Gina Gershon recently revealed that her agents tried to intimidate and convince her to give up on playing Corky in the Wachowskis’ ‘Bound’ because they thought it would damage her career. She recalled on the ‘It Happened in Hollywood’ podcast:
“It was a great script and I could tell they were incredible directors, but my agents were like, ‘We will not let you do this movie. You are ruining your career. We will not be able to let you represent. You will never work again.’”
The actress went on:
“I just said, ‘Oh, well, I guess if you can’t represent me, I’ll go somewhere else. You know? No hard feelings.’ I said, first of all, it’s so shortsighted to say, ‘Oh, this is a lesbian movie.’ I mean, they happen to be lesbians. They happen to be into women, but it’s really a movie about trust.”
The Film Became A Cult Classic
Gershon played an ex-con who started a relationship with a mafioso boss’ girlfriend and came up with a plan to steal $2 million of his money in ‘Bound.’
The 1996 film became a cult classic for the LGBTQ+ community in the following years. The Criterion Collection inducted and re-released it in 4K in June 2024.
The actress described her agents as ‘small-minded and shortsighted’ for warning her about playing a lesbian:
“Plus, when does the girl get to play the hero, you know? I thought, well, I could cut off my hair, cut off my nails, have no makeup. I get the girl. I get the car. I screw over the mob. It’s a win-win all around.”
Other Actresses Refused To Play A Lesbian
Gershon’s co-star, Jennifer Tilly, talked about her role as Violet following ‘Bound’s induction news from the Criterion Collection last April. She told Collider that the movie was ‘groundbreaking’ because it came out when there was little to no gay representation in mainstream media.
Tilly noted that many actresses rejected the lead role before her for that reason:
“[Lilly and Lana] Wachowski said to me, ‘You would not believe how many actresses refused to come in and read because they thought it would be very bad for their career.’ They were telling me some of the actresses, and I was like, ‘I cannot believe that these actresses don’t want to come in and read for the two best female parts that I’ve read in a very, very long time.’”
She added:
“Of course, we were a little worried, Gina [Gershon] and I, that it might be pornographic — I mean, more pornographic than what we want, but the Wachowskis were so respectful. At the time it came out, it was sort of mismarketed and nobody really saw it. It was in the theaters for, I think, a week… But I think it’s an amazing movie. It’s one of my favorite films I’ve ever done. It’s like your basic film noir. It’s a classic film noir with a twist, if I might say, and we’re really happy to find it’s found its audience.”
Gershon later hoped to work with the Wachowskis again as Trinity in ‘The Matrix’ but lost the part to Carrie-Anne Moss.
