An emblematic film, an Oscar and an Olympic dream. The story of Geena Davis and archery.

Thelma & Louise She was an icon for a whole generation of women. Geena Davis Y susan sarandon almost 40 years ago they became the muses of a feminism that was taking its first and very timid steps. A road movie to laugh, cry, get mad at, a mirror of the macho society of those years -does it still exist today?- and a tremendous ending signed by Ridley Scottwho wanted to be accompanied by a wonderful cast of actors and actresses as a very young Brad Pitt, a rascal who cajoles Thelma, avid for emotions that break the sad monotony of her life; or a Harvey Kittel in full interpretive maturity, in a permanent conflict between enforcing the law and saving the fugitive couple. We won’t do spoilers, but the final scene of the film is an emblem of contemporary cinema.

Thelma & Louise and an Oscar for The Accidental Tourist

Geena DavisCuriously, he did not win the statuette for this emblematic film. She conquered him by the Accidental Tourist, with William Hurt Y Kathleen Turner, thus entering the galaxy of Hollywood superstars, an ephemeral glory that was soon eclipsed when the actress’s biological clock pointed to quarantine, that invisible barrier that stops the producers’ phone from ringing, turning you into a relic of glorious past. Meanwhile, Virginia Elisabeth Daviswhich is the name of our guest star, participated in 29 films, the last one, tootsieof sidney pollackbeside Jessica Lange and such a great actor as a hot-tempered and absolutely unbearable guy, Dustin Hoffmann. Be careful, in 1982. Television was the refuge of Davis, with several truly magnificent series, such as Commander in Chief, Madam presidentin Spanish, in which in 18 episodes he plays mackenzie allen the first female president of the United States of America and with whom he won the Golden Globe in 2005.

Baseball, Taekwondo, horse riding and an obsession: Archery

Geena Davis She is a magnificent actress and a wonderful woman, but what does she have to do with sports? Actually, Thelma never had great sports concerns, except for school, where she practiced hurdling, favored by her height, almost 1:83, or that she had to soak up a certain sport for a certain movie, as she told him. happened in A League of Their Own, they give the blow in Spain (the mysteries when translating the original title into Spanish are inscrutable), in which Geena, Madonna either Rossie O’Donnell They are part of a women’s baseball team capable of competing head-to-head with a men’s team. She also occasionally practiced taekwondo, Horse riding either Ice skating, but always by requirement of the script. And she liked it. Years later, during the atlanta olympicsDavis was fascinated with the competition of Archery with the two gold medals from the American, Justin Huish and wondered if she could do the same, without having to play anyone but Geena Davis.

I want to be an Olympic Archer

Being a good archer became an obsession. She became so hooked on the world of Archery that for two years (he was already 41 years old), he devoted himself completely to practicing, five hours a day, six days a week. And he was good at it, so good that with only six months of training, Geena Davis He was already winning local tournaments and some minor international competition. The next step was logical: to be chosen to represent the United States in the Sydney Games of the year 2000. The actress went to Ohio to compete with the 300 best archers in the country, reaching the semifinals of the pre-Olympic tournament, although she was left out by very few places. Davis never used her fame to gain favor in the competition. What’s more, she admits that archery was her little secret and that she had fun seeing the surprised faces of her rivals when they discovered that they were fighting against a whole Hollywood star. She couldn’t fulfill her Olympic dream, but she stayed close to her, very close to her, so much so that she traveled to sydney with his bow, not to the Olympic Village, but to the Golden Arrowwhich was held that same year in this Australian city.

This is the story, dear readers, of a great actress, winner of a statuette, muse of a feminist generation, who suffered double discrimination in the film industry, because of her age and because she is a woman, who actively combats through the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media, putting numbers to this stubborn reality: for every 16 male characters in children’s products, only one is female; only 8% of film directors are women; 13% of the scriptwriters or 19% of the producers; not to mention inequality in wages, reconciliation and other obstacles that still remain to be overcome.