Women from the group Sisters Uncut clamoured over the barriers and onto the red carpet to stage a protest for more help for women suffering domenstic abuse – referring to recent cuts to services.
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They wore black outfits with signs reading “dead women don’t vote” in green and purple and chanted those words. The actress said that it’s all about maintaining a “nice, easy balance”, and this is exactly what her new film “Suffragette” is all about.
The slender The Great Gatsby star didn’t appear to be with child, but refused to talk about her personal life. “Certain things have changed in our industry to allow them to understand that women will be interested in this film, and so will men”.
All main cast members – Anne-Marie, Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan and Romola Garai – were featured on a magazine cover wearing the shirts.
Streep stars alongside Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in the movie retelling of the powerful moment in feminist history, and on the carpet, Mulligan and Carter applauded the efforts of the demonstrators.
Streep said that she counted up all of the male and female film critics on the site, which she said is often used by people to determine which movies to see. The poignant nature of the film and the passion for women’s rights of everyone involved came alive as they took to the mics to continue the cause.
Helena Bonham Carter added: “I think it’s marvellous”.
Suffragette opened the BFI London Film Festival, which runs until October 18.
To gasps from the audience, Morgan said she had been dropped as a screenwriter from a film project only two or three years ago “because I was told I didn’t know how to flirt with the director”. “If men don’t look around the the board of governors table and feel something is wrong when half the people there are not women then we’re not going to make any progress”, she told BBC.
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The quote was originally spoken by British women’s rights icon Emmeline Pankhurst in a speech in 1913, and was supposed to be a rallying exclamation meant to fuel the flame of an uprising while pointing out that women faced the threat of potentially becoming the equivalent of slaves if they did not fight for their inalienable rights.
