In response to that interview Lena Hall only said nice things about her Snow Piercer costar. “Sean is an awesome actor and made me feel not only comfortable but also like I had a true acting partner in those bizarre scenes,”
She also was very clear to note that she was NOT "up for anything", but Mr. Bean did describe her that way. It kinda shows the need for IC when the male star thinks anything is on the table, but the female star quietly disagrees. She's pretty clearly being tactful because she doesn't want to
torpedo her career, while still making it clear that she thinks IC are a very good thing and that she wants to have them. So his partner this time was fine with it, what about next time if she isn't?
The
full NYT article the quote comes from really doesn't paint a good picture when addressing that question.
He talks about how choreographing a love scene would ruin the spontaneity. He talks about acting a love scene as if they behave like lovers to film the scene. There's a reason why the industry is finally beginning to recognize that doing things that way is a problem. Even if his most recent acting partner was fine, I guarantee you that someone he's acted with wasn't, given that attitude. The man has had four wives, multiple counts of the police being called for domestic disturbances, and has been openly accused of harassing one of this ex-wives. If he's treating his co-stars like they're his lovers, he's crossed lines, for certain.
At the end of the interview he says, "A lot of men these days are made to feel like apologists for their sexuality and masculinity."
Men who feel like they can be unapologetic about their gender's sexuality are a threat. Because men, as a gender, absolutely have a fucking problem with men using their power to be harmful with their sexuality. Until we reach a point where sexual assault/abuse isn't a major problem in the acting industry, then men should feel like they need to be apologists for their gender, because there's a problem that needs to be dealt with. Men who don't think we need to deal with this major issue are men who like using the power they have too much.
Mr. Bean was doing an interview, talking about the industry and his place in it. You can try to brush it away as attitudes from an older time, or him complaining about how things are different, but he's still working as an actor. He's not some retiree talking about how they did things at the factory back in the day, and how modern safety standards slow things down. He's still working! If someone in a factory job were talking to the press about how OSHA standards make work too hard, and how workers should just buck up and accept that sometimes you lose a finger, you'd blast them for antiquated and outright harmful views. The same goes for an actor decrying modern safety standards on a film set.
There is an obligation for people in an industry to promote the best practices in that industry. If you're a construction worker you shouldn't do an interview where you say that things would be better if no one had to wear a hard hat. If you're a chef you shouldn't do an interview where you say you liked it better when the health inspector didn't come around making sure food is kept at the proper temperature. If you run a day care you don't do an interview and complain about how much harder it is to hire people now that you have to do background checks on everyone. It's just fucking stupid to say any of that shit. It makes you look like an asshole, it makes other people in your industry look like assholes, and it encourages negative trends in your industry. Words fucking matter.
It's not just a matter of his views being old fashioned, it's that the industry needs to change for damn good reason, and he's either part of the problem, or he should be aware enough to know that the problem isn't going to go away as long as powerful men keep whining about how it makes their jobs more difficult to protect women. "It's too difficult! It ruins the mood. I'm a Nice Guy™, I wouldn't do anything my costar doesn't want to. I can tell she's up for anything. Why wouldn't she be? I'm one of the good ones."
Hey, Sean Bean and other male actors, you want to be masculine, go on adventures, and show off how strong you are? Stop being little wimps when it comes to doing things that will protect women! Don't complain that it will make things more difficult for you if you take the steps necessary to make sure that women are safe. Just level up, show how strong and capable you are by doing the right thing, and tell others that they need to do the right thing, no matter how inconvenient it might be.
Yes, this is a hot-button issue for me. Maybe Sean Bean isn't Harvey Weinstein or Joss Whedon, but he's damn well not helping to move the industry away from abusers. That may be a much lesser problem, but it's still a problem, and one he should be taken to task for.
