Blake Lively, the 31-year-old actress – who is married to actor Ryan Reynolds – feels women have become increasingly influential figures within the movie business over recent years, but Blake still feels more needs to be done in order to achieve true equality.
Speaking at the ‘A Simple Favor’ premiere at the BFI Southbank in London on Monday night (17.09.18), Blake told talkRADIO: “We need more … I think we have a lot of female bosses and women’s voices are being heard now in a big way more than a few years ago, which is great.”
By contrast, Blake previously bemoaned male stars being given the sorts of opportunities that are rarely afforded to women.
More specifically, she said that actors are often given the chance to play “a**holes”, whereas their female counterparts are not.
Speaking in 2017, Blake explained: “I mean, my husband plays a**holes, [but] you go, ‘He’s so charming.’ Because he is likeable … or you look at Harrison Ford as Han Solo and he’s like, ‘Get over here, sweetheart,’ and you just sort of [think], ‘Whoo, it’s so exciting and romantic and titillating.’ ”
And Blake insists it is only natural that differing societal attitudes towards men and women manifest themselves in the movie business.
She continued: “It’s because he’s charming and he’s loving and he’s not some sexist a**hole … but, you don’t see that and think, ‘Oh, that guy’s not likeable.’ But you would read on a page and you just know, ‘Oh, it’s a man – he’ll be charming.’
“But if you read that on a page as a woman, they would never let you say that line because the note would always be, ‘Oh, you just have to make sure she’s likeable.’ ”