Olivia Munn has revealed that a male co-star once refused to let her character save his onscreen – because she was a woman.
The 45-year-old actress, who underwent a series of surgeries in 2024 — including a double mastectomy — after a breast cancer diagnosis, has made a few films where she played a police officer or CIA agent and her character ‘has been the one to save the other’.
But on one occasion when she was shooting a gunfight scene in an underground bunker, her male co-star actually halted production when he realised what was about to happen.
‘If you read the script, it was that he was guarding his side, I was guarding my side, then we switch sides and then there’s a guy that was coming for him — was going to shoot him in the back — so I shoot him,’ she explained on The Drew Barrymore Show.
‘And then we’re about to shoot and, somehow, I guess he didn’t read the script, and in that moment, he realised, “Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. She can’t save me. No, no. She can’t save me”.’
The male star, who Olivia didn’t name, then halted production and got ‘combative with the director’ over the plans.
She added: ‘There was no insecurity about being obnoxious and everyone hearing this and being like, “She can’t save me! We’re not doing this.”’
Olivia revealed the discussions went on for almost an hour, before she came up with a way to get things back on track for the unspecified project.
She said: ‘Finally, after like 45 minutes of just stopping down, I said, “OK, how about instead of my character saving you, it’s just that we switch because it’s time for us to switch and so this is my guy to get?”’
‘And he was like, “OK”.’
However, as the X-Men: Apocalypse star pointed out, she had found a way to convince her castmate without actually changing the original scene.
She added: ‘Now here’s the interesting thing: nothing changed. It’s just what he thought. I was doing the exact same thing.’
Olivia has played agents and enforcement officers multiple times, including on the shows The Rook, Six and Chuck.
This comes as Kate Beckinsale said that Mark Ruffalo benefits from ‘having a penis’ in Hollywood after she was dropped by her agent and faced repercussions, she claims, for liking a post about a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ruffalo, on the other hand, remains represented by the same agency and was promoting the new film Palestine 36 on Instagram.
In later now-deleted comments, the Underworld actress said that she was ‘not even blaming Mark for this’, but is still ‘noticing it’ in general.
Meanwhile, Olivia recently shared the lessons she learned after an unnamed director giving her bad notes and trying to stop her getting another role.
She told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I’ve realised that I’m going to handle this situation in a way that is going to be the best outcome for me.
‘I used to see so many other actors do it, and I’d think, “Why are you not taking the note? I can’t believe you’re being so indignant.”
‘Then I realised it’s a way to protect your art and your choices with a character. I hope I have helped more actresses learn this.’
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