Headey’s career took off again when she was cast as Cersei Lannister
Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has said refusing to have sex with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hampered her career for a decade.
“After it was discovered that he was a ball of slime, on a scale larger than me just knowing it, I started thinking, ‘F—, maybe because I don’t didn’t sleep, it impacted a decade of my professional life,'” the actress told The Times’ Culture column:
“Because I did two jobs for Miramax [the film company founded by Weinstein]
before these incidents, and after there was nothing.”
Headey accused Weinstein of sexual harassment on Twitter in 2017 when she detailed an encounter with the disgraced producer that left her in tears.
Weinstein has previously denied any wrongdoing.
The actress’ career took off again in 2011, when she was cast as Cersei Lannister in HBO’s hit fantasy drama, which will end with its eighth series in April.
Headey also explained that the trajectory of the show’s female characters, from brutalized and subjugated women to leading women, is a reaction to changes in the industry brought on by the MeToo movement.
“It reflects what is happening [in the real world]”, she ruminated. “We started somewhere and now we are at a place where there is no turning back. It going.
“For me, the idea that young actresses don’t have to deal with predatory idiots…I mean, there’s always chances, but having an easier path and it’s about who is the best for the role, rather than who you want to take to dinner, it’s exciting.”
And although the 45-year-old star has been silent for the past six episodes, she admits it was a touching goodbye when she finished her final scene.
“I was half asleep, half dreaming, thinking everything would be fine,” she recalls. ” ‘It’s finish. No matter !’ Everyone kept saying how much they were going to miss it and I was like, ‘Really? Not me.’
“Then I did my last scene, and Dave and Dan [David Benioff and DB Weiss, who
adapted George RR Martin’s novels] made a lovely, funny, slightly insulting speech, and I said something, then got in the car and burst into tears.”
