'Director made me sit on his lap'

Los Angeles: Celebrated actor Geena Davis has revealed that during her initial days in the entertainment industry a director asked her to sit on his lap during an audition.

The 63-year-old actor, who has been a vocal advocate of gender equality, said earlier it was common to get subjected to sexual misconduct by powerful men but things have drastically changed for good.

"I was auditioning for a part where in one scene, my character was going to be sitting on the lap of the male character. The director said, 'Just act the scene out with me,' and made me sit on his lap. It was kind of a sexy scene. I didn't want to do it, and I was very uncomfortable, but I didn't know you could say no," Davis told USA Today.

Davis, who founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, added that such actions would likely be received differently "in the time of #MeToo and Time's Up." "Women aren't going to have to suffer through that. It's pretty standard that you don't meet alone with a man in a private room or hotel suite anymore, but plenty of that stuff goes on and has gone on for a long time."