Leading Lady Parts is a short film from the BBC written and directed by Jessica Swale, starring people like Emilia Clarke, for the #TimesUp era. Via the LA Times:
Significant discussions and changes have emerged from the Time’s Up movement, both in the U.S. and in the U.K., but this week brings the first artistic work directly generated by the group’s activism. Rebel Park Productions, a new company led by British actress Gemma Arterton, has released an eight-minute comedic short film titled “Leading Lady Parts,” in which several well-known actresses help address issues of gender inequality.
Written and directed by Jessica Swale and produced by Rebel Park, which is composed of Arterton and producers Jessica Malik and Jessica Parker, “Leading Lady Parts” premiered Monday night on BBC4 in the U.K. and is now available globally on YouTube. The idea to make a creative statement arose after Arterton attended several meetings for Time’s Up earlier this year.
“It was just women in a room, chatting — we felt everything was very serious,” the actress says. “There were really big issues being spoken about. We felt it would be fantastic to do something light-hearted and more comical that got the message out without beating anyone over the head. There was a room filled with all these creative, beautiful women and what better way to make a difference … than all coming together and making something?”
She adds, “It’s one of the best things to come out of the Time’s Up meetings for me personally: Meeting people I would never usually meet. For example, Felicity Jones. I had this meeting in my house and Felicity came and she was the one [who] suggested ‘Why don’t we do something together?’ That was a very heartening thing.”