“GLOW” star Geena Davis was recently interviewed by Entertainment Weekly to promote the Netflix series. Davis touched on several topics related to both the show and the acting industry as a whole.
Check out some of the highlights here:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you join the show — were you a fan, or did they reach out to you?
GEENA DAVIS:
I was certainly a big fan of GLOW. I watched it and loved it. But they actually reached out to me with this idea. I thought it sounded really cool and immediately signed on. The thing that hooked me the most is that they said she was a former showgirl, and in some other dimension I’m a former showgirl! [Laughs] Ever since I was a little kid, I just loved something about those big headdresses and the way they walk and stuff like that.
That really enticed me. They described the character as someone who had really changed her life and managed to stay in the same industry but moved things around to become someone in charge, because they figured a lot of showgirls, after you’re done, what are you going to do? She was able to land a high-powered position, which showed her mettle.
That definitely feels like a smart way of calling out ageism with parallels to Hollywood, something that many actors face when they start to age out of roles.
That definitely flashed through my mind. I love, love, love seeing my friends and peers doing all the things they’re doing and really taking the reins, particularly Reese [Witherspoon] with her company and all the great things she’s doing. To create roles for yourself, she does lots of other things too but that’s the ultimate power. I applaud her for that.
I’m disappointed that we’re in an industry where sometimes women have to try to reinvent themselves because they’re not getting parts anymore because of their age. That’s just wrong that things drop off so precipitously for women as they get older. But I’m happy with all the people that are getting into directing and producing because of that.
