Helen Mirren says women should be able to audition for male roles.
Helen Mirren is one of Hollywood best actresses’ in the film industry. And what makes her special and unique is her ability to stand up for what she believes is right. In fact, she is unafraid to take a stand for women’s rights. Now, the Oscar-winning actress is making headlines again for her comments on gender disparities in Hollywood, specifically the uneven ratio of roles for women.
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According to recent studies, men are dominating the film industry when it comes to speaking roles and acting job opportunities. But, Mirren says the best solution to fix the issue is allowing women to audition for male roles. Mirren knows first hand this can be successful. In her latest movie Eye in the Sky, she plays an army colonel, a role originally written for a man.
Mirren told the BBC it makes her “Cross” that so many roles are given to male actors.
“You look at a scene, and it’s going to be all men around a table, and you think at least half of those could have been women.”
“It’s hard to get a job as an actress,” she said, “let alone as a star but just a job – to be a working actress it’s so much more difficult than it is for men.”
Mirren added that a huge part of the problem comes from so few background extras being played by women: “The only time that there are more women on the set as extras is a swimming pool scene, and they’re all in bikinis – any swimming pool scene, and suddenly it’s full of women.”
Mirren explained that the movie’s producers, Colin Firth and Gavin Hood, changed her Eye in the Sky role to a female part before offering it to her.
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“As opposed to saying ‘well that’s men, that’s what men do in war’…I think Gavin very astutely understood and realised putting a women [into the role] just changed the discussion,” she said.
This is not the first time this has happened. Sandra Bullock chose to seek out only male roles last year, prompting a debate over auditions in Hollywood. As a result, script writers have seen pressure from producers to change roles, including Emily Blunt’s role in Sicario. In fact, Blunt’s character was supposed to be played by a male actor. But, it was changed at the last minute. Thankfully, that didn’t happen because Emily Blunt did an amazing job.
Hollywood is quickly changing.
Via BBC
