Actresses take on male-scripted roles

Let’s face it: unless you’re Meryl Streep or Jennifer Lawrence, there aren’t a lot of great roles for women in Hollywood. This isn’t anything new, but lately a number of actresses have spoken out about the problem.

As if it wasn’t enough, many of the film industry’s most iconic heroines – the roles we hold as evidence to the contrary– were actually written for male actors in mind.

Currently, Charlize Theron, who recently starred in “Mad Max: Fury Road,” is in talks with Sony Pictures to star in “The Gray Man,” a thriller about a CIA operative-turned-assassin known as Court Gentry, who must fight his way through Europe in order to save the lives of his daughters – daughters who have no idea of his existence. Sounds interesting, but what’s even more intriguing is the fact that even though the script was written for a male hero, Theron may be taking on the leading role.

According to Deadline, “Theron is in the process of attaching herself” to the leading role, which was originally meant for Brad Pitt. The original script, based on the first novel in Mark Greaney’s “Gray Man” series, was written by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, directors of the Marvel superhero flicks “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and upcoming “Captain America: The Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity Wars, Part 1 and 2.”

Theron is not the first actress to take on a role that was written for a man. Sony famously changed the gender of another spy thriller, “Salt,” which was altered for Angelina Jolie after Tom Cruise skipped out on the lead role. Additionally, Sandra Bullock is staring in the new comedy-drama film “This Brand Is Crisis,” taking on a lead role originally meant for George Clooney. The movie will be released on Oct. 30.

“We’re complex, crazy little creatures,” Bullock said about her role in the film at the Toronto Film Festival last month. “We deserve to have stories that reflect that. And normalize that instead of it being a rarity. ‘Oh she’s intelligent? She wants to travel the world and do things for herself? Well, that’s weird.’ That’s the way it’s played out for so long.”

It is safe to say that there is a serious gender imbalance in Hollywood. However, George Clooney, the recently actor-turned-producer, has a simple solution: rewrite more male roles for women. “There’s a lot more (roles) out there if people just started thinking,” said Clooney to Entertainment Weekly.

By taking roles initially written for a man and having women play them, Hollywood would not only provide more lead parts to the talented actresses that deserve them, but also highlight just how capable women are.