Olivia Munn is about to star as Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse, coming out May 27. That should give Captain America: Civil War enough time to dominate the box office before another superhero movie comes swooping in. Munn gave an interview to American Way Magazine where she was rather candid, which is nice to see from her. It seemed like she worked specific talking points into her earlier interviews but like she’s moving beyond that now. She seems to know how to make headlines, because she dishes on the fact that she turned down the girlfriend role in Deadpool, ultimately played by Morena Baccarin. Munn also speaks in general terms about the fact that she’s had some terrible experiences meeting famous people. She should talk specifics, I would be highly interested in that but I guess she gave more details in her memoir according to this piece:
On meeting famous men who end up being sleazy
“The nightmare is not that people do those things but that people do those things and continue to be successful,” she says. “That’s the hardest thing. And it still happens. I meet famous people who I’m super excited to meet, and I felt the same way the rest of the world felt — they’re gonna be so awesome — and it’s so different. Not just different in the fact they’re not jovial and funny and sarcastic and likable, but in the worst-case scenario, which is they’re not nice to other people. It kind of breaks your spirit. And you wonder: To get to this level of success, do I have to be like that?”She turned down the girlfriend role in Deadpool
Munn was also offered a role in a very different X-Men spin-off — that of Ryan Reynolds’ girlfriend in Deadpool, which had the biggest February opening ever for an R-rated movie. Its box-office haul is inconsequential. Munn says she didn’t want to be the girlfriend. Not again. She wanted to fight. To make noise. To kick butt.She took the Psylocke role because she wasn’t just eye candy
“I said, ‘Is there a fight scene?’ ” Munn says of her early meetings with the X-Men: Apocalypse people. Once again, the filmmakers were full of assurances. Yet Munn couldn’t shake the feeling that there might be too much talking and not enough action. “The fight scene,” she says with a wry smile, “could be her monologue.”For Munn, the brute strength of her character was an important issue, a make-or-break thing, and the discussions dragged on. “I thought Psylocke was always one of the most lethal characters, and I said, ‘Yes, as long as you’re not using her to be the eye candy. She has really powerful abilities.’ And they said, ‘Yes, that’s an important part.’ ”
She says she would consider quitting acting
“For me, I would eventually love to be behind and not in front of the camera.”Really?
She laughs. “Even my own friends are like, ‘Really?’ I love being an actor. Maybe it’s just the feeling of being in front of the camera or the people I’ve met who’ve rubbed me the wrong … ”
Another pause.
“Maybe I don’t want to play that game… When you’re behind the scenes, you get to shape the whole thing,” she says. “In front, it’s just your character.”
[From American Way via Huffington Post]
In case you think Munn is just thinking out loud about a potential career as a producer/director, American Way claims it’s already in the works for her and that she “has a first-look deal with CBS Television Studios to executive-produce a series about a female sportscaster in the 1970s.” This makes sense because she has a close relationship with Aaron Sorkin after working on his series The Newsroom.
Is it uncool for Munn to reveal the fact that she was the first choice for Baccarin’s role, or is it a welcome commentary on the lack of strong roles for women in Hollywood? I’m honestly asking. While Baccarin’s role was a typical damsel in distress, she wasn’t entirely passive and did save/aid Reynolds’s character at a key point. Baccarin was convincing in Deadpool, I don’t think Munn would have been as believable. Plus there was a female superhero and a female villain in Deadpool, it wasn’t all about the bros although of course they dominated.
photos credit: WENN.com, FameFlynet and Pacific Coast News
I think it is bs and she is just making stuff to have a story about her. That said, Morena Baccarin was perfect as Vaness imho and I hope she’ll be in the sequel too as CopyCat.
I hope she’s making it up because if not she made a very big mistake and talking about it is quite a bit embarrassing. Vanessa was “the girlfriend” but she also was a great, funny character in her own right. Olivia turned her down to play – if the other X-men movies are any indication – “boobs with cool powers and no dialogue”. Yeah, Psylocke is physically strong and kicks butt, but she’s not a ‘strong’ character. Don’t get me wrong I’m a HUGE x-men fan but they’re large ensemble movies with minimal character development. Vanessa would have been much more of a challenge and/or a statement than any of the new mutants can ever be.
No, I get your point and I do agree!
I think as far as girlfriend roles go–that was the best that you can go. It’s how all girlfriend roles should be–she wasn’t passive, she was actually part of the storyline, beyond eyecandy. I wasn’t annoyed to see her onscreen, like I am with most girlfriend/wife roles, when it’s like WHY ARE YOU HERE!?!?!?!
As someone who loved Baccarin in that role and thought she did amazing it was 100% ‘girlfriend’.
I actually really respected Olivia for saying that because before I read her reasoning I thought the same thing, “But it’s such a good movie and your profile would have been higher if you did it!” but honestly once you get into that hot chick/girlfriend position in Hollywood the only way to go is down, happens to the hottest and most popular of them all eventually.
I think she’s right too. A tiny bit of shade sure but I don’t think it was intentional. Women are feeling better about speaking up and choosing roles that focus on power not passivity. It’s dangerous to be only the beauty when it’s plain as day you age out of this category as 40 looms.
Yeah, I think it’s really interesting to read about her process of making the decision. And I didn’t even take it as a slam on the role itself, necessarily. It was more about what SHE was looking for in a role. I know everybody hates on Olivia Munn, but I think she’s interesting and I often like what she has to say.
I’m not going to fault her on this one. She made a choice – and the movie was a huge success. She’s not saying “oh boohoo I missed out on a ton of money” – and I mean this movie was one that was anticipated for so long it was bound to at least do decently. She turned down a basic role for something she really wanted. And I admire that.
