Geena Davis is 'still waiting' for change in the movie industry

Geena Davis is “still waiting” to see women assume a bigger role in the movie industry.

The 65-year-old actress admits that the film business still has a long way to go before it achieves true gender equality, with Geena recalling how ‘Thelma & Louise’ – the female buddy movie that she starred in – was predicted to inspire change.

She recalled critics saying in the early 90s: “There are going to be so many movies starring women, about women, female road pictures, whatever.”

However, Geena insists that in spite of the prediction, very little has actually changed in the movie industry.

Geena told The Hollywood Reporter: “I’m thinking, hot dog, let’s sit back and wait for all this magic change to happen. We’re still waiting. It really did not happen.

“It seems like every five years or so, there’s another movie starring women that’s a huge hit and people say, ‘Well now certainly everything is going to change,’ and it really hasn’t.”

Genna previously claimed that big Hollywood roles became “scarce” once she turned 40.

The Oscar-winning actress confessed that she “fell off the cliff” in terms of starring in major movies once she reached the milestone.

She said: “I fell off the cliff. I really did.

“In the early stages of my career, I was blithely going along thinking, ‘Meryl Streep, Jesa Lange and Sally Field, they’re all making these great female-centric movies. And I’m getting these great roles, really tippy-top roles, so things must be getting better for women.’

“But suddenly, the great roles were incredibly scarce. It was a big difference.”

Geena also explained how her role in ‘Thelma & Louise’ changed how she approached her career.

She shared: “After ‘Thelma & Louise’, everyone wanted to talk to me, telling me how the film had changed their life, how many times they’d seen it.

“So that changed for ever how I considered what parts to play. I would think, ‘What are the women in the audience going to say when they see this movie?'”