A director once forced Geena Davis to sit on his lap to act out a love scene.
The 63-year-old actress has opened up about her experiences in Hollywood in the new documentary ‘This Changes Everything’ – which tackles the under- and misrepresentation of women in entertainment – and revealed some of the terrible situations she has been in.
She told USA Today: "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."
Meanwhile, Geena has had a long and varied career in Hollywood but admitted that she was initially unsure about one of her most famous roles, that of Thelma in ‘Thelma & Louise’.
She explained: "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."
Director forced Geena Davis to sit on his lap
