Geena Davis is to reunite with the cast of ‘A League of Their Own’ to play a softball game to celebrate the movie’s 25th anniversary.
The actress led an all-star cast in the 1992 film, which included Madonna, Tom Hanks, Rosie O’Donnell and Lori Petty, which told the true story of the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943 when Major League Baseball was under threat due to a lack of players because the men were serving in the American military during World War II.
The movie has lived on due to the positive message of female empowerment and Geena has revealed the cast and director Penny Marshall intend to celebrate its’ legacy with a day of softball – a baseball variant played with a bigger bat and larger ball.
She spilled: "[I see] Tom, for sure. I also see a lot of the girls at my Bentonville Film Festival. We’re having a ‘League of Their Own’ 25th anniversary softball game, with the whole cast and director Penny Marshall."
Geena, 61, is very proud of the film – in which she played catcher Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Hinson – and says she still receives letters from young girls and their mothers now crediting the film with inspiring them to play sport.
In an interview with Parade magazine, she said: "Everything about ‘A League of their Own’ was appealing. I had always cared about women and girls’ empowerment, but having just been in ‘Thelma & Louise’ and seen the reaction that it got just jacked it through the roof. And then to be able to be a part of a movie that is about women having a chance to do things they don’t ordinarily get to do was incredible. It is played by an ensemble of women, directed by a woman [Penny Marshall]. I’d never played an athlete before. I was scared, but it was really fun.
"It’s had a tremendous impact on girls playing sports. And I still have girls and women recognise me from that movie and say that it encouraged them to play sports. That’s what I hear constantly, ‘I play sports because of that movie.’ "
Geena has always been a trailblazer in Hollywood when it comes to gender inequality on the big screen and she has no intention of stopping now she’s in her 60s.
However, she doesn’t believe there is a Hollywood conspiracy to limit women’s roles but the lack of significant parts is driven by commercial reasons.
She said: "Half of it is the idea that men don’t want to watch women in leading roles. The other half is unconscious gender bias. For the most part, women take up very little space onscreen, are valued for their appearance and don’t get to do the adventurous and important things. It’s unconscious gender bias that’s responsible, not a Hollywood plot against women … I don’t want to be forced into retirement. I tremendously resent how everything really narrows down the older you get. It’s not fun."
Geena Davis to reunite with A League of Their Own cast for softball game
