Lesley Manville, a star of Amazon Prime’s Citadel TV series, says she won’t watch the spy thriller to avoid seeing on-screen violence against women.
“I can’t watch violence. I don’t watch any,” Manville, who has a lead role in Citadel, told the Guardian.
Manville also admitted that she has yet to watch the final edit of the spy thriller and therefore doesn’t even know how much violence is in it.
“I hate it, basically. I get offended by it,” she said. “I really think it’s bad news. People talk about Game of Thrones. I’ve never been able to watch it. Also, it’s pretty violent towards women. I really don’t want to see that.”
“I’m a woman, for a start. Being a woman is a political position,” Manville added. “You need to understand what’s going on, the risks, what you’re up against.”
Manville’s concerns with regards to violence against female characters in television, however, appear to be a double-edged sword for the entertainment industry, given that feminists demand women be cast in leading roles in content such as action movies and spy thrillers, yet they don’t want anyone to harm the characters on-screen.
Meanwhile, fellow-Citadel star Priyanka Chopra Jonas has expressed that she is happy to play a character that is like a “female James Bond.”
“When I met [executive producers Joe and Anthony Russo], they explained to me what this character was, they wanted to create a female spy that’s like James Bond. I was like, ‘Why would I not do that?’ Of course, I want to do that!” Chopra Jonas told the New York Post.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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