1 00:00:01,252 --> 00:00:03,713 [music] 2 00:00:03,713 --> 00:00:06,299 ROBIN WRIGHT: I remember being in the makeup trailer. 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,219 Producer, big producer, 4 00:00:10,219 --> 00:00:14,515 came in and asked the hair and makeup department 5 00:00:14,515 --> 00:00:17,060 to please leave us in privacy. 6 00:00:18,728 --> 00:00:21,439 And he proceeded to tell me 7 00:00:21,439 --> 00:00:23,316 that he had this incredible project... 8 00:00:25,568 --> 00:00:28,362 and that he could get me an Academy Award 9 00:00:28,362 --> 00:00:30,531 for Best Actress if I did it. 10 00:00:30,531 --> 00:00:33,618 And of course, you know, you've got all the gold in your eyes, 11 00:00:33,618 --> 00:00:36,079 and you're like, wow, 12 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:38,456 "A", the fact that he thinks that about me... 13 00:00:40,583 --> 00:00:42,919 that's incredible. 14 00:00:42,919 --> 00:00:47,423 And of course I want the opportunity to do something, 15 00:00:47,423 --> 00:00:50,301 not just to get the award, but to work 16 00:00:50,301 --> 00:00:52,970 for this reputable man in this business. 17 00:00:52,970 --> 00:00:55,932 I said, "I would love to read it." 18 00:00:55,932 --> 00:00:58,601 And he said, "Well, I'll tell you what, um... 19 00:00:58,601 --> 00:01:02,063 "I can't give the script out yet. 20 00:01:02,063 --> 00:01:04,148 "So, why don't you just come over to my house 21 00:01:04,148 --> 00:01:08,528 tonight or tomorrow night, and we'll talk about it." 22 00:01:08,528 --> 00:01:09,821 And he went like this. 23 00:01:22,416 --> 00:01:25,002 REBECCA KEEGAN: When people talk about the casting couch, 24 00:01:25,002 --> 00:01:28,297 it means a broad array of things. 25 00:01:28,297 --> 00:01:32,135 Executives, producers, whoever, 26 00:01:32,135 --> 00:01:34,595 their-- their power, the thing that they have 27 00:01:34,595 --> 00:01:36,681 is the ability to put someone in a movie. 28 00:01:36,681 --> 00:01:39,684 So, they've used that in order to get access 29 00:01:39,684 --> 00:01:41,310 to someone they're attracted to 30 00:01:41,310 --> 00:01:42,562 and probably would never have had a shot with. 31 00:01:45,189 --> 00:01:47,191 MATTHEW BELLONI: Starting at the very beginning of Hollywood, 32 00:01:47,191 --> 00:01:49,110 the casting couch was just accepted. 33 00:01:49,110 --> 00:01:50,820 The studios had all the power. 34 00:01:50,820 --> 00:01:52,905 These men who ran the studios 35 00:01:52,905 --> 00:01:55,032 could hire and fire whoever they wanted 36 00:01:55,032 --> 00:01:57,118 without any kind of oversight. 37 00:01:57,118 --> 00:02:00,079 So, it read abuse. 38 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:03,499 That's how the name came about, because women knew 39 00:02:03,499 --> 00:02:05,751 that they would be subjected to this kind of behavior 40 00:02:05,751 --> 00:02:08,087 if they ever hoped to work in this business. 41 00:02:08,087 --> 00:02:10,715 How are you guys? 42 00:02:10,715 --> 00:02:12,675 I can't keep wasting my time with Glee. 43 00:02:12,675 --> 00:02:14,844 ALLISON JONES: Casting is a process. 44 00:02:14,844 --> 00:02:17,180 First, we get the script, we look at it and see what the roles are, 45 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:19,640 and who's attached as what, or who's playing what role. 46 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,560 Then, you start having sessions with the director and the producer. 