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Topics: News, US News, Celebrity, Film and TV
Kit Roberts
Topics: News, US News, Celebrity, Film and TV
Gina Gershon has opened up about turning down a role in a popular horror franchise due to concerns about the role.
The celebrity, known for her role in Showgirls, spoke to Fox News Digital about some of the earlier roles in her career, including one she decided not to take.
Gershon said that she was offered a part in the Friday the 13th sequel, but had some big concerns about the requirements of the role, opening up about the topic in her new book AlphaP–sy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs.
The first film of the franchise featuring the masked killer Jason came out in 1980, and a sequel came the following year, followed by Friday the 13th Part III in 1982, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter in 1984 - and then eight more sequels after that.
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Gershon went up for a role in the 1981 sequel, but felt that the movie included 'exploitation'.
This was because she would have to be topless, right before her character is killed off.
Gershon said: “I was offered a lead in that movie. And, of course, I was so excited to act in movies, but it definitely felt kind of exploitative to me and a little silly that right before she gets killed, her top has to come off.”
Unsure of whether to take the role, Gershon said that she went to her dad for advice, and didn't get the reaction that she was expecting.
“Listen, I was really lucky that I had a father who really taught me how to believe in my own decisions,” she she said.
“It wasn’t like I had to rebel against my family. I remember asking him about it, thinking he was going to say, ‘No daughter of mine is going to do that!’ And he said, ‘It’s your body. If you’re comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it'.”
Writing in her memoir, Gershon also reflected on the problematic trope of nudity in slasher films, particularly showing women naked in gruesome and gory circumstances.
She wrote: “At the time, those kinds of slasher movies always had girls dying with their breasts exposed. My character would be killed by a stake through the heart, blood dripping down her t***. That seemed pretty lame to me: exploitation 101.”
The star wrote that after speaking to her dad and reflecting on the role, she didn't want to do it.
“When I sat and thought about it, I just thought, ‘I don’t really want to do this,’” she said. “I wasn’t comfortable with it. It seemed silly to me."
She added that after growing up on cinema from around the world, this presentation of nudity left her uncomfortable.
"Not that I had anything against nudity - I grew up on European films - but only if it makes sense for the character and the story," she explained. "But when it just seems silly, I don’t know. It just felt like it was something that wasn’t for me.”