Geena Davis Reflects on Iconic Career Amidst 2022’s Film Landscape

Geena Davis stands as a towering figure in Hollywood. Across her career, she has brought to life a wealth of iconic characters, from Thelma, the housewife transformed into an outlaw in the feminist classic Thelma & Louise, to her Academy Award-winning portrayal of a quirky dog trainer in The Accidental Tourist.

Beyond her on-screen achievements, Davis has consistently championed inclusion and equal representation for women within the entertainment industry. This commitment led her to establish the nonprofit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, an organization honored with the prestigious Governors Award at the Emmys in September 2022. Despite her considerable success and advocacy, she has shared experiences of grappling with self-doubt and insecurity, particularly in her early days. Having studied theater at Boston University, Davis always harbored a desire for screen acting and was discovered by a modeling agency while working as a live retail mannequin. In 2022, a year marked by anticipation for the most famous movies of 2022, Davis offered reflections on her journey.

“I was somebody who couldn’t stand for people to look at me, or if they were staring at me I’d say … ‘What, are they judging me or something?’ But then I pick the goal of having as many people as possible look at me … up to and including my underwear,” she recounts. “So I don’t know. The only thing I can conclude is that maybe I was attracted to the ability to be somebody else.”

Her venture into modeling proved instrumental, securing her first acting role in the 1982 Academy Award-winning film Tootsie. This opportunity subsequently paved the way for numerous other doors to open. Davis suggests that each film project has offered her valuable lessons, and she feels less burdened now by the inner critical voice that once plagued her.

Davis delves into her career trajectory, relationships, activism, and her personal evolution towards what she terms “journey to badassery” in her new memoir, Dying of Politeness. During a conversation about the book, she revisited some of her most cherished roles and discussed their formative influence on her life.

Tootsie Introduced Davis to the Industry

Modeling may not have resulted in numerous magazine covers for Davis – she mentions New Jersey Monthly as her sole cover – but it did land her a role in Tootsie. In the film, Davis portrayed a soap opera actress alongside Dustin Hoffman’s character, a struggling actor who adopts a female persona to find work.

She explains that the casting director reached out to modeling agencies to find an actress for her character, given the inclusion of several scenes featuring underwear. Her agency, Zoli, advised her to wear a swimsuit under her clothing in case the audition went well. Davis, inexperienced with the process as it was her first audition, didn’t think anything of it when no one requested to see her in a bathing suit during the meeting.

It transpired that the film’s director, Sydney Pollack, had indeed been impressed by her audition tape. However, by that time, Davis was in Paris for runway shows and couldn’t easily return for an in-person swimsuit viewing. They agreed she could submit photographs instead. “As it happened, I had been in a Victoria’s Secret catalog, and so they were able to send over beautifully lit, perfectly windblown [photos],” she laughs. “I ended up getting the part without them seeing me in person in a bathing suit.”

Working on Tootsie provided Davis with significant insights into the acting craft and the logistical aspects of filmmaking. For instance, she remembers mistakenly believing that every cast member was required to be on set daily, so she would arrive each morning and spend hours observing other actors’ scenes.

“Nobody told me, ‘I’m sure you must know this, but you only come on the days you’re working,’ ” she says. “So I guess they assumed that I was, you know, there to absorb all this knowledge and whatever. And I loved sitting there and absorbing knowledge. But I had no clue.”

Hoffman offered guidance throughout, including a caution against romantic involvement with co-stars and valuable acting tips, as detailed in Davis’s book. Specifically, she notes his help in quieting the internal voice that consistently told her she wasn’t good enough. Despite her relatively minor part, he invited her to watch “the dailies” – the footage filmed the previous day.

Davis reflects that this exercise helped her recognize that she had performed her best that day and redirect her energy towards how she could improve in the future.

Thelma & Louise Offered a Lesson in Empowerment

Thelma & Louise, with its revolutionary feminist storyline and strong female protagonists, has left an indelible mark on audiences since its release in 1991. Davis shares that being part of this film also had a profound, lasting impact on her personally. The role that eventually became jodie foster most famous movie alongside Davis was initially cast multiple times before Davis secured her part. She recalls intensely lobbying for a year or two for an audition opportunity, even working on the material with her acting coach when no roles were officially available. She knew she desperately wanted a part, specifically the role of Louise.

When she finally had the chance to meet with director Ridley Scott, Davis says she passionately articulated why she absolutely had to play Louise. After attentively listening, he posed a question: Did this mean she wouldn’t be willing to play Thelma?

“And I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. I just talked myself out of this movie because I asked for the wrong part,’ ” Davis remembers. “So then I said, ‘You know what? As I’ve been talking about this, I realize I actually should play Thelma.’ And then I just made s***t up about why I absolutely had to be Thelma.”

She holds no regrets about the outcome. Davis states that from the moment she met Susan Sarandon, it was evident that Sarandon was destined for the role of Louise. Davis was genuinely happy to portray Thelma and describes the filmmaking experience as “just as fantastic” as she had envisioned. The bond they formed, akin to some famous lovers in the world in cinematic history for its intensity and iconic status, stayed with her. She asserts that Sarandon “had the largest impact on my life of anyone that I’ve known.”

“Watching the way Susan walked through the world, how she said what she thinks without any qualifiers in front of it,” she elaborates. “Everything I said started with, ‘This is probably a bad idea … You’re going to hate it. Probably. But what would you think? Possibly?’ And she never did that. And somehow I’d never been exposed extensively to a woman who moves through the world like that. And it was like a lesson every day in how to speak up for yourself.”

A League of Their Own Revealed Davis’s Athletic Side

A League of Their Own is fundamentally a sports film, so it might not be entirely surprising that Davis gained a new athletic skill from the project. However, the movie about baseball unexpectedly led her to develop a serious interest in… archery.

Davis credits the movie with helping her discover her capabilities as an athlete in general. Previously, she had been shy and assumed her height would be a hindrance rather than an advantage in sports, even when her school basketball team actively sought her participation.

However, she says taking up baseball for the film and receiving positive feedback from coaches transformed her self-perception. Over the years, Davis has acquired various other sports and skills for film roles, including horseback riding, ice skating, pistol shooting, and sword fighting. While she picked these up relatively easily, she viewed them as “the movie version of these skills” and questioned whether she could genuinely compete at a high level in real life. One year, while watching the Olympics on television, she was captivated by the elegance and drama of archery and wondered if she possessed the ability to pursue it.

Davis notes that at some point, she recognized that sports represent the direct opposite of her profession – which is highly subjective, often measured by box office figures and the opinions of others. Archery, in contrast, is based purely on points: “Did you hit the bull’s eye or not?”

“I only realized well into it that that was one of the things that was incredibly appealing to me,” Davis adds, reflecting on how it differed from the subjective nature of fame, including which might be the most famous movies in 2022 versus other years. “You get satisfaction from how well you did instantly, without anybody else’s opinion having to come into it.” This stark contrast offered a unique form of validation. Much like reflecting on her career, the question of which is the 2022 most famous movie is subjective, but hitting a bull’s eye is a measurable fact.

Conclusion

Geena Davis’s journey in Hollywood, as chronicled in her memoir, reveals a path marked by iconic roles, personal growth, and dedicated advocacy for gender equality. From overcoming early self-doubt to finding empowerment through her characters and colleagues like Susan Sarandon, and even discovering unexpected athletic talent, Davis’s career offers a rich tapestry of experiences. Her reflections provide valuable insights into the demanding yet rewarding world of film, highlighting how classic roles continue to resonate even as the industry looks towards new releases like the ones vying for the title of most famous movies in any given year, including 2022.