Australian born actress Emily Browning has claimed Hollywood movies are made for the pleasure of white men and she’s not happy about it, understandably.
Browning, known for her roles in ‘Sucker Punch’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and the recent ‘Pompeii‘, was promoting her new film ‘Legend’, with Tom Hardy who bizarrely took his dog to the premiere, when she spoke to The Guardian about her struggle to find rich and fulfilling parts.
“I’m so determined not to play the hot babe that doesn’t say anything, that can’t have an opinion, but it’s so difficult to resist all of that. Hollywood movies are made for white men, and that’s something I think about and which bothers me all the time.”
She’s managed some great diversity thus far however. Babydoll in ‘Sucker Punch’ is a rare female lead in Hollywood, Lucy in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is a fascinating and desperate character, and in ‘God Help the Girl’ she plays a struggling musician with an eating disorder.
Despite this she says it’s a constant battle against sexism.
“The sad thing is it’s so consistent, and so present. Sometimes you don’t even notice it.”
She went further telling The Independant that a lot of the time she doesn’t feel like female characters are written as real people.
“I have read a lot of scripts where the girl is just there to be the girl. I want to be able to play a villain, a hero, an idiot. I want to play horrible people. I just want to be able to portray real human beings, to read a script where the girl seems like a real human being, that’s what is important to me.”
There’s no denying she has a point. Too often actresses are used as eye candy or damsels in distress, but it’s a trend that seems to be genre specific. Action and comedy films are the biggest offenders while dramas seem to be more of a level playing field. Michael Bay is one filmmaker who comes to mind upon hearing Browning’s words. He loves his ‘booty’ shots.
Browning also said she relished her role in ‘Legend’, where she’ll play Frances Shea, the troubled young wife of Tom Hardy’s character, Reggie Kray. The film follows the story of Reggie and his twin brother, also played by Hardy, Ronnie. The Kray’s are known as two of the most notorious criminals in British history, running an empire in the 1960’s.
Frances is the driving force behind the story of the film, narrating the entire movie. There is lot of intrigue about her, see it here if you don’t mind spoilers, so let’s hope Browning gets what she’s looking for with the character.
https://youtu.be/sWY8bOQmMlI
‘Legend’ starts hitting theatres across the world in the next couple of days.
