Oscar winner Jessica Lange says the film industry is ‘nowhere near’ where it should be in terms of gender equality — but, she acknowledges, things have gotten somewhat better.’
The 70-year-old actress was at The Wing SoHo in New York City on Tuesday to promote the Netflix series The Politician, and she gave props to creator Ryan Murphy, who hires women for at least half of his production staff on every show.
But the industry as a whole isn’t nearly where it should be, she said — and she should know, since she’s been working in Hollywood since 1976.
Far from it: Oscar winner Jessica Lange says the film industry is ‘nowhere near’ where it should be in terms of gender equality
Coming soon: The 70-year-old actress was at The Wing SoHo in New York City on Tuesday to promote the Netflix series The Politician
However, she added, it is at least improving, even if the improvements are slow coming.
‘Incrementally, step by step, it is getting somewhat better,’ the two-time Academy Award winner, who made her film debut in 1976’s King Kong, told attendees.
While sexism and gender inequality are issues, so is ageism. Jessica has appeared in several Broadway plays over the years, including A Streetcar Named Desire in 1993 and The Glass Menagerie in 2005.
She’d like to return to the stage, but says the roles simply aren’t available.
‘That’s one of the problems of being the age I am. I would love to be on the stage again. The reality is, there’s not many parts for me to play,’ she said.
Plus, she likes to play compelling characters, including on screen.
‘I was offered roles in romantic comedies but I never signed on for those because if it’s between a role of a woman experiencing an emotional or mental journey versus a good time, I will always choose a woman on the verge of madness,’ she said.
Small screen: The actress is seen in The Politician, which is coming to Netflix
‘I will always choose a woman on the verge of madness,’ she said of her favorite roles to play
The star also reflected on the way filmmaking has changed, arguing that it’s not as good as it used to be.
‘I guess what I miss is the quality of filmmaking that existed, and the amount of quality that you had back then,’ she said.
‘Everything’s a trade-off. In the ’70s, there were great directors doing great projects. When you look at the body of work from the late ’60s through the ’70s and into the early ’80s — that was the heyday, I think, of American film. I really do.
‘It became corporatized just like every other aspect of America, and it lost some of its, I don’t know — some of its soul,’ she went on.
‘That’s not to say there aren’t great movies still being made. But I remember waking up one morning, living in Santa Fe, I picked the mail up off the porch and opened a package. “Oh, it’s a script for Sweet Dreams. Did I want to do Sweet Dreams?”
‘But things aren’t like that anymore. So it’s a trade-off. ‘
However, Jessica says she would consider getting behind the camera and directing, but only if the perfect, ‘personal’ project came along, noting that she ‘doesn’t see the point’ of doing something that she isn’t 100 per cent invested in.
‘I guess what I miss is the quality of filmmaking that existed, and the amount of quality that you had back then,’ she said (pictured in 1981’s The Postman Always Rings Twice)
Nostalgic: She called the ’70s (pictured in 1974’s King Kong) the ‘heyday’ of the film industry
‘It became corporatized just like every other aspect of America, and it lost some of its, I don’t know — some of its soul,’ she said (pictured left: 1982, right: on the set of King Kong)
The iconic actress also addressed a longtime rumor that she had lived with Grace Jones and Jerry Hall in Paris in the 70s.
‘No, we never lived together,’ she said. ‘Grace, I adored, and we were great pals and we spent a lot of time together. Jerry I didn’t really know. We had friends in common but, no, we did not all live together.’
Of her most recent role in The Politician, Jessica praised her co-stars Ben Platt and Zoey Deutch for making the filming experience so enjoyable, however she confessed that she did have one brief moment during production when she thought: ‘What am I doing here?’
‘I was standing in a parking lot… it was 100 degrees… I was wearing leopard capri pants, fake nails, fake hair, and I thought, “What am I doing?”‘ she joked.
But the experience certainly didn’t put her off working with the show’s executive producer Ryan Murphy, whom Jessica has worked with on a numerous projects, including five seasons of American Horror Story.
Next, the pair are set to team up on a biopic about Marlene Dietrich and her work as a musician in Vegas in the 1960s – a concept that Jessica found fairly entertaining, confessing that she used to watch Dietrich perform in movies as a child with her mother, and always thought her voice was subpar.
‘Now I have to work out how to [do it]!’ she noted.