Gina Gershon recently made her slasher debut in Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, but she nearly launched her career four decades prior with Friday the 13th Part 2.
In her memoir AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs, published earlier this month, Gershon recalls turning down a role in the horror sequel.
“At the time, those kinds of slasher movies always had girls dying with their breasts exposed,” Gershon wrote. “My character would be killed by a stake through the heart, blood dripping down her tits. That seemed pretty lame to me: exploitation 101.”
The Showgirls actress discussed her decision with Fox News. “I was offered a lead in that movie. And, of course, I was so excited to act in movies, but it definitely felt kind of exploitative to me and a little silly that right before she gets killed, her top has to come off.”
Context clues suggest Gershon may have been up for the part of Terry, who goes skinny dipping before being dispatched by Jason, or Sandra, who gets impaled with spear alongside her boyfriend mid-coitus. Kirsten Baker and Marta Kober ultimately played those roles.
“I was really lucky that I had a father who really taught me how to believe in my own decisions,” Gershon continued. “It wasn’t like I had to rebel against my family. I remember asking him about it, thinking he was going to say, ‘No daughter of mine is going to do that!’ And he said, ‘It’s your body. If you’re comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it.’”
She added, “When I sat and thought about it, I just thought, ‘I don’t really want to do this.’ I wasn’t comfortable with it. It seemed silly to me. Not that I had anything against nudity — I grew up on European films — but only if it makes sense for the character and the story. But when it just seems silly, I don’t know. It just felt like it was something that wasn’t for me.”
After passing on the 1981 slasher, Gershon made her film debut the same year as a dancer in Beatlemania.
