[...] Evgeniya Brik.
Television and film actress, best known for Hipsters and The Geographer Drank His Globe Away, and the TV shows The Thaw and The Optimists
The most incredible and unexpected thing is that this story has affected me not only personally, but professionally. I took part in a project that was partly produced by Harvey Weinstein, playing a small part on an American TV series. And now its unclear if the show will continue filming. I hope it doesnt shut down.
This is all appalling, of course. As I understand it, this person had enormous power, and he probably suffers from some psychological disorder. But in my view theres a lot thats strange here, and I have a lot of questions about this story. Hollywood is a place where rumors can explode in a second, and America generally is a place where a person can be accused of sexual harassment for one wrong opinion. Over there, men are generally scared of saying anything out of line to women, or looking at them wrong somehow. How did these women keep silent and conceal all these terrible acts by this well-known producer for so many years? Why did actresses go to his hotel room, when auditions and meetings are carried out at studios? Were they all really so scared that he would ruin their careers, and thats why they were ready to tolerate such humiliation? Honestly, I dont understand it.
Of course, its difficult for anyone who wasnt there to judge, and we can only imagine and learn what we can from the statements were hearing now. We cant even question them [the women who have accused Weinstein]. But its good that this has come to the surface, and hell be punished for this in America like he would nowhere else. Hes already lost everything and everyone.
I think that any person always has a choice, and no fear can silence someone for so many years and force them to do these things, and then make them act friendly and hang out together, after all these incidents. Sure, its a thin line in the world of cinema. This is a raunchy world of creative, complex people. In his book, [Swedish director] Ingmar Bergman, who of course had many wives, wrote that cinema is an erotic, explicit art where romances are all too common. This is a sphere where relationships are structured a little differently, but there are also very basic things to understand, like in any profession. Theres the boss and his subordinates, who are subject to his decisions and are afraid of losing their jobs. Then the boss goes off the rails, and everyone around him only fuels his enthusiasm by staying silent and fearing bad blood with him. Im sure its very hard to talk about this openly, and come clean. But better late than never.
In no way am I trying to judge these women and say that theyre to blame. Im just thinking aloud and analyzing things, trying to understand how this nightmare could have happened. I have a daughter whos an aspiring actress, and if she wants to stay in this profession (or any other profession, for that matter), its very important for me to give her an accurate, full sense of how, where, and with whom to interact. For women in the world today, its very important for them to know this from childhood, so theyre able to protect themselves.
Regarding Russia, I think stories like this might unfortunately exist here, as well. But I dont know how much everyone would be ready to come clean and go public, if this happened here. Maybe thats the secret: somebody starts, and then the others find the strength to come out, too. Nothing like this, thank God, has ever happened to me, and Ive never heard anything from my colleagues. Luckily [for me], everything has been pretty banal and simple: auditions, offers, and then filming.
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