Alongside her co-star Jennifer Tilly, the icon spoke more about taking on the role in a recent episode of It Happened In Hollywood
BY EMILY O’MULLANE, IMAGE BY SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
Gina Gershon, star of Showgirls, has revealed that she was told “you just won’t be able to work again” by her agents if she played a lesbian role in the 1996 film Bound.
Gershon recounted her experience on the set of the cult classic on the It Happened In Hollywood podcast with her co-star Jennifer Tilly.
Bound tells the story of Violet (Tilly) and Corky (Gershon) who devise a plot to steal $2,000,000 from the mafia. The film, which is the debut of The Wachowskis (The Matrix), gained critical acclaim for its portrayal of the lesbian relationship between protagonists Violet and Corky.
In the interview, Gershon and Tilly both discussed the process of getting cast for the film with Tilly saying that she felt “trepidatious” about accepting the role. Gershon spoke about the outside pressure from her agents to turn down the part.
“We will not let you do this movie; you are ruining your career. We will not be able to let you represent, you will never work again.” In response, Gershon casually told them: “Oh well. If you can’t represent me, I’ll go somewhere else.”
The two actors also spoke about the difficulties which were faced on set and the hurdles that the directors had to overcome to portray a lesbian relationship on-screen. After filming the script, the actors were reportedly told that “we cannot see two women really in love” and the more romantic scenes were cut while the “carnal” scenes were okayed. Explaining the reasons for these changes to the script, the actors recalled The Wachowskis saying that “it’s homophobia plain and simple.”
Continuing, Gershon said: “That was the problem in Hollywood, god forbid you have two women who are really into each other, really having sex, really in love. Let’s just show a bit of a tit and something else and it will be more acceptable.”
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