Emily Blunt: 'women shouldn't be an ideal for some guy having a mid-life crisis'
At a party thrown in Cannes by fashion designer Calvin Klein, British actresses Emily Blunt, Rachel Weisz and Sienna Miller spoke out against sexism in the film industry
It had been dubbed the year of 'la femme', with the fortunes of women in film dominating every aspect of Cannes.
Even the film festival's most glamorous parties did not escaped the glare of the world's foremost actresses, as they seized the opportunity to speak out against what many believe is sexist injustice in the boardrooms and studios of Hollywood.
British actresses Emily Blunt, Rachel Weisz and Sienna Miller led the way in what has been described as the most feminist Cannes ever, issuing a rallying cry for women to be celebrated off screen and on.
At a party thrown by fashion designer Calvin Klein, to celebrate women in film, they said they were passionate about fighting the feminine corner, in what is usually considered a man's world.
"There's a tendency to want women to be an ideal for some mid-life crisis a guy is having, so I usually fight quite hard against stuff like that," said Blunt, who starred as an all-action cop in film
Sicario during the festival.
"You have to fight your corner. It's a point that need reiterating time and time again: that women are compelling and interesting and worth watching.
"We need to refocus at the grass roots on female writers. Female writers write better roles for women."
She told People that Tom Cruise was something of an unlikely feminist hero, claiming he was "very much behind having his butt kicked in a movie."
"But that's life right?" she joked. "Getting your butt kicked by women all the time."
Sienna Miller, who has been given one of the most prestigious roles in Cannes as a member of the Palme d'Or jury, said she was managing to balance her duties along with working parenthood.
When asked how she was spending her time, in between watching two films a day, she said: "Motherhood. I've got my child here so I spent the rest of the day on the beach, building sandcastles. It's a tough life."
Even Rachel Weisz, who plays a single woman in The Lobster, the surreal tale of enforced forced coupledom, was determined to keep things positive.
"In my 20s I was single often," she said, when asked how her life had informed her character. "I used to eat pizza, rent movies – all the cliches.
"But we're celebrating women tonight, we can't turn it into ice-cream-eating misery."
