Actors, writers and directors often get hilariously terrible notes from studio executives. For example, Moonlight was a movie about the life of a young, African-American gay man. The director got the note "So, where are the white people?" For the remake of the classic Western, The Magnificent Seven, one of the producers got the note:"Do they have to wear cowboy hats and have facial hair?" I wouldn't be surprised if the movie Titanic got the note: "Can we change the boat to a plane?"
Making
is a collaborative process and good notes are extremely helpful. However, bad notes are extremely frustrating, and sometimes they reveal systemic racism and sexism. The notes may turn characters into crude stereotypes or cliches. Today actors and writers take more of a stand against bad feedback, like by making sure movies pass the Bechdel Test: Does the movie feature two women talking to each other about something other than a man? (And do they have names?)
Actress Anna Kendrick recently shared her bad experience with "notes from the top." In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, she talked about developing the upcoming
Pitch Perfect 3. In the film, acapella group The Bellas reunite one last time for a singing competition at an USO show. Kendrick reprises her role as Beca, who lands the opportunity to become a solo artist. Originally, the plan was for her to have a romantic relationship with Guy Burnet's music executive Theo. However, the actress refused to shoehorn a romantic storyline into their relationship:
"Originally the music executive was supposed by my romantic interest but I said no to that, because I thought that would be kind of fucking problematic. I was like, 'Can no one else [see it]? Once I said it, everybody was like, 'I guess so.' And they still wanted to have a version at the end when we kissed, and I still said no."
Kendrick also said they got notes requesting the ladies'
costumes be "tighter"
, "sexier," and "show more skin." This feedback seemed ridiculous, since the movie is a musical-comedy, and has nothing to do with sex appeal. The 32-year-old actress said 'Pitch, please,' and laughed it off:
"It's funny — whenever we do the wardrobe fittings I feel like we get notes from the top saying they should be tighter and sexier and show more skin. And I'm like, that's not why people are coming to see the movie. They definitely aren't showing up because of our sex appeal. It's nice that audiences are interested in seeing a movie of misfits and girls of different shapes and sizes."
Some men might be very disappointed The Bellas aren't wearing 'tight', 'sexy' costumes that 'show more skin.' However, it's great to see actors push back against bad studio
. Also, you have to love the phrase "kind of f***ing problematic."
