Lena Headey has spoken about the culture that protected predatory men in Hollywood.
Saying the imbalance of power facing young actresses “makes me very angry”, the Game of Thrones star reflected on her own experiences of filming intimate scenes and the lasting impact of the #MeToo movement.
Lena, 52, revisited her allegations against disgraced former film producer Harvey Weinstein in a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph, while promoting her new BBC Radio 4 drama Intimacy, which explores abuse of power on a film set.
Best known worldwide for portraying Cersei Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones, as well as roles in 300, The Brothers Grimm, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dredd, Lena said the industry has changed since the #MeToo movement gathered momentum in 2017, although she believes some problems remain.
Her comments come as Weinstein remains imprisoned following convictions for sex crimes in California while legal proceedings in New York have continued to evolve in recent months.
Lena said: “The weird protection that we offer predatory men in the business because of the disproportionate power they wield set against the need among vulnerable actresses to work to put food on the table to get the job – it makes me very angry.
“A job can be completely soured by one person who, for some reason, is allowed to get away with it.
“It was only when the #MeToo movement erupted (in 2017) that we realised – oh, this is everywhere… .
“I think most young women I speak to now in this business are so savvy. The attitude today is, ‘I’m not f****** doing that’.”
Lena first accused Weinstein of sexual harassment in 2017, alleging he made suggestive comments while they were attending the Venice Film Festival to promote The Brothers Grimm.
She later alleged he invited her to his hotel under the pretence of showing her a script.
Recalling the second encounter, Lena previously said: “We walked to the lift and the energy shifted.
“My whole body went into high alert.
“The lift was going up and I said to Harvey, ‘I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in here with your any other reason, nothing is going to happen’.
“I don’t know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of ‘don’t come near me.'”
Reflecting on the beginning of her career, Lena said there had once been an expectation that young actresses would routinely film intimate scenes without questioning them.
She said: “When I started out there was this rite of passage all young female actors had to go through, which usually involved snogging and falling in love, and having sex and showing your boobs. They’d call them the ingenue parts, to make it sound nicer.”
Lena added: “But I just got on with it.
“I didn’t go to drama school so I would just arrive on a set and be, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a job’.
“And when it came to those moments, I don’t think I even questioned that I should be safe.
“Instead I’d go home and cry, or think, ‘Oh, that felt weird and too familiar.’
“Now I look back and feel, ‘Hmm, that was rough.'”
Lena said that by the time she was cast as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, she felt able to establish clearer boundaries than she had earlier in her career.
The fantasy drama became one of television’s biggest global hits during its eight-season run, although its use of nudity and sex scenes frequently attracted criticism before intimacy coordinators became standard across the industry.
Lena said: “By that point I’d been through the wringer.
“I could stand up for myself.
“I’m not saying those actresses couldn’t, but they were much younger and more vulnerable, and had far less experience of being in front of people and the camera and performing.
“Whereas I was of an age where I’d just tit about and diffuse anything uncomfortable with idiocy.”
Lena also reflected on the reaction after she chose to use a body double, enhanced with CGI, during Cersei’s naked “walk of shame” sequence in the fifth season of Game of Thrones.
She said: “I was really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I’d duped the audience.
“But by that point everyone knew (the cast), it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3,000 extras.
“Acting is a joy but it requires a lot of you.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do the emotional part of the job – I’d have been in full on defensive mode.”
Speaking previously to Entertainment Weekly, Lena said: “Some people thought I was less of an actress because I didn’t get my t*** out.
“It was really a bit shocking.
“I’ve done nudity. I’m not averse to it.
“But I know I’m a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that.
“In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable.”
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