I haven't faced a casting couch in the South or Bollywood. But yes, I have faced my share of harassment in both industries. I don't have the guts to name them because they are powerful people - men and women who made sure I felt helpless.
Hollywood sucks. I've got the bruises to prove it.
I am affirming that the casting couch for men exists in the modeling world
I don't know how I would react to the casting couch. I'm sure that at that moment, you won't really know what to do. Whatever you do at that moment is instinctive.
I used Vamps as a casting couch! I pretty much did, because I was casting 'L!fe Happens' while I was on the set of Vamps, and anybody I had ever worked with, I asked to be in this movie.
I don't know how much of the 'casting couch' exists in the industry, as I've not seen it myself. I'm glad that I've not had to.
Obviously, I did a couple of things right on the old casting couch.
The ladder of success in Hollywood is usually a press agent, actor, director, producer, leading man; and you are a star if you sleep with each of them in that order. Crude, but true.
Ryan Murphy's 'Hollywood,' about the beginnings of the film industry, made me laugh and cry.
There is casting couch in the Malayalam industry.
Being accused of making money by selling sex in Hollywood, home of the casting couch and the gratuitous nude scene, is so rich with irony that it's a better subject for a comic novel than a column.... On one coast the cops are busting sex workers on Eighth Avenue, dragging them downtown to night court where they pay the fine and go right back to their corner; on another they're charging Heidi Fleiss with pandering in a town in which the verb is an art form.
I work with big directors. I work with good actors. I act in female-centric films. And I do all this without ever indulging in a casting couch experience. Because I believe in hard work, talent, and blessing.
A lot of nudity in my early movies was out of necessity. When I came out to Hollywood, I didn't know anybody, I didn't have any connections. I did what a lot of people have to do in the real world, and just work up from the bottom.
I've been fortunate - I haven't had too many auditions. I slept with the right people.
Casting directors are like these fairy godmother witches.
We need to get rid of bullying. We need to get rid of abuse. We need to get rid of harassment. We need to get rid of the casting couch. Instead, we need to build the bench.
I've been propositioned by men who were in a position to cast me. I lost a few roles because I didn't give in.
For me, talking about the casting couch in the Malayalam film industry was like calling the sky blue. There is nothing new about calling a spade a spade. My intention was not to create an effect; I just wanted to pluck a few weeds in the system and throw them out.
Casting couch is not just a man's fault. It is important to say this because we blame the other side always.
I can honestly, and proudly, say that I never was on the casting couch. Oh, of course there have been advances from certain men in the movie industry, but nothing overwhelming.
It might sound cowardly, but I do agree that if you speak out about the casting couch, it will end your career.
