EQUITY MAGAZINE MAY-JUNE 2018

COVER STORY
where we think we can’t go anymore and that’s definitely
where I found myself in this movie. I still wanted it with
everything that was in my body, but it took a lot of work to
initially get to that place for two and a half months. And then
once we were shooting, I just kept pushing it and going
further with it. There’s an end sequence in this film, it’s a big
gun shootout battle that we have in a hotel room that was
never scripted and five days before we shot that David
[Leitch] was like, “You know, we haven’t done an action
sequence in a while. Let’s just turn that into an action scene,”
and if anybody ever said that to me before, I would have had
a nervous breakdown and be like, “I’m not prepared, what are
you doing?” But I was like, “Yeah! Let’s turn it into a gun
fowl!” So it was nice to be in that place physically and
mentally. It was empowering.
Do you think that in reality, a woman could really go
through the same steps your character goes through, in
your movie?
Yeah, I mean, I’ve talked about this a lot. For me, as an actor, I
think it’s important to work from a place that feels grounded to
reality. I’m not good when I don’t have that weight behind me
and I can find things in my own life or things that I’ve observed
that I can be connected with that reality. So, for me, it was very
important. Every move that we had in the fight sequences, I
was annoyingly asking, “Well, could a girl do that?” And I think
I drove them crazy out there for a while. I wanted to make this
movie and let it be as badass as this and not have anybody
come up to us and say, “A girl can’t do that.” That was
important to me. So, we’re here to say, “A girl can do that!” I
only punched with my fist once in this movie. And I actually
show you how much that hurts, because punching with your
fist really hurts. For a woman, you can break every bone in your
hand by doing that. I only punched once, and it’s like a guy
who’s already passed-out. I was kind-of being a bit of and
a-hole with that last one, but I was like, “Ow that hurts,”
because that’s the truth. You never see me doing that.
Everything I’m using is either my elbows, my knees, my entire
body, or my entire body weight to throw, because that’s the
reality. I can’t fight the same way as a guy can fight, but that
doesn’t mean I fight any less or any less better than a man.
Are there any stunts you regretted trying, or anything
you regretted not trying?
I really wanted to jump out of the building, but the producer
in me was like, “No.” But I still kind-of wished I did that. I
don’t know why. It was still early in the movie and if
something went wrong we would have had to shut the
whole movie down and I didn’t want to do that. That’s the
one thing I watch the movie and go, “God, I wish...” But
I’m really happy that my stunt girl did an excellent job
kicking her legs and her garter belt coming down.
Is the door finally open in Hollywood for all women to
become the action heros?
Yeah, I mean, I feel like there’s an element of that that’s
very much a part of me. I was raised to not think that I
can’t do something just because I’m a woman, to not feel
I was about to turn 40, so I kind-of took
matters into my own hands and said,
"Why not actively go with my production
company and search for something like
the ability to live and breathe in a world
where I could play by the same rules that
men get to play all the time, and that was
something that I really loved.
held back. Even though you go into the world and you feel
it and you’re aware of it and you want to still believe that
that’s not true. I think women, we come face to face with
that at some point in our lives and then we have to figure
out how we’re going to work through that and I think all
of those qualities have been with me when I’ve made
choices for these characters. I feel like I have more
opportunities where people are allowing me to kind-of
explore all of those outside lines of what we usually think
we can only colour in when it comes to a woman and a lot
of that has to do because of Patty Jenkins in ‛Monster’,
because of George Miller and ‛Furious Road’. I’m so
grateful for filmmakers that have allowed me to have those
opportunities to go explore all those things that my mom
has always told me.
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EQUITY