The objectifying movie Thandiwe Newton walked away from: “That just didn’t feel good”
Lucrative gigs in well-paying franchises are something the majority of actors wouldn’t mind every now and again during their careers, with the prospect of picking up a substantial paycheque for less dramatically demanding work helping keep the lights on while smaller projects allow them to flex their artistic muscles in between.
Not everyone gets to be Gary Oldman and strike gold with Batman and Harry Potter at the same time, though, but Thandiwe Newton flat-out rejected the chance to board a property that would go on to earn over half a billion dollars at the box office after finding out there was no chance she was compatible with what the filmmakers had in mind.
Of course, the star is no stranger to franchise fare having played the female lead opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II, been plunged into a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, worked with Vin Diesel on sci-fi sequel The Chronicles of Riddick, and spent four seasons embedded firmly in the dystopia of Westworld, but as someone that’s never been afraid of speaking out, Newton knows where to draw the line.
However, the very thing that convinced her signing on wasn’t a career decision she was willing to make was the exact same reason why the film in question was so easily marketable to its target audience. Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore had no issues parading around in skimpy outfits and skin-tight leather catsuits in McG’s Charlie’s Angels, but Newton wasn’t interested in joining them to round out the central trio.
Set for the part of Alex Munday, Newton’s exit allowed Lucy Liu to step in, not that she ended up regretting it. “It was a big deal for me. Vogue had called to ask us to be on the cover, the three of us. But I just couldn’t do it,” she admitted to Vulture. “I didn’t want to be put in a position where I was objectified. That just didn’t feel good. This is a long time ago anyway, and all those girls are brilliant.”
One of the first warning signs came during her first meeting with the director, which saw Newton openly refer to Charlie’s Angels as “one of the biggest movies I didn’t end up doing”. McG envisioned the opening shot of the movie hoodwinking audiences into believing they were watching a road, only for it to pull back and reveal an arse instead, “because the denim is so tight on your ass it’s going to look like tarmac.” Cinema at its very finest.
It’s a strange way to try and sell somebody on a movie, but for reasons that don’t need explaining, Newton was out after realising that the aesthetic was being placed so far at the forefront that character didn’t even matter. Producer Amy Pascal also suggested she indulge in “shaking her booty” as a key aspect of her contributions to Charlie’s Angels, underlining just what the driving force behind the reboot of the popular TV series really was.
