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Movies & TV

15th Nov 2017

Irish actress Saoirse Ronan opens up about culture of harassment in Hollywood

"It's just been swept under the carpet."

Carl Kinsella

At 23, Saoirse Ronan has achieved more as an actor than many could hope to across their entire careers.

Having been involved in major Hollywood productions from an early age, she is well-positioned to talk about the industry’s culture of harassment that has been exposed by recent sexual abuse allegations about movie executive Harvey Weinstein, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey and comedian Louis CK, to name but a few.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Irish actress shared her thoughts on her own experience in the movie business: “I was very lucky that I was protected from a lot of that,” she said. “I never was really exposed to what went on at parties, I was never left on my own with anyone; my mom and dad were always around.”

“The really disappointing thing about all this is that [journalists and others in Hollywood] had all of this shit on all of these men and women for the last few years, but they hadn’t done anything with it. It’s just been swept under the carpet.”

Her comments were part of a roundtable discussion that featured other major actresses, including Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence.

Chastain revealed that in several situations, movie companies would hold off on offering her pay until a deal had been struck for the male lead.

“After Zero Dark Thirty, I was sent a lot of scripts where it was a female protagonist, and they wouldn’t do my deal until they knew who the male actor was because they needed to do his deal first and then see what was left over.”

The discussion can be read in full here.

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Saoirse Ronan