Thandie Newton reveals reason for turning down 'Charlie's Angels'
Jul 08, 2020
Washington D.C. [USA], July 8 : English actor Thandie Newton says she turned down a role in s 2000 hit 'Charlie's Angels' because of allegedly disturbing behaviour of the film's top executives.
According to Page Six, the 47-year-old actor claimed in an interview with Vulture that former Sony Pictures honcho Amy Pascal made remarks that Newton felt were racist while director McG made inappropriate comments about her body while discussing the movie with her.
Newton claimed, "One of the biggest movies I didn't end up doing was because the director said to me, 'I can't wait for this. The first shot is going to be ... You're going to think it's like yellow lines down a road, and you pull back and you realise it's the stitching because the denim is so tight on your a** it's going to look like tarmac. I was like, 'Oh, I don't think we're going to go down this road together.'"
'Charlie's Angels,' directed by McG and starring Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz was a huge global hit.
During the interview, Newton told Vulture that she then had a meeting with Pascal, who Newton said, suggested that her character needed to be more "believable" as college-educated.
When Newton explained that she had attended Cambridge, Pascal allegedly replied, "Yeah, but you're different. Maybe there could be a scene where you're in a bar and she gets up on a table and starts shaking her booty.'"
Newton told Vulture, "She's basically reeling off these stereotypes of how to be more convincing as a black character. Everything she said, I was like, 'Nah, I wouldn't do that. She's like, 'Yeah but you're different.'"
Pascal's attorney declined to comment to Page Six.
But in a statement to Vulture, Pascal said she was "horrified" to hear the story but didn't remember the incident.
She said in a statement, "While I take her words seriously, I have no recollection of the events she describes, nor do any of her representatives who were present at that casting session. I've long considered Thandie a friend; I'm thankful that I've had the chance to make movies with her; and I hope to work with her again in the future."
A representative for McG didn't immediately respond to the outlets' request for comment.
In 2015, Pascal left Sony after an email hack revealed a slew of racially charged exchanges, including one with producer Scott Rudin in which they mused on President Barack Obama's movie taste, wondering if he preferred movies starring black actors like 'Think Like a Man' and 'Django Unchained.'
