Westworld's Thandie Newton isn't as enthusiastic about the recent Time's Up movement as her Hollywood peers. Back in 2013, well before #MeToo ripped through the industry, Newton spoke up about an experience she had with a director, but told News Corp ahead of the HBO show's Sunday night premiere that she wasn't popular enough for Time's Up to include her in the movement.
"I wasn’t hot enough," she told the outlet. "I wasn’t mainstream enough and I wasn’t going to be at the Oscars this year, even though I am having a renaissance in my career."
The initial faces of the movement included Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes, America Ferrera, Ashley Judd, Eva Longoria, Amber Tamblyn, Kerry Washington, Lena Waithe, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, and other actress who dominated the 2018 award season.
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The incident she mentioned allegedly occurred during a second audition when she was a teenager, she told CNN five years ago.
"The director asked me to sit with my legs apart; the camera was right positioned where it could see up my skirt" and then the director told her to "put my leg over the arm of the chair, and before I started my dialogue, think about the character I was supposed to be having the dialogue with and how it felt to be made love to by this person."
This is inappropriate on its own, but years later Newton was told that this same director showed the video at parties to entertain guests.
On Twitter, Jessica Chastain, who has been an extremely vocal part of the movement, has responded to Newton's claims.
"I invited you to the first meeting at my house Nov 27th but unfortunately you were out of town. It wasn't called #TimesUp cuz we didn't have a name," she wrote. "It was just a group of actresses coming together to see how we could support the brave women coming forward & create lasting change."
She added, "You, and so many others, were so brave to speak up & start this movement. It is my goal to make sure it will never be in vain. I will always support you and what you did."
I invited you to the first meeting at my house Nov 27th but unfortunately you were out of town. It wasn't called #TimesUp cuz we didn't have a name. It was just a group of actresses coming together to see how we could support the brave women coming forward & create lasting change
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) April 23, 2018
While the actress says it was "very painful" to be left out, she doesn't regret coming forward about the experience.
"I felt if there was one girl whose family was thinking about putting their child into show business, that would help them decide," she continued in her News Corp interview. "That was all I cared about."
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