More like this
Helen Mirren laments Hollywood ‘penis worship’
Actress says film industry is still obsessed with young and ‘mediocre’ male actors
The actress Helen Mirren has hit out at sexism in Hollywood saying the film industry is guilty of "worshipping at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis". In a speech at a Beverly Hills event honouring the 100 most powerful women in entertainment, Mirren said that "with all due respect to [the] many brilliant and successful women in this room..." nothing had really changed.
Mirren, who was given the Sherry Lansing leadership award at the ceremony organised by the Hollywood Reporter, also lashed out at the poor choice of roles for women in an industry where "virtually every drama made for film, stage and television has 20 male parts to maybe one, two or, if you're lucky, three female characters".
The Oscar-winning actress also took a swipe at her (unnamed) male contemporaries, saying she resented "the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of some very brilliant female ones".
It was assumed she was not referring of any of the male leads in the recent spy caper Red, in which she starred opposite Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss. ·
