Learning valuable lessons. Kate Mara opened up about her experience working on the Fantastic Four remake, admitting that it was a “horrible experience” and that she has some regrets.
“I married one of my costars, so I don’t regret doing that movie at all. But do I wish I had responded differently to certain things? Yes, definitely,” the A Teacher star, 37, revealed in an interview with the Television Academy.
Mara played the Invisible Woman in the 2015 flick alongside Jamie Bell, who portrayed the Thing. The pair went on to marry in 2017 and welcomed their first child, a daughter, in 2019.
“The fact of the matter is that my two horrendous experiences with directors were male directors. Have I not gotten along with a female director? Absolutely. And was it not the greatest work experience? Sure,” the Pose alum continued. “But there was never a time that I felt, ‘This is happening because I’m a woman.’ Where, with the male directors, it 100 percent was only happening with me; it was a power dynamic thing. And on both of my bad experiences, the movies were 95 percent men and I was the only woman in the movie.”
The House of Cards alum detailed her experience even more in an interview with Collider, sharing the importance of speaking up if something or someone makes you uncomfortable — something she didn’t do.
“If you’re feeling a certain thing that is uneasy or whatever, there’s a reason for it. But, because it was such a big movie and again, usually, except in this case, when you’re in a big superhero movie they usually do incredibly well, like almost always. So even if it’s challenging, or this or that, or not everything’s perfect, it’s probably good for you to do it,” she explained. “That was sort of what I was being told and also was telling myself.”
The New York native then noted that she does wish she had done things differently.
“I regret not having stood up for myself. I regret that for sure. Because if my daughter ended up acting and was in a situation like that where she felt like she couldn’t speak up … Meanwhile, I’m a pretty tough person and I really do advocate for myself,” Mara added. “Granted, this was a few years ago and maybe this situation was different, but if I was in that situation today, it just wouldn’t have happened or it just would have been a different environment, I think. So again, good learning experience!”
Additionally, the American Horror Story vet said that she learned to ask other actors what their experience with a certain producer or director was before joining a project.
“I think that if you really respect another actor and they’ve worked with someone that you’re thinking about working with, then you can learn a lot just by talking to them,” Mara told Collider. “I always say, if anyone ever wants to ask me about my experiences on things, then please do because I think that if you’re in a position where you can make a choice about doing something or not doing something — and we’re not always, sometimes you just have to work — but if you’re in a position where you can, doing the research not just with the role but with the people that you’re about to work with creatively is really important.”
