Dying of Politeness: A Memoir

Product Information

In this memoir, she tells stories of meeting the supremely independent and sharp-shooting Susan Sarandon, the Louise to her Thelma; of her spontaneous Las Vegas wedding to Jeff Goldblum; of her archery exploits which led her to the Olympic trials; and of how she became a tireless advocate for women and girls, founding her own institute which engages film and TV creators to better represent women.

I didn’t remember this, but somebody sent me a Première magazine cover…We look like we're having the most fun, and it's hard to remember what I thought while I was doing those things. By the mid and late 1990s, Davis's film career had become less noteworthy and critical acclaim had waned. a wannabe maniacal director hurt your feelings -- this is clearly someone exploiting contemporary socio-political progress for their own publicity/book sales. In 2019, she joined the voice cast of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as Huntara, [48] and executive produced CBS educational show Mission Unstoppable through her organization.I realized that I was very, very anxious about doing the right thing and getting perfect grades, and I started thinking to myself, in 10 years, you won’t remember that you got a B on a math test. As a teen-ager, you spent a year on an exchange program in Sweden, which is definitely not something I knew about you. she knew what she wanted to say and she would say it and people didn’t freak out, they were still very comfortable around her.

She is particularly annoyed by the fact that while about 20 per cent of Americans have disabilities, only 1 per cent of movies feature disabled characters. most notably, stars as lead thelma, in thelma and louise—partly thanks to her, we have that beautiful scene of brad pitt shirtless (one of his first acting roles, if not his first). Which isn't her fault -- and doesn't mean she should have to eat shit bc of initial successes elsewhere, imo! Davis and Sarandon even made the cover of Time magazine with the headline Why Thelma and Louise Strikes a Nerve.

I was in the makeup trailer parked on a street in Manhattan on the morning of the first day of shooting when the second assistant director came into the trailer to let me know they were ready for me on set. Growing up Davis – always the tallest person in the room – felt like a misfit because of her height. But one wish is that all of us were told from the beginning that you don’t have to tolerate sexual advances, inappropriate sexualization, or sexual abuse. I even waited for a sign from my dad after he passed, I guess that makes me similar to her at least in that way.

Along the way there were challenging moments which she explores in the book, including an incident with actor Bill Murray while auditioning for the 1990 comedy Quick Change. While I like Geena Davis as an actress, she glossed over so much of what made her who she is today and how she got such big parts back in the 80s/90s, save for Thelma and Louise. I found it a thought provoking and interesting point of view, because I have an overlap with Geena on the subject. We did two or three or four takes, I can’t remember, and at some point, he nudged me with his elbow and said, all innocent and butter-wouldn’t-melt-y, ‘ What’s with you, you good?Dying of Politeness may seem like a weird title but once you read this book, the title makes perfect sense. Some readers may feel cheated that there is more detail here about her pets than her children, or that she is so reticent about the end of her three marriages, but she has clearly had to establish boundaries around her family’s privacy in the face of press intrusion. A lot of books start with the "I am born" to early twenties, and that can be dull, but her family is interesting and fun to read about. Like so many women in a situation like that, I didn’t know how to avoid being treated that way; I shut up and played along.