Andrea Riseborough hopes anger over Weinstein will be a catalyst for change
The Death Of Stalin cast and director shared their thoughts on the string of allegations against the movie mogul.
Actress Andrea Riseborough described anger as a “great catalyst for change” as she shared her hopes that recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein would encourage changes within the film industry.
The Black Mirror star said it was “disheartening” to hear the number of reports by women who have claimed they were sexually harassed by the movie mogul at some point during their careers.
This week, Riseborough said she faced sexually inappropriate behaviour as an actress on an almost weekly basis.
“It’s good because it’s a catalyst for change – anger is a great catalyst for change and being in reality about what is going on is healthy. We are not always all able to do it, because when you look at it sometimes, it’s terrifying.
“I have always been confident about speaking out. I was pretty honest recently about something that happened in the industry with somebody else and it wasn’t received well. Things generally aren’t. But I feel like that is changing somewhat.”
“What is really important is that we get more women in film at an educational level, early on,” she said.
“There is such an imbalance on set, as there is in so many industries – it’s either loads of women or loads of men – and it’s just a healthy environment to have your workplace reflect accurately the demographic of the country.”
Riseborough plays Svetlana Stalin, daughter of the former Soviet leader, in Armando Iannucci’s latest period political satire.
He said: “Hopefully it’s an end to this whole culture of fear and abuse of actresses.
“I am sure more is to come out, because if actresses lived under this fear that their career might be affected then that clearly indicates it’s not just that one person, there must have been other people, a group of people, to be able to represent that level of fear.
Monty Python star Michael Palin, who plays Vyacheslav Molotov in the film, added: “I never really got comfortable in Hollywood myself, but it’s a whole different ball game, as far as I can tell, if you are a young actress trying to get into films.
“I just think it’s appalling what’s coming out. Absolutely frightening.”
