Carla Gugino is opening up about suffering from “a little PTSD” after having her ideas blown off by sexist directors on set during her lengthy Hollywood career.
While recently speaking with fellow actor and “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey for Interview magazine, Gugino reflected on how her suggestions were often pushed to the side by male directors because of her gender.
“I still do have a little PTSD from a career full of instances where you’re acting with a male actor, and you say to the director, ‘Hey, what about if we try such and such?’ and the male director goes, ‘I don’t think so,’ and then, two minutes later, your fellow actor, who’s an advocate for you, says the exact same thing, and the director’s, ‘Great idea,’” the “Gerald’s Game” actor said in the interview, which was published Friday.
Gugino called the gender discrimination “actual insanity.”
Comparing male directors’ unreproved behavior on set to that of an alcoholic family member, the “Lisa Frankenstein” star added, “This is when the family has an alcoholic and everybody is just like, ‘That person actually has the power.’ It’s in that vein. We’re going to pretend this is not crazy behavior.”
Gugino, who’s starred in over 100 acting projects, including “American Gangster” and “The Haunting of Hill House,” went on to share that she’s learned to “push” herself into being more vocal about her needs as an actor.
“I had an instance recently where I needed to assert something important to me and I hesitated because I wondered if it would be perceived as demanding,” Gugino said. “The difference at this age is that I will just push myself to do it. Ultimately, it was received positively.”
Echoing Gugino’s toxic experiences, Headey said she also used to watch her needs get bulldozed on set until her mindset shifted following a life-changing conversation with Italian actor Monica Bellucci.
“She said, ‘Look, just fucking ask for what you want. They’re going to call you a bitch regardless because you’re a woman.’ I thought that’s also true,” the “300” star recalled. “There are still the residing boys club, always will be.”
Gugino and Headey aren’t the only leading ladies who have gotten candid about the gender discrimination they’ve faced.
Kirsten Dunst shared in an interview with Marie Claire last month about how she didn’t have the confidence to stick up for herself earlier in her career during inappropriate moments because she didn’t feel supported as an actor.
Sharing that she was repeatedly called a “girly-girl” by her male co-workers on walkie-talkies on the set for “Spider-Man,” she said, “I never said anything ... You didn’t say anything. You just took it.”