Sir Ian McKellen recently condemned the alleged behavior of those who have been accused of sexual misconduct in Hollywood, but he also revealed some scandalous tactics by some actresses to get their foot in the door.
McKellen spoke at the Oxford Union earlier this month where he addressed the wave of sexual misconduct allegations that hit Hollywood in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Fox News reports. During his appearance, the “Lord of the Rings” star also revealed that he knew of some actresses who offered sex for roles early in his career.
“Of course people taking advantage of their power is absolutely reprehensible, wherever it happens,” McKellen said in response to a question about Weinstein from the crowd. “Within the family? Father and his children? Awful lot of that. Not, thank goodness, in my family. In the workplace? Doesn’t have to be the theater, doesn’t have to be Hollywood. It could be the local shop, it could be Parliament. It won’t do, wherever it happens.”
(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
While he made his stance on the issue of sexual misconduct very clear, McKellen also told the audience about his experiences as a young actor in the 1960s when he claims women were offering sex for roles at a theater.
“The director of the theater I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs, they were actors,” McKellen explained. “And some of them had–I think these were the initials–at the bottom of their photograph, ‘DPR’–director’s rights respected,” he continued. “In other words, ‘If you give me a job, you can have sex with me.’ That was commonplace from people who proposed that they should be a victim. Madness. DRR–director’s rights respected.”
“People have taken advantage of that and encouraged it and it absolutely will not do,” McKellen added.
“People must be called out,” McKellen continued, “and it’s sometimes very difficult for victims to do that. And I know it’s particularly painful to some people who were abused and didn’t talk about it and never got it out of their system and feel it maybe decades later when they read about abuse in the newspaper, it all comes flooding back. And psychiatrists will tell you that their books are full of people who are hurt by revelations of other people’s experience. I hope we’re going through a period which will sort of help to eradicate it altogether.”