Is it hard to find good roles?
MIRREN: Yes, of course.
FONDA: If you're older.
RAMPLING: Ah, the eternal question.
FONDA: A woman who's older? It's very difficult.
Older means over what age?
LAWRENCE: In Hollywood or in real life? (Laughter.)
FONDA: I'm told over 40, although what I did when I was in my 40s was I simply produced my own movies because no one offered me anything. But certainly after 50 it's hard for a woman, which is why television is such a welcoming thing.
MIRREN: It's hard for young women, too. It's very interesting, Brie saying, "I wasn't pretty enough to be the pretty girl and I wasn't unattractive enough to be the dorky girl."
LARSON: That's what we're all doing: paving the way, finding the roles that have the complication instead of the one that's always got it together or the dedicated housewife or the wild one who smokes cigarettes and sleeps with anybody.
WINSLET: So much is made of good, strong roles for women. Actually, it's really interesting playing vulnerable people as well.
MULLIGAN: People always say, "You played such a strong character." I remember someone said that to me when I played a role in Shame, and she was a suicidal mess. I said, "She's not strong at all; she's incredibly weak." But "strong" to people means "real." It means you believe that's a person who exists, as opposed to some two-dimensional depiction of women.
Jennifer, you've written about the pay gap between men and women, and you're taking a stance on issues. Has there been a backlash?
LAWRENCE: There's always a backlash in everything that you do, but it's not going to stop or change anything. And it's not only an issue in Hollywood. When you're asking about roles for men and women, men certainly have a longer shelf life. Men can play the sexy lead for 20 years longer than we can —
LARSON: But that's just because it's mostly dudes in charge.
BLANCHETT: It's lazy thinking across all industries. We're at the pointy and probably the most public end, but in what industry do women receive equal pay for equal work? I can't think of any.
LAWRENCE: Across all fields, women are generally paid 21 percent less than men.
MIRREN: I love the way you wrote about it because you wrote about it very simply and personally. I so recognized that thing you said about, "I didn't want to be an asshole," you know? I want to be polite. We've got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, which I don't, the first thing I'd teach a girl of mine is the words "fuck off."
FONDA: Have you [all] gotten braver? When Kate was in [Holy Smoke], it's nighttime, and she walks out of this building stark naked and urinates on herself, you know?
WINSLET: One of my finer moments. (Laughter.)
LAWRENCE: Was it real pee?
WINSLET: No, it wasn't real. 'Cause you can't piss on cue. We did actually do a pee test because I did want to do the pissing part if I could. But when you stand up and pee, it doesn't go in a nice stream right down the center, which is what they wanted. It just races for sanctuary down one side of your leg. That didn't work when we did the pee test, and I really did pee down my leg. So what we did is, we hung a bag of saline-drip fluid and dyed it slightly yellow. It was tied to the back of my hair on a small thread, and it just sat happily in the base of my back. And someone activated it.
LARSON: Did you wedge it or did someone else wedge it?
WINSLET: I wedged it.
BLANCHETT: Who did that? Was that credited? (Laughter.)
Is there anything you wouldn't do as an actress?
WINSLET: I wouldn't be a part of anything that had acts of violence toward children. I don't think I would do a horror film, either. That just doesn't sit well on my soul.
BLANCHETT: Oh, I love horror films.
WINSLET: Do you find them funny?
BLANCHETT: No, I find them scary.
LAWRENCE: I get nervous.
BLANCHETT: There's [also] plenty of girlfriend roles out there. They've come my way, and many people have turned them down, and I think, "Oh maybe I could do something with this." It's interesting when you get those roles, which seem like nothing on the page, and you kind of subvert them. It's hard to say no.
Read the full roundtable at The Hollywood Reporter.
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