Actor Margot Robbie said she feels heartbroken when she watches Marilyn Monroe’s films lamenting that the parts played by the Hollywood icon were “misogynistic and degrading”.
The 27-year-old actor, who watched a lot of old movies to prepare for her role in the upcoming film Dreamland, said the fact that playing eye-candy type roles was the norm for the female actors at that time baffled her to no end.
“I love old films, but my heart breaks when I watch Marilyn Monroe’s, because the characters she plays are so misogynistic and degrading that it’s mind-boggling that that was the norm. The same with Bonnie And Clyde; parts of it make my blood boil,” Robbie told Stylist magazine.
Monroe, famous for playing “blonde bombshell” characters in comic capers, became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and continues to have an enduring impact in pop culture.
Robbie, who has turned producer with her Oscar-nominated film I, Tonya, said people should be paid on merit or on “box-office value”, irrespective of their gender.
“To my mind, whoever is doing the most work, or adding the most box-office value, should get the highest pay – whether that’s a man or a woman.
“If I was doing a project with a female lead and the male supporting character was getting paid more, I’d f***ing put my foot down,” she said when asked if she had a policy on women’s pay as a film producer.
