With the recent release of Atomic Blonde, the stylised, hyperviolent action thriller starring Charlize Theron, and the box-office smash Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot, it’s the summer of the action star – and yes, they happen to be women. But there is still many an obstacle preventing action actresses from receiving the rewards and recognition they deserve.
Gadot, who was the highlight of Batman V. Superman and – thanks to the excellent and wildly successful Wonder Woman – is now an undeniable action star, received an insulting $300,000 for her starring role. Even if women are paid appropriately, there’s often another struggle for critical recognition of their action credentials.
After starring in the overwhelmingly successful Hunger Games and the X-Men franchises, Jennifer Lawrence is rarely referred to as an action star. This may be because she is now also an Oscar winning dramatic actress, and so people feel the need to highlight those films instead of her action roles, often deemed to be a more “frivolous” form of performance. The stigma that often accompanies such films – much as it does comedies – can prevent action stars from having their performances recognised, respected and rewarded.
Frankly, Lawrence’s portrayal of a PTSD-suffering teenager in The Hunger Games felt much more dimensional than her affected role in Joy, and I would have happily seen her Oscar nomination for the latter switched out. And Charlize Theron’s performance in Mad Max was nothing less than a powerhouse effort. Yet the Academy is loathe these days to reward action roles. Have we forgotten that it was Sigourney Weaver’s stirring performance in Aliens that landed her an Oscar nomination?
Even when women become action actresses, can they become action stars? To be considered a star in Hollywood, an actor has to be a recognisable brand of sorts; there has to be name recognition and a high-profile body of work. Due to this formula, actresses who aren’t American or white are often overlooked, even if their contributions to cinema are monumental.
Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi were instrumental in turning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon into the biggest foreign language release the US had ever seen – but how many audience members remembered their names? Yeoh, for her part, also lent her action skills to Tomorrow Never Dies, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, Luke Scott’s sci-fi horror Morgan, Guardians Of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and TV series Star Trek: Discovery. Yet she is rarely cited as the phenomenal action performer she clearly is.
Some of this is down to the lack of recognition Hollywood gives Asian actors overall, as I’ve previously addressed in this column. But racial prejudice often intercuts with gender discrimination, making it particularly difficult for Asian actresses like Yeoh and Ziyi to become household names.
Often, Asian actors and actresses are merely extras or supporting roles in Asian-set films that nevertheless have a white actor as their star. Uma Thurman may indeed have kicked serious ass in Kill Bill, but it is notable that she was cast in the lead over her co-stars Lucy Liu and Chiaki Kuriyama, who have repeatedly shown held their own in action flicks.
Even when actresses of colour break into mainstream action franchises, the racism to be found there can be appalling. Amandla Stenberg broke many a heart with her emotional portrayal of Rue in The Hunger Games – and was rewarded for her performance with a barrage of racism complaining that the director hadn’t cast a white actress.
It may be that this is the summer of the female action star – but let’s be mindful which women are getting recognised, and the various obstacles they have to fight before even making it onscreen.