Thandie Newton opens up about a traumatic casting call with a director in a moving interview with W magazine.
The 43-year-old actress recalled a narrative all too familiar in Hollywood, reinforcing the idea that gross misconduct often occurs between older male heavyweights in the industry and young women.
"A director, on a callback, had a camera shooting up my skirt and asked me to touch my tits and think about the guy making love to me in the scene," Newton said. "I thought, 'OK, this is a little weird,' but there was a female casting director in the room and I’d done weird stuff before so I did it."
The "Crash" actress said she didn't think of the incident until many years later, when a producer drunkenly told her, "Oh, Thandie, I’ve seen you recently!" After her husband, Ol Parker, confronted the man, the actress found out what happened to her casting video.
"It turns out that the director was showing that audition tape to his friends after poker games at his house," the actress said. "And they would all get off on it."
Citing her two young daughters as motivation, Newton is using this experience to help inform others who are in the business.
" ... One person will read this and it will stop them getting sexually abused by a director," the actress said. "That’s the person I’m interested in.”
To read more of Newton's interview with W, head here.
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