It’s inspiring to see women being heroic and putting themselves on the line
CAREY MULLIGAN AND ZOE KAZAN TELL GEMMA DUNN ABOUT PLAYING THE REPORTERS WHO HELPED BRING DOWN MOVIE MOGUL HARVEY WEINSTEIN
SHE SAID might shine a light on the abuse of systemic power in Hollywood, but it’s an issue unspecific to any one industry, say its stars.
Billed as telling one of the most important stories in a generation, the biographical drama – directed by Maria Schrader – is based on the New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett; and the 2019 bestselling book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, also by Jodi and Megan.
In short, the stirring piece details how esteemed reporters Megan and Jodi (brilliantly played by Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan) broke the 2017 story that shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
Not only did their investigative findings help propel the #Metoo movement, but they also sparked a global conversation and impelled a shift in American culture to this day.
And globally too, argues 39-yearold Zoe: “It felt to me like Jodi and Megan’s aim was a lot bigger than just Hollywood.
“Maybe there are particular details about the story that would have only happened within our industry, but the abuse of power goes, unfortunately, across so many industries, so many walks of life.
“Women have been dealing with this for millennia.”
“We know that this kind of behaviour has been across the board – they could have chosen almost any industry and found similar stories,” agrees Carey, 37. “The film very much focuses on the system in this industry that made this possible.”
While the Spotlight-style journalism procedural – which also stars Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton and Ashley Judd (who plays herself ) – touches on a number of wellknown figures, it’s former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein – now a convicted sex offender – that remained at the centre of the duo’s bombshell article.
But Zoe argues that Megan and Jodi’s aim wasn’t to take down one man, rather fuel a reckoning of the system that had enabled him.
“I think they’re trying to root out injustice, to bring the truth to light, to crack open systems of power, where people’s behaviour should not have been supported by the system,” reasons The Big Sick actress.
“The most important line in the film, for me, is when Jodi says to Megan: ‘If this is happening to Hollywood actresses, who else is it happening to?’ There’s a sense that these people were very visible in a position of power, a perceived position of power, and still this happened to them.”
“And Megan and Jodi talk about their expectations for when they published this article being really modest,” Carey says, nodding along with Zoe. “I don’t think they ever had any expectation that the impact would be as seismic as it was.
“But I think now, five years later, it feels inevitable that this would happen, that Weinstein would be held accountable and then this enormous change, this shift in our culture, would happen.
“So it’s really interesting to jump back into 2017 and see that actually the world did look, in lots of ways, a little bit different back then,” compares the An Education star.
But for both Carey and Zoe, who have been friends since starring in the 2008 Broadway revival of The
Seagull together, and later the 2018 drama Wildlife, the opportunity to be a part of the film mattered beyond their work.
“The thing that’s most meaningful to me is watching these two women, Jodi and Megan, work so diligently, with such iron-clad standards, to craft a story that is airtight – a story that no one can question – to support these women whom they had asked to come forward,” says Zoe.
“Getting to see that happen, to see how that gets built, bit by bit and with great leaps of faith...” she continues, “To see the bravery of the survivors who are coming forward and what that costs them to come forward, and what that gives them to come forward, that was all tremendously meaningful to me. It extends far past Hollywood.”
“It’s inspiring to see women being so heroic and putting themselves on the line,” London-born Carey echoes. “This film is full of examples of those heroic moments, which makes it a story worth telling.”
Mother-of-two Carey was particularly drawn to the way in which the film puts survivors “at the forefront of the story” and doesn’t portray violence.
“I think it was a good choice – it’s all the women telling their stories afterwards and you’re hearing it from their mouths. That’s really important,” she reiterates.
“I [wasn’t] interested in adding another rape scene to the world,” reasons 57-year-old Maria of her decision to not depict any assault on screen. “We’ve had enough of them.”
Instead, the assaults are recalled in narration over shots of empty hotel rooms and hallways.
Notably, the German film-maker also determined that Weinstein, himself, currently serving a 23-year prison sentence, would play a limited role, with only one audio recording featuring his voice and the audience restricted from seeing the face of the actor playing him.
“Our source material here was the book and the lives of the reporters,” says Unorthodox director Maria, who pulled together a majority-female creative team for the feature. “Their perspectives and experiences and the testimony of those they spoke to were our guides.
“Weinstein is hardly on screen, but his presence is certainly felt, and his actions are driving much of the film. I imagine that this is how it was for Jodi and Megan as they were reporting. They didn’t have much contact with Weinstein, either.”
“The focus is very much deliberately not him,” concludes Carey.
“This is about the women and the courage it took for them to speak out.” She recalls a conversation she had with Megan and Jodi the day after the article ran some five years ago – “they were inundated with stories from women all over the world, in all different walks of life, in all different kinds of jobs,” she says.
“So, in that sense, it felt, and still feels very universal, particularly in the way that the film has been received and the conversations that we’ve had with women who have their own experiences of stuff like this. The film creates a space for them to be able to talk about it.”
Is it their hope that She Said will continue the conversation and advocate change?
“I think the real hope is that there’s going to be a shift in our cultural conversation and a shift in our understanding of what behaviour is acceptable and what isn’t,” says Californian native, Zoe.
“I think it has to be pervasive in order for real change to happen. It’s not about a case-by-case basis. I do think we hope that the film contributes to that larger conversation.”
Carey adds: “The great privilege of our job is occasionally we get to be part of stories that can, as Zoe said, contribute.
“It can be a part of the conversation, but as far as where we’re going, I think we can only hope that things continue to move in the right direction.”
I don’t think they ever had any expectation that the impact would be as seismic as it was Carey Mulligan on the work of Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey