Rebel with a cause
Let’s not tiptoe around it: Amber Heard is a badass.
When Hollywood big wigs said her bisexuality would ruin the actress’s career, she held her girlfriend’s hand in front of the paparazzi. When she received a multimillion-dollar settlement from ex-husband Johnny Depp after he tried to destroy her credibility following accusations of domestic abuse, she donated all the money to charity. Bottom line: don’t try to stifle Amber Heard.
Even in the prim context of a L’Oréal Paris junket (Heard became a spokesperson for the brand in May), her rebellious side shines through. “I feel humbled to be among a group of women that are known not because they can sell shampoo but because they stand for something, because they have a voice,” she says of her new gig. “It felt very organic for me, of all people, the most well-behaved woman.”
How does you feel about the current place of women in the film industry?
We make up more than half the population over half the ticket-purchasing and movie-going populations, yet we make up barely 30 per cent of the speaking or named roles in films. We’re so chronically under-represented in this industry, and we’re not even taking into consideration the content within those roles. We’re not taking into consideration the pressures put on (women) in regard to their sexuality or their age.
What do you think needs to change?
In order to make it a fair, more diverse place for, say, our daughters, we need to pick up the cameras and tell our own stories. We need to demand closer to 50 per cent inclusion in crews. We need to demand equal pay and not be afraid to be called a bitch in doing so.
You’re part of a great female ensemble cast in your upcoming film “Her Smell.” What was it like shooting that?
It was wonderful to walk on set and be surrounded by an almost entirely female crew. The movie isn’t about women’s rights or picketing or suffrage, it’s about these women on tour, in a band, struggling with life and love and success and fame and everything that goes along with it. It’s a story about humans, and we just so happened to be women and that is cool as hell to me.
What’s your relationship with beauty?
As women, we understand inherently the apology that will be expected of us to answer for our looks. The expectations, and the excuses we (are forced to) make, are frustrating for women. I guess you can call me a lipstick feminist. I’ll always wear lipstick. I don’t feel like I need to in order to be strong, and no one better tell me I have to, but I damn well like to.