Mira Sorvino, an Oscar winning actress, claims her friends were told it was normal to sleep with directors for roles, but she was "never willing to" and "never did." Photo / AP
Mira Sorvino, an Oscar winning actress, claims her friends were told it was normal to sleep with directors for roles, but she was "never willing to" and "never did." Photo / AP
Actress Mira Sorvino says she was tied to a chair and gagged with a condom a director pulled out of his pocket during an audition when she was just 16 years old.
The Romy and Michelle actress alleged to The HFPA in Conversation podcast she had been propositioned multiple timesthroughout her career, and that her friends were told having sex with people for roles was the norm.
Sorvino, now 50, claims the condom incident happened at one of her first auditions, the Daily Mail reports.
Mira Sorvino, an Oscar winning actress, claims her friends were told it was normal to sleep with directors for roles, but she was "never willing to" and "never did." Photo / AP
"In order to scare me for this horror movie scene, he tied me to a chair, he bruised my arm, and I was 16 years old, and then he gagged me, and I was all game because I'm trying to be scared for the scene," she claimed.
"And at the end he takes the gag out of my mouth and he said, 'Sorry for the prophylactic' so he had gagged me with a condom."
Sorvino did not name the casting director or the movie she was auditioning for. She said though actresses were often told it was normal and acceptable for them to sleep their way into roles, she "was never willing to" and "never did".
The Oscar winner claims she "lost out on certain acting opportunities in big movies" sticking to her conviction.
Sorvino also claimed she had been sexually harassed by "a big director who has gotten Oscars and is known for his social justice profile in some of these movies" during a late-stage audition.
She alleges he told her: "You know, as I look at you my mind can't help but traveling from the artistic possibilities and the sexual".
"In my mind, the thing going on in my head, was 'Oh. I thought this was a legitimate meeting'," she said.
Mira Sorvino is one of dozens of actresses and other Hollywood workers who has accused director Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Photo / Getty Images
"I thought this was an actual, you had me here, because you thought I was talented or that I brought something that would be good for this role.
"Not that you were here fishing to see if I was going to have an affair with you. I know for a fact that's why I didn't get that part."
Sorvino is also one of dozens of actresses and other Hollywood workers who have accused director Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment.
The Mighty Aphrodite actress told the New Yorker that Weinstein tried to massage her in a hotel room at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival.
She claimed he also "chased" her "around" while trying to get her to have sex with him.
He then went to her home in the middle of the night but she called a male friend to protect her, she claimed. She said turning down the mogul adversely affected her career.
Sorvino, 50, is an American actress who came to prominence after winning the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a hooker with a heart of gold in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995).
