Mira Sorvino was one of the first women to step forward against Harvey Weinstein. Now, she’s detailing some of her horrific experiences in Hollywood.
In an interview on HFPA In Conversation podcast (via The Daily Beast), Sorvino said “an Oscar winning” director abused her on one of her first casting calls.
“In order to scare me for this horror movie scene, he tied me to a chair, he bruised my arm, and I was 16 years old, and then he gagged me, and I was all game because I’m trying to be scared for the scene.
“And at the end he takes the gag out of my mouth and he said, ‘Sorry for the prophylactic,’ so he had gagged me with a condom,” Sorvino said, adding, “It was so inappropriate, and what the heck was a casting director doing with a condom in his pocket in an audition?”
At least he was practicing safe auditioning.
She believes her refusal to engage in sexual relations with the director cost her the part.
She also alleges that multiple directors pressured her to “have a sexual relationship with them” in order to get a part and was warned in advanced of this happening.
She claimed that friends of hers were advised: “You’re absolutely going to have to have sex with all kinds of people to advance your career,” and said, “I always refused all of those things, and lost out on certain acting opportunities in big movies because of it.”
Sorvino previously claimed to be blacklisted by Weinstein. Peter Jackson confirmed suspicions, stating that she and Ashley Judd were not cast in Lord of The Rings due to conversations with Weinstein.
The 50-year-old actress is doing a bit better nowadays. She had a reoccurring role on season 9 of Modern Family and has four movies currently in post-production.