Gina Gershon Recalls Turning Down Topless ‘Friday the 13th Part 2’ Role: “Felt Kind Of Exploitative”
Gina Gershon is no stranger to showing skin on camera, but she doesn’t agree with the need for gratuitous onscreen nudity.
In her new memoir AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobsthe actress recalled learning to “trust my gut” when she turned down a topless role in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981).
“At the time, those kinds of slasher movies always had girls dying with their breasts exposed,” she wrote. “My character would be killed by a stake through the heart, blood dripping down her tits. That seemed pretty lame to me: exploitation 101.”
Gershon added, “My dad may have died too soon, but he taught me many valuable lessons in the 19 years I had with him. Mainly, he taught me to trust myself in making my own decisions.”
“This theme of trusting my gut kept showing up in my life.”
Tom McBride, Lauren-Marie Taylor, John Furey, Amy Steel in ‘Friday the 13th Part 2‘ (1981) (Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection)
In an interview with Fox NewsGershon recalled, “I was offered a lead in that movie. And, of course, I was so excited to act in movies, but 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 Showgirls star said she “was really lucky that I had a father who really taught me how to believe in my own decisions,” noting that she thought he would be angry about her considering the role. “And he said, ‘It’s your body. If you’re comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it,’” said Gershon.
“When I sat and thought about it, I just thought, ‘I don’t really want to do this.’ I wasn’t comfortable with it. It seemed silly to me,” she explained. “Not that I had anything against nudity — I grew up on European films — but only if it makes sense for the character and the story. But when it just seems silly, I don’t know. It just felt like it was something that wasn’t for me.”
Despite turning down the slasher role, Gershon made her onscreen debut the same year as a dancer in Beatlemania: The Movie. After appearing in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Cocktail (1988) and Jungle Fever (1991), her breakout came with the skin-baring role of Cristal Connors in Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 erotic cult hit Showgirls.
