Gina Gershon revealed she turned down a lead role in a horror film because she had to show a little too much skin.
The Showgirls star, 63, pointed out that she didn’t have “anything against nudity,” as she grew up on European films, “but only if it makes sense for the character and the story.”
Gershon explained why she ultimately declined the opportunity to star in Friday the 13th Part 2 during a new interview with Fox News Digital while promoting her memoir, AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs.
“It definitely felt kind of exploitative to me and a little silly that right before she gets killed, her top has to come off,” the actress shared in the article published on Sunday, March 29, revealing she even spoke to her dad, Stan Gershon, about it and he wholeheartedly agreed.
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“Listen, I was really lucky that I had a father who really taught me how to believe in my own decisions,” she continued. “It wasn’t like I had to rebel against my family. I remember asking him about it, thinking he was going to say, ‘No daughter of mine is going to do that!’ And he said, ‘It’s your body. If you’re comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it.’”
“My dad may have died too soon, but he taught me many valuable lessons in the 19 years I had with him,” Gina wrote in her memoir.
Gina is widely recognized for her role as Cristal Connors in the 1995 cult classic Showgirls, directed by Paul Verhoeven. In her book, she claimed to have had creative differences with Verhoeven that resulted in them arguing over “mundane things.”
She wrote that one day while filming, he walked into her trailer and allegedly suggested, “‘In today’s scene, I think it would be good if you showed your vagina.’”
Gina said she calmly asked the reason and whether the scene truly called for it before proposing an exaggerated alternative. “To my utter relief, Paul slowly backed out of my trailer, looking at me like I was bonkers,” she wrote. “He never mentioned my vagina again.”
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In response to her book claims, a spokesperson for the director told the outlet, “Mr. Verhoeven has not read the memoir, and has no comment.”
Gina previously spoke about her memoir with Interview magazine, revealing that it was not intended to “advise anyone” but rather share how she navigated life “in my way.”
“I’m a storyteller. I don’t consider myself a writer so much. But I realized I don’t want to write a tell-all book about Showgirls, or about showbiz,” she said. “They’re interesting stories, but it’s not really me. It felt icky.”
