You may wonder why Geena Davis doesn't work as much in front of the camera.
Not only has she become more selective about her roles, Davis is also a producer and has founded
a research institute and film festival. She's trying to change the film industry for the better.
1992's A League of Their Own was a massive success, and Geena Davis
credits the film for helping her claim the feminist label. But throughout the 1990s,
Davis worked on a string of movies that couldn't replicate the success of A League of Their Own.
Later that same year, Davis appeared in the movie Hero opposite Dustin Hoffman,
which faltered despite the strength of the cast. In 1994, she starred in the drama Angie,
a film that performed poorly at the box office and failed to garner a positive response from critics.
Next up was Speechless, a movie that starred Davis as a political speechwriter
who falls in love with a speechwriter working for a rival campaign. The film was panned by critics,
and her next role certainly didn't help to revive her career, either.
In 1995, Davis starred as Morgan Adams in Cutthroat Island,
which critic Daniel Barnes summed up as:
"A chaotic jumble of bad action, juvenile comedy and chilly romance,
all wrapped in a cheesecloth of limp, lifeless pirate cliches."
Appearing in several films with mediocre reviews was definitely a setback for Davis.
In recent years, Geena Davis has found that she has a better track record of landing
fulfilling roles in TV shows than in films. From 2000 to 2001, she had her own series,
The Geena Davis Show. Later, she starred as President Allen in the series Commander in Chief,
and she also appeared on the first season of The Exorcist as Angela Rance. And in 2019,
she played Sandy Devereaux St. Clair on the beloved Netflix series GLOW.
Davis says that she enjoys working in TV, but investing so much time and energy into shows
that have been canceled is discouraging. These roles turned out to be short-lived. The Geena
Davis Show and Commander in Chief only lasted one season apiece, and GLOW was canceled after
three seasons — Davis's final appearance on the show turned out to be the series finale.
Davis told AARP:
"I was so bummed when ABC's Commander in Chief went off the air. As President Allen,
I had a very short administration."
Unfortunately, she's struggled to find a long-running TV role.
Geena Davis became a mother in her forties. In 2001, she married Reza Jarrahy, and the couple
had their first child, a daughter in 2002. And in 2004, Davis gave birth to their twin sons.
Eventually, Davis and Jarrahy separated, officially going their separate ways in 2018.
Davis says that she had always wanted to become a mother, but when she was younger,
she felt like the timing just wasn't right. Now, she sees the benefits of
having children later in life, and she feels that she made the right decision.
Davis told The Guardian:
"I always felt lucky that I had my kids late, because I just feel like I changed
so much. I always knew I wanted kids, but what I was doing waiting that long,
I don't know. But it's been great. And twins are fun!"
"Life is pain. Get used to it!"
Geena Davis hasn't retired from acting, but since 2004, she's taken up another cause.
She currently runs the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media,
and she's on a mission to create more roles for women in Hollywood.
Davis explained to Vogue:
"The reason I started this whole research institute is because I found out that
people absolutely had no idea that kids' media was so gender-biased. And before I
watched it with my daughter, I was sure it was fine. I was appalled to learn the
truth and I decided I was gonna bring it up in my daily life in Hollywood."
While Davis was watching children's shows with her daughter,
she noticed that there were far more male characters than female characters,
but when she brought it up at meetings, no one seemed to realize the extent of the problem.
"Our research shows there's a major gender gap in kids' media.
Male characters outweigh female characters two to one."
Davis decided that analyzing the data was the answer,
so she founded the Institute and spearheaded the largest research project
concerning gender depictions in TV and movies ever conducted.
The disaappointing results confirmed her suspicions — women simply didn't get enough
representation. She's been focused on changing this issue ever since.
"If girls can see female characters taking up
half of the space, then they will think of that in their real life."
A large part of Geena Davis' work with the Institute concerns gathering data on
gender disparities in the media. Plenty of people are interested
in this issue, so why doesn't Davis spend more time promoting her research?
She says that she's more effective at pushing for change behind the scenes.
Davis told Interview:
"We go meet with every studio,
every guild, every network, every production company and share it with them, privately. I
don't really bust anybody publicly. It's much more efficient if I can impact the creators."
And in an interview with Glamour, Davis explained that her goals for the Institute
don't necessarily revolve around raising awareness of the issue with the public.
"I give speeches and interviews,
and we release data to the public. But the main goal is not to educate the populace."
She feels that public pressure isn't necessarily the key to making change in the entertainment
industry — instead, she has to go directly to the people in charge who can make it happen.
Besides meeting with directors and screenwriters to push for more female representation on screen,
what else has Geena Davis been up to that occupies so much of her time?
She's also working on initiatives to encourage more diversity in Hollywood.
And she's taking things into her own hands.
"BFF is an exciting one-of-a-kind initiative that will champion women
and diversity in all aspects of film."
In 2015, Davis co-founded the Bentonville Film Festival, a non-profit film festival
that showcases movies directed by women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community.