47 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,188 And the director will talk about actors and find out who he likes. 48 00:02:25,188 --> 00:02:26,564 Now what-- didn't have when I started, 49 00:02:26,564 --> 00:02:28,691 was everybody's on videotape. 50 00:02:28,691 --> 00:02:30,860 So, you can go back and see what comes at you 51 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:33,446 from an audition on tape as opposed to in the room, 52 00:02:33,446 --> 00:02:36,532 where an actor's inclination is to be a little bolder in the room. 53 00:02:36,532 --> 00:02:40,703 And on film, less is more, always. 54 00:02:40,703 --> 00:02:44,540 RACHAEL HOROVITZ: I've been party to discussions about a person 55 00:02:44,540 --> 00:02:46,959 who might be right for the part, 56 00:02:46,959 --> 00:02:50,004 and somebody will say, "She's hideous," 57 00:02:50,004 --> 00:02:52,590 or you know, "She's too fat," or she's... 58 00:02:52,590 --> 00:02:55,051 I mean, I've heard women be compared to horses 59 00:02:55,051 --> 00:02:56,969 more than once on my shows. 60 00:02:56,969 --> 00:02:59,055 Oh. It's you again. 61 00:02:59,055 --> 00:03:01,432 ALLISON: Network executives talking about women's legs 62 00:03:01,432 --> 00:03:03,935 and women getting a push-up bra, 63 00:03:03,935 --> 00:03:06,646 and if they were pretty enough, or if they were just plain. 64 00:03:06,646 --> 00:03:09,357 You're not gonna get a woman-- god bless him-- 65 00:03:09,357 --> 00:03:11,525 who looks like Seth Rogen, who's gonna have this career, 66 00:03:11,525 --> 00:03:13,819 or Jonah Hill, who's gonna be cast as someone 67 00:03:13,819 --> 00:03:15,321 who could be-- can see it as a leading man. 68 00:03:15,321 --> 00:03:18,282 You're just not. It is a whole different way 69 00:03:18,282 --> 00:03:20,910 of judging someone's value on screen. 70 00:03:23,621 --> 00:03:27,208 You are always asked, "Well, take your jumper off. 71 00:03:27,208 --> 00:03:29,210 "Have you-- have you got a vest on underneath that? 72 00:03:29,210 --> 00:03:30,962 Well, take that off." 73 00:03:30,962 --> 00:03:34,090 So that there was idea that you could be properly perused. 74 00:03:36,342 --> 00:03:38,678 ALLISON: An actress came in who was now probably 60 or something, 75 00:03:38,678 --> 00:03:41,013 and she used to be a beautiful young starlet, 76 00:03:41,013 --> 00:03:42,932 and she came in, and she looked great, 77 00:03:42,932 --> 00:03:46,519 but no makeup, and she hadn't had any plastic surgery done. 78 00:03:46,519 --> 00:03:50,273 And after she left the director said, 79 00:03:50,273 --> 00:03:52,108 "Oh, god, that's what she looks like now." 80 00:03:52,108 --> 00:03:54,485 And I said, and that is why women get plastic surgery. 81 00:03:57,446 --> 00:04:00,199 MINNIE: When I was auditioning for "Good Will Hunting," 82 00:04:00,199 --> 00:04:03,661 they decided they wanted me to do it, everyone was very excited. 83 00:04:03,661 --> 00:04:07,540 And the casting director much later told me 84 00:04:07,540 --> 00:04:10,710 that Harvey Weinstein had been incensed, 85 00:04:10,710 --> 00:04:15,089 had said, or yelled, that I was un-fuckable, 86 00:04:15,089 --> 00:04:16,465 and that... 87 00:04:19,176 --> 00:04:21,887 because of that fact, I should not get this part. 88 00:04:24,056 --> 00:04:28,686 KIERSEY CLEMONS: There's such a normalization of sexualizing girls, 89 00:04:28,686 --> 00:04:32,898 to the point that my manager for a very long time-- 90 00:04:32,898 --> 00:04:35,192 she's not anymore-- but when I was, like, 15 to 17, 91 00:04:35,192 --> 00:04:36,986 she would say stuff like, 92 00:04:36,986 --> 00:04:39,572 "The casting director, he's an old man. 93 00:04:39,572 --> 00:04:42,575 "Just, like, pull your tits up, look hot, flirt with him a little bit. 94 00:04:42,575 --> 00:04:44,994 Like, he'll eat that shit up." 95 00:04:44,994 --> 00:04:48,039 And I'm like, yeah, you're right, old dudes are gross. 