3 minute readrundown
Rose Byrne was one of Elle’s guests of honor at the Women in Hollywood event on Monday night. Rose Byrne spoke at the ceremony, highlighting the power of women to tell their stories.
Byrne was introduced to her by her friend and Bridesmaids co-star Melissa McCarthy.
On Monday night at ELLE’s Women in Hollywood event, honoree Rose Byrne took the stage and gave a heartfelt speech. She reflected on the film industry, feminism, and the power of women to tell their own stories.
“Women are complex, feminism is complex, and we are not a monolith,” she began. “This event is so special because it’s a special celebration of the many shades of women who have vastly different, complex, and nuanced challenges. These performances reflect everything that women encompass, in all their glory and fear.”
She also talked about her new project. “I came here because Mary Bronstein wrote a movie called “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick,” and she gave me a great opportunity to portray a terrible therapist who has a crisis with a woman, a mother, a wife, and a child.”
Byrne continued, “And we’ve seen women in crisis in movies before. It’s a well-known tradition, but mostly portrayed through the lens of a male perspective. Not in this movie. This experience stretched me as an artist. It changed me. She wrote a character full of flaws, humor, and courage. She’s a radical filmmaker who is asking her audience to consider radical things. And I feel like this event tonight is celebrating radical people. So I really appreciate that.” ”
Watch her full speech above.
“Byrne’s Bridesmaids” co-star Melissa McCarthy introduced Byrne to the stage Monday night, telling the crowd, “Look, I don’t need to say this. The women in this room already know this. But I’ll say it anyway. I tend to be talkative. This town — no, really, the world — tends to put women in boxes. But you can’t limit Rose to a category or a type. Whether she’s sparring with Glenn Close in Damages or not. For 25 years, she has challenged anyone to put limits on her talent, from challenging Kristen Wiig to stuff her face with Jordan Almond in Bridesmaids to playing a Bulgarian arms dealer in Spies and Media in Brooklyn.
McCarthy concluded, “And now, if there is any justice in this world, she will be in the only role she was always meant to play: an Oscar nominee.”
Byrne’s raw and bold exploration of motherhood and caregiving in her new A24 film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You certainly received praise and Oscar buzz. In ELLE’s cover story, she explained why the story resonated so much, saying, “Mothers are both respected and ignored at the same time. There’s this duality. It’s so hard to talk about motherhood because when you’re doing anything other than happy, you feel like there’s a lot of shame in it. This movie blows away all of that and makes it stand out.”
Ms Byrne, a mother of two sons, said having children has taught her how to escape opportunities that don’t suit her. “Your career is going to continue, and saying no to a lot of things is more powerful than saying yes,” she said. “[I]started saying no after I had kids. There’s a clear difference before and after, and all your priorities change. And that was a wonderful, empowering, intuitive thing that I tapped into. I gave myself permission to not be a people pleaser.”
Read Byrne’s full cover story here.
Learn more about Rose Byrne
