Daily Times

Chloe Grace Moretz, in a recent interview for Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, declined to name several former male co-stars who tried to put her down during filming.

“This guy that was my love interest was like, ‘I’d never date you in real life,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re too big for me’ – as in my size,” she told the publication. Moretz only revealed that the co-star in question was “23, 24 or 25” at the time, while she was just 15. “It was one of the only actors that ever made me cry on set,” she said. “I went bawling to my brother and he was like, ‘What happened?’ And I was like, ‘He told me I was too big.’
And my brother
was like, ‘What
just happened?’
My brother was so angry.”

The former child star recalled that she still had to act with the male co-star as the two leads, and “it was really hard.”

“It just makes you realise that there are some really bad people out there and for some reason, he felt the need to say that to me,” she said. “You have to kind of forgive and not forget really, but it was just like, wow. It was jarring. I look back on it and I was 15, which is really, really dark.”

Not all of Moretz’s co-stars have been so direct, however. The actress recalled other actors who would try to divert attention away from her by talking to the higher-ups behind her back.

“I’ve had a younger male lead ostracise me and bring up fake issues just to try and put me in my place, and make things up to the director. Things that are crazy, things that I would never do, unprofessional things that would make no sense!” Moretz said. “I’ve had an actor do that to me. It’s crazy. They have this inferiority issue, and I’m like, ‘You are completely equal to me, you are no different than me. I just happen to be the lead in this movie, and I don’t know why just because you are kind of the smaller character that you’re pushing me into a corner to try and put me down. Little snips that just put you down.”

Moretz has long been an outspoken advocate for gender equality and female empowerment in the industry. Earlier this year, the ‘Neighbours 2 – Sorority Rising’ star spoke out about the controversial ads for her upcoming animated film ‘Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs’.

In her interview with Variety, Moretz said that she’s trying to remain hopeful in the face of negativity.

“I’ve seen a massive shift just in terms of how many female filmmakers have been working recently,” she said, pointing to Desiree Ahkavan, who directed her in the upcoming film ‘The Miseducation of Cameron Post’. “We’re making big steps, but it’s a long way. We’re nowhere near the top. We’re just catching up. We have a long way to go.”

Published in Daily Times, August 12^th 2017.