![]() ![]() That look in her eye when she catches a fast pitch and grips it with her bare hand remains, for me, the iconic Geena Davis don’t-fuck-with-me look. Her Dottie Hinson may have been the straight (wo)man, the Goliath for Lori Petty’s overshadowed little sister to topple, the riddle that Hanks’ crass but ultimately respectful coach never quite figured out, but she was graceful, poised, and always a boss. Nonetheless, she was the center (Tom Hanks’ presence notwithstanding), and the character I identified with and rooted for most strongly. That’s because the first movie I actually saw her in was A League of Their Own (1992), in which she served as the surprisingly (and, for Davis, somewhat atypically) quirk-free, stable, and serious center. It’s always amused me that Davis became known in the ’80s for playing an assortment of ditzy, quirky, sunny-tempered girls ( Beetlejuice, Earth Girls Are Easy, The Accidental Tourist). She still does TV work, though, and continues to be an active force for improving women’s roles in the entertainment industry-including launching her very own Institute on Gender in Media a decade ago to help increase awareness of the issue.īut the fact that the issue is still real and omnipresent, a quarter-century after Thelma & Louise (as Davis herself has called out in recent interviews), underscores not just the wider problem of gender bias but the particular difficulties of being an actress with leading-lady star quality who never fit neatly in any of Hollywood’s standard leading-lady molds. Yet it’s pretty shocking, when you look at her filmography, to see how abruptly her movie career sputtered and stalled out round about the turn of the millennium. To be fair, maybe we should have seen it coming, given her string of box-office bombs, the fact that she passed up roles she probably shouldn’t have, and her reputation for not being the easiest to work with. A convincing don’t-fuck-with-me quality, tempered by a divine set of dimples that suggest she’s not taking herself too seriously? Check and mate.ĭavis’s premature relegation to the sidelines of Hollywood is one of the great recent WTFs for movie lovers and actressexuals everywhere. ![]() Commanding physical presence and natural athleticism? Check and check. ![]() Geena Davis at Sundance this past JanuaryIf they’d made a Wonder Woman movie back in the ’90s, Geena Davis would have been on the short list for the lead role. We're cheering on Hollywood's super heroic women this week. ![]()
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