Anna Gunn on Her New Film 'Equity' and 'Breaking Bad'
“It’s not a chick flick," Gunn said.
— -- Anna Gunn’s new female-driven Wall Street movie “Equity” is portraying women in a new light. And to many, it's a storyline long overdue.
“It’s not a chick flick," Gunn told ABC News. "It’s not a film just for women. It’s a very human story that everybody can understand. And an important story I think that needs to be told right now."
The film is a financial thriller about an investment banker (Anna Gunn) as she works her work up the corporate ladder.
“She is a very successful, very ambitious investment banker,” said Gunn. “And she’s been on a real winning streak and rising to the top of her profession really. But we encounter her when she comes up against her first major failure. And the world actually starts to sort of crumble around her.”
It’s a refreshing role for Gunn, who found herself in the middle of a fan firestorm when starring on the AMC mega-hit series “Breaking Bad.” Gunn said she was surprised to learn just how much fans of the show hated her character, Skyler White, the feisty wife of a meth dealer.
“It was so confusing because at first I thought, ‘Is this my fault?'” Gunn, 47, told Peter Travers. “’Am I playing the character in a way that’s making people hate her?’ And when I started to really examine it, I thought, no, actually the narrative is set up that way in the story. Skyler is the one standing in Walt’s way. And she wasn’t a shrinking violet. She didn’t wring her hands and wail and stand in the corner. She walked right up to him and said, ‘I don’t buy it. I don’t buy this story. I don’t buy that you’re doing it for the family.' And that’s part of why the audience didn't like her. Because they were rooting for him.”
Dunn added, “I think it says a lot about gender roles ... and how far we still need to go. I think we’re making strides. But we still have a ways to go.”
“Equity” is in theaters everywhere.