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Bryce Dallas Howard is defending her Jurassic World character’s affinity for running in high heels among dinosaurs — an action that caused a noted reaction among viewers and even was parodied by co-star Chris Pratt.
“This character needed to seem ill-equipped to be in the jungle. She was somebody who looks like she belongs in a corporate environment for a reason because she was someone who was disconnected from the animals and disconnected from that reality and disconnected from herself. She doesn’t at all expect that she’s going to be tromping through the jungle,” she explained to Cosmopolitan. “I’m really glad that we didn’t make the choice for me to be barefoot because that would have also been kind of dangerous.”
“And you know what? She’s in high heels because she’s a woman who has been in high heels her whole life, and she can f—ing sprint in them,” added Howard. “She can. That’s kind of how I perceived it. She doesn’t have to be in menswear and flats in order to outrun a T. rex. That’s what women can do.”
Don’t expect to see Howard’s Claire wearing impractical footwear in the 2018 sequel, though. “Colin [Trevorrow, the director,] texted me ‘#NoHeels2018,’ ” she laughed. “Claire knows to get in there now, and her dynamic with the animals has certainly shifted, and the woman you see at the end of Jurassic World is very different from the woman you see at the beginning.”
With gratitude, Howard described the audience’s reaction to her shoes onscreen as “feminist” rather than “sexist,” as the heels seemed to position her as a sidekick rather than as a protagonist who “ends up saving the day” in an action film.
“I did appreciate the fact that people wanted to ensure that it’s important for there to be female characters and roles where they do go on a journey, and they aren’t just a function of the plot. And so that’s something that is a really important conversation to continue,” she said, praising industry activists like Geena Davis and highlighting Trevorrow’s priority of representing both men and women among the film’s extras. “It’s a good time to be a woman in this business, and people are more outspoken. … In order to push up against what has been considered the status quo, we need to go even further.”
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