96 00:04:48,039 --> 00:04:49,749 He's gonna eat that shit up. 97 00:04:49,749 --> 00:04:55,087 I thought I was exercising my power over men, 98 00:04:55,087 --> 00:04:58,758 but in reality, that's part of the grooming process. 99 00:04:58,758 --> 00:05:02,219 Here, uh, stand up and give me a twirl. 100 00:05:02,219 --> 00:05:05,348 - Now? - Yeah, just a quick spin. 101 00:05:05,348 --> 00:05:07,558 Oh. Sure. 102 00:05:07,558 --> 00:05:12,063 ALLISON: "Bombshell" definitely showed me that so many women were upset 103 00:05:12,063 --> 00:05:15,858 and glad that it was starting to come out, the whole Me Too thing. 104 00:05:15,858 --> 00:05:19,028 When most of the actresses were reading that scene, 105 00:05:19,028 --> 00:05:20,738 they would have to stop and start again, 106 00:05:20,738 --> 00:05:23,240 because it was very hard not to cry. 107 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:24,909 You realize that these were real stories, 108 00:05:24,909 --> 00:05:26,994 and that the women could only have a career 109 00:05:26,994 --> 00:05:29,622 if they gave in to Roger Ailes. 110 00:05:29,622 --> 00:05:31,374 Almost every actress came in, though, and said, 111 00:05:31,374 --> 00:05:33,542 "I gotta do this movie, 'cause this happens 112 00:05:33,542 --> 00:05:34,794 all the time to me and to all my friends." 113 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:44,762 ROBIN: I had my first job when I was 16 years old. 114 00:05:44,762 --> 00:05:48,182 I got a call from a famous producer. 115 00:05:48,182 --> 00:05:51,811 Everybody would go to his house, you know? 116 00:05:53,521 --> 00:05:57,274 And... that's where the meetings took place, 117 00:05:57,274 --> 00:06:00,236 and the meetings always took place in his bedroom. 118 00:06:00,236 --> 00:06:02,321 He wanted to show me a teaser trailer 119 00:06:02,321 --> 00:06:04,782 that they had shot, to show me what the movie was about, 120 00:06:04,782 --> 00:06:06,575 even though there was no script. 121 00:06:06,575 --> 00:06:09,370 And when the curtains closed 122 00:06:09,370 --> 00:06:13,707 and he was starting the play button, 123 00:06:13,707 --> 00:06:16,627 the hand came over to my thigh, and he goes, 124 00:06:16,627 --> 00:06:19,255 "Do you want this movie? You really want this movie?" 125 00:06:21,340 --> 00:06:23,551 And I remember just standing up and running out, 126 00:06:23,551 --> 00:06:25,302 and going "My ride's here." 127 00:06:25,302 --> 00:06:26,804 I couldn't even drive, I didn't have my driver's license. 128 00:06:29,098 --> 00:06:31,725 KIERSEY: I had a acting coach, 129 00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:35,396 and the whole hour that we were supposed to be training, 130 00:06:35,396 --> 00:06:40,734 he just talked about... a specific actor 131 00:06:40,734 --> 00:06:44,530 who after they had sex, she blew up. 132 00:06:44,530 --> 00:06:47,783 I reminded him so much of her. 133 00:06:47,783 --> 00:06:49,493 And like, that's the moment that I was like, 134 00:06:49,493 --> 00:06:51,203 oh my God, I don't have the power, 135 00:06:51,203 --> 00:06:54,206 and I thought that I was doing a thing 136 00:06:54,206 --> 00:06:56,041 that I'm not doing. 