The Bentonville Film Foundation, which hosts the festival,
also provides ongoing, year-round support to filmmakers who are generally underrepresented
in Hollywood. Davis wants to give opportunities to talented directors
who might not get the attention they deserve in mainstream film circles.
Davis told The Guardian:
"Oh, we want to change the world! Our goal is very simple:
the storytellers and people on screen should reflect the population, which is half female
and incredibly diverse. It's not like: 'Wow, what a far-fetched idea!' It just makes total sense."
"We're always looking for great films that are inclusive, that reflect
society as it is, half female and very diverse."
Over the course of her career, Geena Davis has gotten pickier about the roles she's accepted.
Before she commits to playing a particular character,
she always asks herself what the women in the audience would think of that particular role.
She wants to play characters who are genuinely interesting and complex rather than settling
for parts that don't speak to her — but unfortunately, she's finding it difficult.
Davis told Interview:
"I really want to get some good parts. Now I have so much experience,
I probably could be better than ever. I just want them to come along every once
in a while. It's okay if it takes two or three years for something really good to come along,
but I don't want to wait ten years for something great to come along.
It's maddening. It's so frustrating. It's completely embarrassing."
At this point, Davis doesn't want to take a role just for the paycheck. But even if it
means waiting a long time in between movies, she's willing to stick to her principles.
Geena Davis said that once she turned forty,
she realized that she wasn't being offered nearly as many roles as she was before.
She told The Guardian:
"I fell off the cliff. I really did. In the early stages of my career,
I was blithely going along thinking, 'Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange and Sally Field, they're all
making these great female-centric movies. And I'm getting these great roles, really tippy-top roles,
so things must be getting better for women.' But suddenly, the great roles were incredibly scarce."
Age discrimination is an unfortunate reality in Hollywood. While some believe that there are
more roles in movies for older actresses today than there used to be, Davis explained to AARP
that this is a myth — despite the efforts of actresses like herself, the problem persists.
Naturally, Davis is frustrated by this,
but instead of simply retiring, she's still moving forward and looking for the roles that she wants.
In addition to acting, Geena Davis is also an athlete.
After learning new sports on film sets, she decided that she wanted to train in archery.
She told People:
"I thought, 'I want to take up a sport in the real-life way and not the movie version,'
because they can fake anything. Like my character in A League of Their Own only hit home runs,
so I would do a nice swing, but the props guys had a giant slingshot to send the ball
over the fence with. So I thought, 'I want to see if I can really learn something real.'"
"It turned out I actually was athletic so that's when I took up all this other stuff."
Davis began working with a trainer and started practicing for five hours per day,
six days a week — and she quickly found that she was exceptionally talented at the sport. In fact,
she was so skilled that she made it to the semifinals for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
She placed 24th and just missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.
Today, Davis no longer competes in archery,
but she does still practice when she has the time. She also took up another sport — rowing!
Geena Davis has consistently continued working, but her recent releases haven't fared well. In
2020, Davis had a supporting role as Bobbie in the crime drama Ava. Ava, a skilled and
lethal assassin who works for a black ops organization, is responsible for carrying
out hits on high profile figures across the globe. But when one of her jobs takes a dangerous turn,
suddenly the tables turn, and she's forced to confront her mistakes and fight for her life.
The plot was standard action-movie fare, but neither critics nor audiences found
it particularly compelling. In a review for Decider, critic John Serba remarked:
"Ava is a violent, boilerplate Bourne-y thriller
without a single original bone in its body. File under waste of talent."
It certainly didn't help that the movie was released in the midst of
the COVID-19 pandemic — chances are, even fans of Davis did not know that it was coming out.
Geena Davis is always open to opportunities that allow her to work behind the scenes
if it means creating an empowering movie or TV show. While she has not directed a movie,
Davis has certainly diversified her career behind the scenes.
From consulting with directors and encouraging them to include more female characters in
their scripts to working as a producer on various projects, Davis has worn many hats.
In 2018, Davis served as an executive producer on the documentary This Changes Everything,
which explores gender bias within Hollywood. Davis,
and many other actors, appear in the film to share their experiences as actresses.
Davis unveils why she began researching and tackling the issue on her own.
In addition, Davis produced the series
Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove from 2019 through 2021. In Mission Unstoppable,
Cosgrove interviews women working on innovative endeavors in fields like science, technology,
engineering, and math — so it's easy to see why Davis wanted to get onboard with the show.
Geena Davis hasn't given up on finding interesting new roles and projects. She has an upcoming
movie and a TV series lined up. And she'll also be venturing into the world of reality TV
with her own series, I Can By Friday, in which she'll
spend each episode learning difficult new skills and attempting challenging stunts.
Judging by her success at mastering athletic talents on movie sets and
becoming a legit archery champion, she probably won't have much trouble! One thing is for sure:
whether Davis is working her magic behind the camera or on screen,
she's determined to be a force for change in Hollywood for years to come.
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