Los Angeles, March 10 – Hollywood actress Ashley Judd is reflecting on one of her earliest box office successes. In a recent Instagram video post, Judd noted how her relationship with the 1997 film "Kiss the Girls" has "evolved" over the years.
The actress shared that the shift happened due to the film's depiction of violence against women, according to 'Variety'.
"Kiss the Girls" centers on male sexual violence and the torture of women's bodies," Ashley Judd wrote in her caption. "At the time, we often framed stories like this around female resilience, the strength of survival. Many people still say that's what the film means to them. But I've found myself asking a different question: Why is sexual terror against women something we package as entertainment? Why is it profitable?"
According to 'Variety', "Kiss the Girls" was adapted from James Patterson's 1995 novel of the same name and was directed by Gary Fleder. Morgan Freeman starred as forensic psychologist Alex Cross, while Judd played a doctor and kickboxer who is abducted by a masked serial killer who calls himself Casanova.
"Thank you for loving the movie, thank you for loving me in it. Thank you for making it such a success. I was going to say that it was a pivotal moment, but I would even say that it was a transformative moment in my career. I want to talk about the movie in a way that has become clearer to me over the years, and I invite you to consider (this) for yourself. It's okay to love the movie and come up to me and say it's your favorite movie," the actress told her fans.
She doubled down on questioning "why filming male sexual violence" and "torture of the female body" is considered entertaining. She also said the movie contains "very misogynistic dialogue," which is "painfully wrong."
"It's about the resilience after male sexual violence. It's about the resilience after male sexual torture of the female body, and I ask: Why is that entertainment? Why is that a capitalist enterprise? Why do we create entertainment and make money off of such a subject?" she asked. "So, we're valorizing my (character's) resilience in the movie, but we're not necessarily critiquing or wrestling with or holding at arm's length the fact that the movie is about trauma, and it is traumatizing. To me, this is not entertainment. It's collective denial, and making entertainment out of sexual terror."
"Kiss the Girls" was a box office hit for Paramount Pictures in 1997, grossing $60 million worldwide on a budget of just under $30 million.