I agree. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her turning down the girlfriend role. She has the role she wanted, so good for her.
She just looks so different without her natural square jaw. Imagine if Angelina Jolie shaved the angle of her jaw down, how odd she would look with a more pointed “feminized” jaw line. Same for Munn, IMO.
I was just going to say the same thing, all I can focus on is her new face. The one she claims she achieved by eating Japanese sweet potatoes-LOL! How stupid does she think the public is? Google images says it all.
On a side note, my poor 3 1/2 pound Yorkie was not feeling well, so I was feeding him that very potato, and his face is the same. Nice try, Olivia. 🙂
Olivier Munn could play the lead character in Deadeyes
I’m befuddled by this chick’s new face/mouth region
That said my only commentary is that I used to pork a guy that looked just like her dude and a shudder totally ran through me right now
and that Im not so hot on Olivia Munn even before the new face and the bf that looks like Mr Best Sex Ever LOL
The bf is Aaron Rodgers. He’s the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.
Yeah I totally understand her reasoning. Regardless of the fact that Morena had some action and everything else, the definition of her role was: Deadpool’s girlfriend. Nothing else. So, it was a smart move if that’s what she wanted. And she landed a kickass role. Props…
I like Olivia. It bugs me a little that in every OM article here they use those weird looking pictures so we don’t forget that she might be a hypocrite who says she never had plastic surgery, yet when you peek over her IG you see plenty of pictures where her jaw/makeup free face looks as normal as ever. contouring, angles and lights and weight loss do change one’s face!!
Yeah, not to mention all the comments on her looks when this particular article isn’t even about that. (I really do think it’s weight loss, though.)
Lol–I did read that post where people were going gaga over her plastic surgery……but I totally did not see it. Just like I didn’t really see anything with Renee Zellwager’s face. Like people were going on on and on about how unrecognizable she was…..and I’m sitting in a corner by myself, because yea……………
I doubt this movie will do better than Deadpool but then again she is front and center with JLaw in all the ad campaigns for this movie s maybe this has done her a world of good.
God her face used to be beautiful. Now it’s a mess.
I loooooved her more angular jaw and I’m stunned she changed it?! To me the shape of her face was sooo unusual & beautiful. I’m assuming she was going for a westernized look which is such a shame as now she kind of blends in….
I don’t blame her for turning down a character she only saw as “the girlfriend”. She bugs me for some reason, but I’m not going to fault her for that choice.
She’s a Megan Fox/Emily Blunt hybrid facewise at the moment. Japanese potatoes you have done your work.
Interesting that she’s keen to work behind the camera. Maybe she’s starting to feel the pinch on getting good roles (she’s late 30s, I think: the age where Hollywood starts to cull the former starlets, ingénues and bombshells) and she doesn’t have the long-term prospects that come with the acting skills of, say, Rachel McAdams, so it’s probably a good thing to try and diversify. Good luck to her.
She annoys be for reasons I don’t know. That being said I liked this interview and yeah it makes sense what she is saying. I also have to respect the fact she is thinking long term about her career and what she wants it to look like.
I doubt she would mention if the movie failed. I fully understand the situation for actresses but Olivia Munn isnt some great actress, she really should have taken that, would have helped her career.
i don’t like the fact that she said anything, she shouldnt give specifics, makes the other actress seem like she was second choice or didnt have enough respect to turn in down. Yes there is a larger conversation to be had about the issue. But the one i rather have is, HER FACE. it’s so different, yet kinda the same. how did she do that? Yes, i am a very superficial commenter, best work escape there is.
There have been so many blinds about her being horrible to other females in the business so it’s interesting that she, of all people, is spouting off about mean people
Exactly. I think there have also been stories about her treating crew members horribly way back to the G4 days, and just generally being a rude bitch to people she considers beneath her. I love how she’s painting herself as some sweet innocent when I’m pretty sure that’s never been her reputation.
And she’s so against being just eye candy? Hasn’t that always been her schtick? I’m not familiar with her X-Men character, but I’m guessing that’s all it will be, skanky costume and not much else.
She may have been considered for it, but I’m skeptical that she was offered it and turned it down. Morena Baccarin was well cast and did well in the role. I don’t think that Vanessa/Copy Cat was your conventional girlfriend role, though. She was the female lead and had more initiative than the girlfriend role usually gets.
I don’t buy that if offered that role she turned it down because it was the girlfriend role. I think she turned it down because the character was a stripper and had nude scenes, although a double was likely used. That type of acting role doesn’t fit well with her other role as Aaron Rodger’s girlfriend. That role requires more wholesome acting roles. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took a page from the Jennifer Garner playbook and took a lead role in a Christian/inspiration movie.
As others have mentioned she’s in her 30s and aging out of the ingenue roles. She also doesn’t have the talent to transition to more serious actress roles.
“Wholesome” is a word that could never be used to describe her, any more than she could ever pull off a role in a Christian movie. It would be downright hilarious to see her try though.
If by some horrible lapse in judgment she actually was offered Deadpool, who knows why she really turned it down? I doubt it was the stripper thing or the nudity. She probably would’ve considered those things as her “Cool Girl” badges of honor. Regardless, it was tacky of her to mention any of this and she’s only doing it for attention.
I often wonder that – when someone says they “turned down” the role, was it ever really theirs to decline? Or did they simply have a meeting about it?
Well I get her point about ‘the girlfriend’ role, she’s right. And the other female characters in the movie were really small (though cool) so it doesn’t really count much.
Baccarin was perfect, I wouldn’t change her for anything and they definitely seemed to be setting up for her to have a bigger/more active role in the sequels. But I can get why an actress who’s not interested in that kind of role turned it down.