Stranger Thingsstar Grace Van Dien detailed an alleged experience from a recent movie that speaks to Hollywood power dynamics and a culture of abuse that was exposed due to Harvey Weinstein but persists today. As a result of this experience, Van Dien traded acting for streaming, where her story was publicly shared when the actor spoke on her desire to stream more and act less.
Acting, while rewarding, is a hard career both physically and mentally, with some actors expressing multiple levels of immense pressure, including a cast member who shared theiranxiety struggles on the set ofStranger Things. So, working in a toxic environment on top of that can be detrimental to the success of the actors, their mental health, and the quality of work they can produce. It can be hard to perform well at a job when an employee feels they were hired for ulterior motives, whichStranger Thingsnewcomer Van Dien details in one of her latest live streams as evidence to suggest why she has turned down acting roles.
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TheStranger Thingsactor expresses that “the last few projects” she worked on “didn’t have the best experiences” and recounts “one of the last movies” she did where “one of the producers” had “hired a girl he was sleeping with, and then he had her ask me to have a threesome with them.” The clip posted fromDexertoends with the actor, now a streamer, coming to terms with the reality of her situation, stating, “so like, that’s my boss.”Joseph Quinn defended Van Dien against toxic fandomsregarding the harassment that both of them have received asStranger Thingsnewcomers, which speaks to the Netflix series as a phenomenon that opens all sorts of doors, some of which they may not want to walk through as expressed through Van Dien’s own experiences.
Seeing how the actor has been fighting off toxicity on all sides, it is no wonder why the pressure would be overwhelming. As a result, streaming may be the perfect opportunity to reset, as she says, “with streaming, I get to choose who I hang out with, who I talk to, etc.” Even so, fans may hope for an opportunity for the actor to show up in the variousStranger Thingsspinoff seriesin development.
Actors and directors alike have spoken out against the dark underbelly of Hollywood, such as Zack Snyder in his earlier filmSucker Punch. However, it is hard to come forth with the risk of one’s livelihood and reputation being threatened.Hollywood is still problematicin this regard, so it was good that Van Dien chose her words carefully since it is unclear what producer or movie she was referring to when this alleged interaction happened. Regardless, speaking out against this kind of abuse is one step closer to a better and more positive emotional culture in the workplace, especially in Hollywood.
