Cape Town – Lupita Nyong’o is the image of perfection as she appears on the October 2019 cover of Vanity Fair dressed in a lime green, ruffled dress, her eyes piercing right through you.
The actress opens up about her experiences in the film industry, saying of her breakout role in 12 Years A Slave, it doesn’t escape her that so much joy in her life comes from playing someone who’s endured so much pain. Of course, Lupita herself has spoken candidly about being a woman in Hollywood, writing an op-ed for the New York Times detailing her close encounters with Harvey Weinstein.
The Us actress wrote about the time Harvey asked her for a massage at his home in Connecticut when she was still a student in 2011. He tried to remove his pants, she said, and after several protestations, she left. She recalls several propositions that led her to make the promise she would not only decline movie offers from the infamous producer, but also never keep quiet about what’s evidently been lurking beneath the surface in the industry.
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Since the hype of the #MeToo movement though, Lupita says she can see a change. "There is definitely more of a sensitivity toward sexism, chauvinism, abuse," she told Kimberly Drew for Vanity Fair.
"In the past, when it came to physical combat, there were always consultants on set, but when it came to intimacy there was never, ever somebody present to help actors navigate that. Now you have that, which I think is a great inclusion, and ensures that those kinds of abuses don’t happen.
"I think there’s also at times an oversensitivity, which I just think is the nature of the pendulum shifting, and it takes time to find the balance. I’m quite happy that there is that kind of extreme change, and hopefully we find equilibrium as we move forward."
Compiled by Bashiera Parker (Sources: New York Times, Channel24, Vanity Fair)