Earlier this year, Paul Feig told an anecdote about an unnamed male producer who—years ago, before Ghostbusters, possibly before or about Bridesmaids— came up to him and basically told him he was begging for onset catfights by directing a movie with more than one female lead. Feig responded in typical Feig fashion.
“And I said, ‘Who the f— are you?’ It was the most wonderful experience I’ve had.”
Why are women always expected to fight, to be competitive and territorial with no possible course of action but to tear each other down? Sure, sometimes this is the case with women in Hollywood or in any industry. (Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, anyone?) But the fights among actresses are nothing compared to the infamous brawls and scream-fests between, say, David O. Russell and George Clooney or Wesley Snipes and pretty much everyone he’s ever worked with. Yet, for some reason (hint: it’s sexism), it’s women who have the ever-persistent reputation for getting their claws out when they have to share space or screen time with each other.
So when thinking about the upcoming all-female Ocean’s Eight, it’s disappointingly unsurprising that many minds immediately picture an eight-way catfight. But, as Sarah Paulson tells Seth Meyers in that clip above (after she’s done fangirling over Rihanna), that’s simply not the case, and by the way she tells it, that’s disappointing to a lot of people. How dare she shatter their illusions of nails and hair pulling and whatever’s happening in this set picture?
As Paulson puts it (just in case you’re distracted by those INCREDIBLE sequins), when people ask for the drama and there isn’t any to dish, they get really bummed.
I know people want there to be some kind of crazy drama going on between the women because “How could so many women be in a room and actually get along?” People look so depressed, like “Oh, what’s it like?” And I’m like “They’re great.” “Oh, they’re great?” “Yeah, they’re great.” “Really?” They look so depressed.
I’m sure she and the other Ocean’s seven are incredibly sorry to disappoint.
(via NBC)
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