to shed more light on how she and her fellow actresses are treated in the industry. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McGowan talked about how her detractors aren’t going to stop her from speaking out.
One thing she is clearly upset about is the lack of good acting opportunities and why we haven’t seen her on screen very much lately:
I always thought, “God, if someone actually gave me a three dimensional part I could knock the hell out of this. But as it is, I’m trying to bring you, you shmuck, to home base. You haven’t done a lot for me.” And so what I get on the side is abuse on sets. What am I doing this for? … Who am I doing this for? Cause I am no longer willing to take a man’s limit of imagination and be of service to it. Not unless it’s better. Not unless it’s smarter. Not unless it’s stronger.
She went on to say that men are perfectly capable of doing something “better,” “smarter” and “stronger,” but too often, filmmakers are more “comfortable” pitching “lazy” scripts with shallow female characters.
McGowan also touches on the double standard for women when they’re being interviewed by journalists who focus on “what [women] wear before you report on what their accomplishments are,” calling out The Hollywood Reporter and Variety by name and saying “You guys are a part of this problem. I feel sorry for so many people in this industry who are living such a bullshit existence, because they should be better as humans.”
Her statements are actually quite daring, which is refreshing when so many celebrities are limited by what their PR teams tell them to do. When McGowan says things like “It’s the people that have perpetrated acts against me that should be shaking in their boots right now. And I hope they are,” that’s pretty badass to say to a huge trade paper while they interview her.
Speaking out for feminism in Hollywood at this level may not win McGowan many allies, but she says she “could care less” because “this Mad Men era bullsh*t…has to stop.”
Rose McGowan may have made a career out of playing sexy objects of men’s affection and desires, and she owns up to it, but this Rose McGowan isn’t messing around. And it’s awesome. If we can team her up with Anne Hathaway, Liv Tyler, Helen Mirren, and every other actress who has spoken up about similar issues, it would be better than Grindhouse.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
