In trueJulie Taymorfashion, she delivers something wholly unique and unexpected inThe Glorias, a film thatchroniclesGloria Steinem’s journey, including the pivotal role she played in the rise of the women’s rights movement in the 1960s. Not only did Taymor cast four different actors to play Steinem in the film at different ages -Julianne Moore,Alicia Vikander,Lulu WilsonandRyan Kiera Armstrong- but she also has all four of them interact and discuss their experiences using something Taymor dubs the “bus out of time.”
It’s an especially moving watch, perhaps right now more than ever, but it’s not the only 2020 release that brought Steinem’s experience to screen. There was also the FX miniseries,Mrs. Americawhich featuredRose Byrneas Steinem and focused on the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. I recently had the opportunity to talk to Taymor and Steinem forThe Gloriasand during our chat, Steinem highlighted why that miniseries can’t compare to this feature film:
“Well, it would be nice to have the truth, which Mrs. America didn’t tell us. They sent me two of the scripts and they sent Eleanor Smeal two of the scripts too, and we read it and we realized the premise was a total lie. You know, that actually, Phyllis Schlafly, as far as we could tell, didn’t change one vote. It was the insurance companies and the economic interest that defeated the Equal Rights Amendment. So that show is the hen fight theory of history, that women are our own worst enemies. And of course we disagree! Sure we disagree! But we are not our own worst enemies alone, hello! We have worse enemies than that! So that is not comparable at all, and it’s all the more important, I’m all the more grateful that Julie is there telling it like it really is.”
If you’d like to hear more from Steinem and Taymor on the bus out of time concept, if Taymor ever considered casting just one actor to play Steinem in the film, and the value of releasing the movie a month before the election, you can check out our full conversation at the top of this article.
The Gloriasis now available for purchase on digital or to stream on Prime Video.
Gloria Steinem and Julie Taymor:
