Suffragette director Sarah Gavron expresses a desire to see more roles for women, and explains why the movie focuses on the working class.
We caught up with Suffragette director Sarah Gavron at the European premiere of the movie, during the BFI London Film Festival.
Suffragette tells the story of Maud (Carey Mulligan), a laundress who finds herself swept up in a militant women’s group fighting to secure voting rights.
Related: Suffragette review: An unapologetic, brutal love letter to female empowerment
When we spoke to Sarah Gavron, she explained why it was important for Suffragette to tell the story of an ordinary woman, as opposed to focusing on upper-class front figure Emmeline Pankhurst (played in the movie by Meryl Streep):
“What we looked at was the ordinary working woman. We looked at how much they had to lose, how hard they fought, and working women are often overlooked in history. And they’re often at the vanguard of change, working people generally,” she explained.
We then asked Gavron to talk a bit about female characters, and the Hollywood trope of casting women as strong and beautiful, but sacrificing character depth and realism in the process.
“Yeah, I think it’s so important that films reflect our culture, and that we get roles of all kinds for women,” Gavron said. “And at the moment, there just aren’t enough roles for women. Not behind the camera, nor in front of the camera. And we need to change that.”
Find out what else Gavron, Streep and the rest of the Suffragette team had to say about the movie in our interview roundup!
‘Suffragette’ hits theaters on November 3
Additional reporting by Melissa Hoban.
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