Mary Harron Quotes on Fear (2 Quotes)

We have all these movies from the '50s, but they're told from such a male perspective and such a '50s ideology. You wouldn't see Bettie's story from her point of view. People wouldn't be interested in what it was really like or take her story at face value, ... Films from that time are hilarious because of their complete condemnation of any kind of female initiative or ambition. It was such a contradictory world that even the law itself didn't have a clear handle on it.... I really wanted to get across that moment in time of naivet, fear and panic.

We haven't faced that yet, ... I don't know what's going to happen. The scene when she takes all of her clothes off the movie is so much about what is the fear of sex, and Bettie's whole career is about showing her body. She is famous for posing naked in the Garden of Eden, and she is famous for the bondage, the clothes, the gear. You have to have that contrast. You had to show what everyone is afraid of. That's the heart of the movie. To lose that would be very hard.