137 00:06:56,041 --> 00:06:58,419 I'm not doing the thing right now. 138 00:06:58,419 --> 00:07:02,298 I'm not-- this is part of... the game. 139 00:07:04,508 --> 00:07:07,094 MELANIE GRIFFITH: In the '60s, my mother was under contract to Hitchcock. 140 00:07:08,846 --> 00:07:11,515 He sort of gave her an ultimatum 141 00:07:11,515 --> 00:07:14,810 of "You either fuck me, or I'm gonna ruin your career," 142 00:07:14,810 --> 00:07:18,481 and she chose to say, "Okay, go ahead, try." 143 00:07:18,481 --> 00:07:20,316 And he did. 144 00:07:20,316 --> 00:07:22,276 I mean, he blackballed her 145 00:07:22,276 --> 00:07:26,447 and called every studio head, every friend of his 146 00:07:26,447 --> 00:07:28,949 and said, "Don't hire her, she's a pain in the ass. 147 00:07:28,949 --> 00:07:31,452 She's trouble." 148 00:07:31,452 --> 00:07:35,498 Unfortunately, a lot of actresses in this town 149 00:07:35,498 --> 00:07:38,083 don't know that they can say no. 150 00:07:38,083 --> 00:07:43,255 It's strange, because you think, why would someone do that? 151 00:07:43,255 --> 00:07:48,302 That's such an obvious way to walk straight into a trap. 152 00:07:48,302 --> 00:07:52,264 But when you want something so bad, to act. 153 00:07:52,264 --> 00:07:54,225 [chuckles] You know? 154 00:07:54,225 --> 00:07:57,061 When you're so desperate to do that, 155 00:07:57,061 --> 00:07:59,897 the last thing you want is to, like, let fear get in the way, 156 00:07:59,897 --> 00:08:02,483 and you tell yourself, you're like... 157 00:08:02,483 --> 00:08:04,610 "Okay, maybe meeting-- I'm gonna g--" 158 00:08:04,610 --> 00:08:05,819 it's always "I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt." 159 00:08:09,114 --> 00:08:10,407 GABRIELLE CARTERIS: I was getting calls, 160 00:08:10,407 --> 00:08:12,284 I was the president at the time of SAG-AFTRA. 161 00:08:12,284 --> 00:08:14,411 And first, we do guidelines, 162 00:08:14,411 --> 00:08:16,372 saying you cannot have auditions 163 00:08:16,372 --> 00:08:18,999 in hotel rooms or private residence 164 00:08:18,999 --> 00:08:22,461 without having a support person that you bring with you. 165 00:08:22,461 --> 00:08:24,713 And so, actors or members, when they're going in, 166 00:08:24,713 --> 00:08:26,799 they can say, "I can't do that there, 167 00:08:26,799 --> 00:08:30,094 "because my-- my union won't let me, I'm sorry. 168 00:08:30,094 --> 00:08:33,347 I can call the union, but you know, if you-- but I-- they won't let me." 169 00:08:35,307 --> 00:08:36,934 ALLISON: The casting couch is only changing 170 00:08:36,934 --> 00:08:39,270 because women have changed it. 171 00:08:39,270 --> 00:08:42,815 They do have a voice to speak up and start saying, "You can't do that, 172 00:08:42,815 --> 00:08:45,401 and you're gonna go down because of that." 173 00:08:45,401 --> 00:08:47,444 I think it's only the women changing it, 174 00:08:47,444 --> 00:08:49,446 and if they don't stop changing, it's gonna come right back. 175 00:08:49,446 --> 00:08:50,656 It's gonna bubble to the top again. 176 00:08:53,075 --> 00:08:56,662 Once you have your cast, you proceed to the biggest battle of all, 177 00:08:56,662 --> 00:08:58,539 and that's with the studio. 178 00:08:58,539 --> 00:09:01,083 Studios have the money to finance the film. 179 00:09:01,083 --> 00:09:03,168 They also have the ability to make or break a film.