Carla Gugino reveals advice she uses to combat sexist directors

Carla Gugino has revealed the advice she uses when standing up to sexist directors on the set of her many projects.

Though she’s known to play tough-as-nails character on screen, it seems like actress Carla Gugino is a bit softer in real life.

Because of her softer side, Gugino has admitted that it was always a bit tough for her to stand up for herself when on set, which was only made worse due to certain directors constantly shutting her down.

“I had an instance recently where I needed to assert something important to me and I hesitated because I wondered if it would be perceived as demanding,” Gugino told Interview Magazine, “The difference at this age is that I will just push myself to do it. Ultimately, it was received positively.”

Gugino explained that her ability to speak up for herself stemmed from sage advice she received from fellow actress Monica Bellucci stating.

“I met Monica Bellucci who was amazing, and she said, ‘Look, just f*cking ask for what you want. They’re going to call you a bitch regardless because you’re a woman.’ I thought that’s also true,” Gugino said, “There are still the residing boys club, always will be.”

The actress then revealed that, despite finding her inner power, she still deals with a lot of PTSD when being on set due to “instances where you’re acting with a male actor, and you say to the director, ‘Hey, what about if we try such and such?’ and the male director goes, ‘I don’t think so,’ and then, two minutes later, your fellow actor, who’s an advocate for you, says the exact same thing, and the director’s, ‘Great idea.’”

Gugino added that, when it comes to sexist male directors, it’s “actual insanity” and likened some of the dramatic experiences she went through as “when the family has an alcoholic and everybody is just like, ‘That person actually has the power.’ It’s in that vein. We’re going to pretend this is not crazy behavior.”

Despite dealing with traumatic instances in the past, Gugino seems determined to speak her mind on set, which hopefully more actors can learn from.