Glow star Alison Brie on why women need to own their success

Glow star Alison Brie on why women need to own their successGlow star Alison Brie on why women need to own their successIts hard to believe Alison Brie would have trouble owning zu sich success. After all, she was on two seminal shows (Mad Men and Community) during the same time period, has had a stellar film career with roles in Sleeping With Other People, The Lego Movie and The Post, and now stars on the hit Netflix series Glow which just got renewed for a third season. However, she points out, that all women, no matter what industry they are in tend to apologize for their success.Ladders sat down with the actress recently at an fest celebrating the re-launch ofAmerican Express Gold Card to discuss her career and women in Hollywood.On embracing your successBrie recently worked with Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg on last years Oscar-nominated The Post. She described the job as surreal but also realized she deserved to be there.It was totally surreal and amazing but at the same ti me, we all need to remind ourselves that we do deserve that. You are at that place because you worked hard to get there. Luck obviously has something to do with it, but so does determination. Certainly, the challenge of that job was to be cool, stay in character, etc., The first take of every scene was Oh my God, Oh my God, its Meryl Streep, and then by the second take it was like remember youre playing a character. Its your mom. And at a certain point you go, I deserve to be here and I think that speaks to women in all industries.Much more so than men, weve been made to feel like we always have to apologize for our success, even amongst other women and really about anything. You look beautiful Oh do I? I dont know. We downplay our success and I think we shouldnt We should really take ownership in those things. There are moments when we dont have success so you need to embrace your power when you have it.On fighting for her jobThe showrunners for Glow, a series about womens wrestlin g in the 1980s, famously did not want Brie for the lead role of Ruth. This made Brie want it even more.When I read the role it hit me gutturally. I really responded to the werkstoff and it kind of was the perfect process for me and me becoming this character. Ruths whole struggle is feeling underestimated and feeling that she has to prove to people that she is capable of more. And that was my process when I read the role.As an actress, I had more that I wanted to showcase. I was really looking to do something different that felt unexpected for me. So when I heard that they didnt think I was right for the role thats how I knew this was the right role to pursue. It made me feel like that is exactly what Im looking for. And the longer the audition process went on the more I literally morphed into Ruth at every new audition.Her desperation was coming through me and that gumption that Ive always had especially when it comes to my acting career. And just that wanton desire to prove yourse lf. My showrunners said when they first mentioned you for the part we couldnt landsee it all and by the end, we couldnt unsee you.On the state of women in HollywoodI think it is a good time to be a woman in Hollywood because never before have we had such a strong community and felt such a closeness and a banding together as a sex to change the industry in a lot of ways. It does feel like we are on the brink of a lot of change I hope. Certainly more than ever people are writing great roles for women. Glow is such a testament to that and the work that Jenji Cohen the Emmy-nominated creator of Glow, Weeds, and Orange is the New Black has always been about showcasing all different types of women. To look at our cast and the cast of Orange is the New Black, and just the volume of women is incredible.Its also a good time for women because people are grasping the value of female executives, and female creators, and women at the top. Womens stories arent only for women, they are for everyon e and I think you are starting to see the trickle of that in the industry.On learning from the bestBrie talked about working with the legendary Streep.I was just trying to pillage her secrets and it was so difficult because there is an effortlessness to the way that she works. You can only imagine it is from years of practice. Certainly her presence on set and in character. She never did the same take twice. She always seemed to be so in the moment. She was very unafraid in trying different things.Sometimes as an actor you want to plan out how you do everything and with her, there was not the slightest bit of that. You looked into her eyes and you feel like she was living right then in that moment.