Thandie Newton turned down 'Charlie's Angels' role because the vision for her character was sexist and racist

• Thandie Newton recently discussed racism and sexism in Hollywood during an interview with Vulture.
• The "Westworld" star said she dropped out of the 2000 film adaptation of "Charlie's Angels" because she felt "objectified" in casting meetings.
• She recalled the director saying the "first shot" of her would show her butt in tight jeans. "I was like, 'Oh, I don't think we're going to go down this road together,'" she said.
• Newton also accused Amy Pascal, a Sony studio executive, of pressuring her to turn the character into a Black stereotype to be more "believable."
• "She's like, 'Maybe there could be a scene where you're in a bar and she gets up on a table and starts shaking her booty.' She's basically reeling off these stereotypes of how to be more convincing as a Black character."

Thandie Newton says she dropped out of a blockbuster movie role 20 years ago because she felt "objectified" in casting meetings.

The "Westworld" actor was originally meant to star alongside Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in the 2000 film adaptation of "Charlie's Angels." It has been reported that Newton turned down the role of brainiac Alex Munday because "she was worried it would make her too famous," so Lucy Liu was hired instead.

But in a new interview with Vulture, Newton revealed that inappropriate, objectifying, and racist comments were made during meetings with the film's director and a studio executive.

"One of the biggest movies I didn't end up doing was because the director said to me, 'I can't wait for this. The first shot is going to be … You're going to think it's like yellow lines down a road, and you pull back and you realize it's the stitching, because the denim is so tight on your ass it's going to look like tarmac.' I was like, 'Oh, I don't think we're going to go down this road together,'" she said.

Newton later clarified that the movie in question was "Charlie's Angels," which was directed by Joseph McGinty Nichol, known professionally as McG.

Newton also accused Amy Pascal, a Sony executive at the time, of pressuring her to turn the character into more of a Black stereotype.

"I had a meeting with her, and she said, 'Look, I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but the character as written and you playing the role, I just feel like we've got to make sure that it's believable,'" Newton explained. "I was like, 'What do you mean? What changes would you have to make?'"

"She's like, 'Well, you know, the character, as written, she's been to university and is educated,'" Newton continued. "I'm like, 'I've been to university. I went to Cambridge.' She went, 'Yeah, but you're different.' She's like, 'Maybe there could be a scene where you're in a bar and she gets up on a table and starts shaking her booty.' She's basically reeling off these stereotypes of how to be more convincing as a Black character."

"Everything she said, I was like, 'Nah, I wouldn't do that.' She's like, 'Yeah, but you're different. You're different.' That was Amy Pascal. That's not really a surprise, is it? Let's face it: I didn't do the movie as a result."

Newton has been open about her experiences with sexism and racism in Hollywood. She has also spoken about being groomed and sexually abused by "Flirting" director John Duigan, which began when Newton was just 16 years old.

"Look, no one was ever going to sexually abuse me again," Newton told Vulture. "But I didn't want to be put in a position where I was objectified. That just didn't feel good."

"This is a long time ago anyway, and all those girls are brilliant," she continued. "But if that was me now, I'd want to disrupt rather than run away. I think that's probably the change in me."

She added: "That's not the only thing that happened. There's the disgusting thing that happened with the casting couch. Just this grossness. I've got my little black book, which will be published on my deathbed."

Newton has referenced exploitative experiences on the "casting couch" before. She told W Magazine that when she was 18, an unnamed casting director "had a camera shooting up my skirt and asked me to touch my tits and think about the guy making love to me in the scene."

She says a different producer later told her, drunkenly, that the unnamed director "was showing that audition tape to his friends after poker games at his house. And they would all get off on it."

Of the "little black book," Newton clarified that it doesn't just contain names.

"Oh, of everything. Got to leave something behind, love," she said. "I'm not doing it when I'm alive. I don't want to deal with all the fallout and everyone getting their side of the story. There is no side of the story when you're sexually abused. You give that up."

Read Newton's full interview with Vulture's E. Alex Jung here.