Captain Marvel actor Gemma Chan brands patriarchy 'b******s'

The actor discusses everything from everyday sexism to anti-ageing

Wednesday 20 March 2019 13:21 GMT

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Captain Marvel Exclusive Interview With Jude Law & Gemma Chan

Gemma Chan has criticised the patriarchal system, calling it “rubbish” and “bollocks”.

The 36-year-old actor, who plays Doctor Minerva in Marvel’s first female-led movie, Captain Marvel, is no stranger to fighting for what she believes in, particularly when it comes to sexism.

In 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians star attended the BAFTAs wearing a #TimesUp pin in solidarity with the movement.

She was one of a handful of actors who gave the campaign’s activists a voice by inviting Laura Bates – the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an organisation which encourages victims of sexual harassment to share their experiences – to join her on the red carpet.

Now, starring on the cover of Glamour UK’s March digital issue, aptly titled #EverydayIsWomensDay, Chan has spoken out about her enduring mission to fight the patriarchy, saying: “It’s rubbish, it’s bollocks.”

The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Anne Hathaway

The 32-year-old actress said she has already experiences job rejections because of her age. “Now I'm in my early thirties and I'm like, 'Why did that 24-year-old get that part? I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it, it's the way things are,” she told Glamour.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Helen Mirren

On news that Maggie Gyllenhaal had been turned down for being ‘too old’, aged 37, to play a 55-year-old man’s partner: “It’s f***ing outrageous. It’s ridiculous. Honestly, it’s so annoying. And ’twas ever thus. We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger. It’s so annoying.”

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Gyllenhaal revealed she was told by a Hollywood producer that she was too old, aged 37, to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. “It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh,” she said at the time.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep has helped fund an all-female screenwriters group called The Writer’s Lab to encourage more women to pen Hollywood scripts. She previously told Vogue in 2011: “Once women pass childbearing age they could only be seen as grotesque on some level.”

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Emma Thompson

The actress said she thought Hollywood is “still completely s***” when it comes to treating women equally to men. ““When I was younger, I really did think we were on our way to a better world. And when I look at it now, it is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women, and I find that very disturbing and sad.”

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Elizabeth Banks

Banks said she was driven from acting to directing due to the lack of roles for older women in Hollywood. “"[Industry sexism] drove me to direct for sure. I definitely was feeling that I was unfulfilled and a little bit bored by the things that were coming across my desk. I mean look at Gwyneth Paltrow who has her Oscar [for Shakespeare in Love] and played fifth banana to Iron Man,” she told Deadline.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Viola Davis

“I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualised role in TV or film. I'm a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualised woman. I was the prototype of the ‘mommified’ role,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Liv Tyler

The Lord of the Rings actress said she only get cast in roles where she is treated as a “second class citizen” at the age of 38. “When you’re in your teens or twenties, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], you’re usually the wife or the girlfriend - a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older,” she told More magazine.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Cate Blanchett

The actress famously called out sexism on the red carpet at the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards. When a camera operator scanned her up and down, she said: “Do you do this to the guys?” In her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine, she reminded the film industry that movies with leading women can still be successful. “And thank you to... those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women at the centre, are niche experiences. They are not -- audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people.”

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Ellen Page

Asked if she had ever encountered sexism in Hollywood, Page told The Guardian: ‘Oh my God, yeah! It's constant! It's how you're treated, it's how you're looked at, how you're expected to look in a photoshoot, it's how you're expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it's how you... If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss.”

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Zoe Saldana

The actress says she refuses roles where she has to play the generic girlfriend, wife or sexy bombshell. "It's very hard being a woman in a man's world, and I recognised it was a man's world even when I was a kid. It's an inequality and injustice that drove me crazy, and which I always spoke out against — and I've always been outspoken,” she told Manhattan magazine.

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The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood

Charlize Theron

The actress spoke to ELLE about negotiating equal pay for the Snow White and the Huntsman sequel: "This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way."

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The actor also called everyday sexism “bulls***”, revealing that her new role in Captain Marvel has led her to recall moments she has been treated unfairly based on her gender.

“I retweeted an article the other day about the winners of the Grammy Awards and it listed all the ages of the female nominees but it didn’t mention the men’s ages. That’s everyday sexism,” she told Glamour.

“When I talk to my friends, there are a number of times little things that happen throughout the day can build up. They can weigh you down and they can get on top of you. That is the sad and terrifying reality that many of us women and men have to face.”

Chan went on to explain how she believes it is important for men to get behind the cause too, explaining she doesn’t see the fight to achieve gender equality as a battle of the sexes.

“It’s about us working together to dismantle a system that is really oppressive to all of us,” she explained.

“It always really heartens me when a man does speak out not to just defend women but to make it clear they are an ally. It is so important...We can’t do it without bringing men along for the ride.”

Chan also revealed that she often receives a different line of questioning from her male co-stars during press interviews, explaining that female actors are often probed about their age.

(Glamour)

“Is anyone going to ask Jude [Law] how he’s dealing with the ageing process? Actresses have to navigate this line of questioning every single day,” Chan said.

“Discussions around ageing have been a way of controlling women, making women feel insecure about ourselves and as if they aren’t adequate.

“We need to change things, especially in the beauty industry. The ageing process is going to happen to all of us – how are we going to deal with it? I think ‘anti-ageing’ is a prehistoric term.”

Despite the obstacles she faces, Chan insisted that she feels more empowered now than ever before, revealing she plans to continue to use her platform to speak out about things that matter to her.

“I think there are so many people who don’t have a voice and if there is anything I can do to help those who have less power than myself, then that’s something I have to try and do,” she said.

See the full feature in the March digital issue of GLAMOUR UK, available online now.

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