Thandie Newton Turned Down Charlie’s Angels Because of the Director’s Sexist Vision

https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/118366355.html

Newton opened up about “one of the biggest movies” she did not end up starring in, due to the director’s insistence that the opening shot of the film be an extreme close-up of her behind.

“The director said to me… 'You’re going to think it’s like yellow lines down a road, and you pull back and you realize it’s the stitching, because the denim is so tight on your ass it’s going to look like tarmac',”

The head of the studio met with Newton and asked if she could be more “believable”
Even though both she and the character come from educated backgrounds, she saw the actress as “different” and requested she make some changes. “She’s like, ‘Maybe there could be a scene where you’re in a bar and she gets up on a table and starts shaking her booty.’ She’s basically reeling off these stereotypes of how to be more convincing as a Black character. I didn’t do the movie as a result.”

Before she turned the film down, Vogue had even asked her to pose with Barrymore and Diaz for a cover, but she couldn’t do it. “I didn’t want to be put in a position where I was objectified. That just didn’t feel good,”

The director was Joseph McGinty Nichol also known as “McG”
The studio head was Amy Pascal.
That role eventually went to Lucy Liu in the Charlie’s Angels movie.