Her tone was conversational and her tendency towards slight self-effacing humor could really only have been delivered perfectly by her. Unlike some actor's memoirs, Davis mentions both parents throughout the book with genuine love, kindness and respect. I had never spent any time around a woman who moves through the world like that, where she feels very comfortable saying what she thinks, what she wants and also seeing that nobody’s reacting. Geena Davis's memoir, Dying of Politeness: A Memoir, may not change the world, but Geena Davis is still fighting to change her world and become a bit more badass every day. And personally relatable to a tee: I've explicitly worked with my therapist to allow myself to "take up space" and not feel guilt when asking for or simply accepting help.

I still love Geena Davis as an actor and it did have me hankering to watch some of her greatest hits again! Her elaborate sequel ideas for films she was in were so fun and I wish some of them seen the light of day. On the other side of that, she delivered her memoir as a story relayed to an old friend with whom you’re just catching up. Regarding body dysmorphic horror The Fly, Davis gushes over director Cronenberg/Goldblum's performance, and divulges her pithy pitch for another The Fly sequel -- it's neither very clever, nor unremarkable, just, terribly episodic . Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers.

With her Massachusettsan frankness and her just-right humility, she detailed her life from beginning to now without ever lingering too long or going into extraneous detail. It felt like she was telling me a story instead of reading me her memoir, if that makes sense- like there was still a layer of holding back/presenting it just so rather than rawness and realness. but deserving of only 3 stars because some sections felt like a chore and other sections were like hanging out with a deeply weird friend.

I absolutely loved reading about my favorite Geena movie (and one of my favorites in general), “The Long Kiss Goodnight “. Davis' exploitative, PR-bait regarding her time with Murray, making his Quick Change (1990) is petty and self-serving for the sake of pandering to a particular demographic.

Some readers may feel cheated that there is more detail here about her pets than her children, or that she is so reticent about the end of her three marriages, but she has clearly had to establish boundaries around her family’s privacy in the face of press intrusion.

Women and girls ARE under represented in films and television, and to me that's just as concerning and tragic as all the Me Too stuff. She started an organization to study gender roles in media, which worked with the film and TV industry to correct the inequities and help inspire girls to have greater aspirations. Well, I have one dream role: I’d like to play Eleanor Roosevelt at some point, because she was tall like me, and I know I can look a lot like her. Dying of Politeness is a touching account of one woman’s journey to fight for herself, and ultimately fighting for women all around the globe. Vanity Fair: The title really encompasses your personality throughout the book and the way you tried to placate other people’s emotions over the years.

I’ve been collecting notes for at least 10 years about the things that I might want to mention in a book,” Davis tells Vanity Fair over Zoom from her couch in Los Angeles.

I was in the makeup trailer parked on a street in Manhattan on the morning of the first day of shooting when the second assistant director came into the trailer to let me know they were ready for me on set.

As someone who hates conflict and can also be guilty of “dying of politeness”, she’s inspired me to stand up for myself more, and surround myself by people who will listen to you and speak up for you. Any director of worth (à la Christopher Nolan, notorious for starting each shooting day at 7:30am), much less familiar, knows just how critical that first shot can be for the rest of your shooting schedule. For years, Davis fondly thought her mother didn’t know the correct way of spelling “Gina”; she was well into her 20s before her mother explained: “I didn’t want anyone to think it was pronounced ‘gina’. She is the nice girl working to become a bad-ass I want to be, but way smarter than I am and far more capable than I will ever be.