After the interview came out, Streep and her costars (including Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, and Romola Garai) came under fire for the photographs of them wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “I’d rather be a rebel than a slave.” “Dead women can’t vote”.
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In a move away form her traditionally outlandish style, Bonham Carter wore a simple black velvet dress with sheer panels in the skirt. That is precisely what the suffragettes spoke the truth. “Hopefully this film will inspire everyone in the way they view the world”, Carey Mulligan said.
A second collaboration for screenwriter Abi Morgan and director Sarah Gavron, who previously worked together on Brick Lane, the film follows factory worker Maud (Mulligan) who’s radicalised into joining the suffrage movement in the early twentieth century, risking her life in pursuit of equal rights for women.
The 66-year-old star, who portrays political activist Emmeline Pankhurst in her latest film Suffragette, called for more women to be included in the decision-making processes, as the BFI London Film Festival kicked off. “I think we’re an imbalanced society at the moment and films like this that inspire conversations of how we can correct that balance is a great thing”.
Another person witnessing the chaos was quoted by The Mirror saying the women who jumped the barrier chanted, “David Cameron take note, dead women can’t vote”.
After around half an hour, the protestors were removed from the red carpet and escorted out of the premiere. She added: “This is exactly what our characters would do”.
Suffragette star Helena Bonham Carter was shocked by the protesters yet remained calm as she continued signing fan autographs and posing for the cameras.
The question lingers as to why a group supporting women’s rights would attack a film that seemingly supports their cause.
Sources suggest the protest had nothing to do with the movie, which chronicles the birth and rise of the women’s rights movement in England.
Oscar-winning Streep has said it is “infuriating” that the film-making industry continues to be male-dominated.
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Security guards attempted to forcibly remove the women from the event (which feels even more outrageous when you consider the film’s subject matter), and the official Suffragette movie Twitter account has casually left out any mention of the protest.
