Shailene Woodley: Losing Her Virginity Onscreen and Possible Oscar Nod
Shailene Woodley has several sex scenes in her latest film, Gregg Araki's White Bird in a Blizzard, including one in which her character loses her virginity. For many young actresses, this would probably be a very challenging scene to film, but Shailene has more experience than most. This is the fourth time that she's lost her virginity on screen. Shailene has been acting since age 11, which might be one reason why the 22-year-old sounded wise beyond her years talking to The Hollywood Reporter about the pressure put on young girls to lose their virginity and expectations of the experience versus the reality.
"I've lost my virginity four times onscreen - I'm a pro at it, apparently! One of the things I have been very keen on in doing those scenes is that they feel real because, I don't know about you, but I do not personally think losing your virginity is a fun experience. It's not glamorous - for some people, I think it is, but it wasn't for a lot of people on this planet - so for me, it was a matter of, if we're gonna do a scene that deals with that, it's not gonna be, her back arches and she gasps in excitement. No, no, it's gonna be messy and it's gonna be real. I think a lot of people feel pressured into it - not by a man or a boy in particular, but because of comparing themselves to other girls in their school. So when they actually get the deed done, they don't feel any sort of satisfaction because it wasn't for themselves. It was for others, in a way."
Shailene at a screening of White Bird in a Blizzard, New York City, October 15.
White Bird In A Blizzard follows 17-year-old Kat (Shailene), living in rural America in the late '80s. While Kat is experiencing a sexual awakening with the boy next-door, her mother suddenly goes missing, presumed to have walked out on Kat and her father. Shailene explained, "You look at the house and it's got the green lawn and no dust on the table, and it looks beautiful, but then you go inside and it's completely broken and all in shambles. I think that's how a lot of people live in this world."
White Bird is the third movie release this year for Shailene, following on the heels of her two star-making lead roles in Divergent, which was released in March, and The Fault in Our Stars, released in June. Although it's still too early into the awards season to say for sure, Shailene is already being predicted by many as a possibility for a Best Actress nomination at the 2015 Academy Awards for The Fault in Our Stars. She is currently one of the five predicted nominees by The Hollywood Reporter's awards analyst and HitFix wrote in this article out that a nomination is possible because she "received near universal acclaim for her work and the film turned out to be one of the surprise global blockbusters of the summer."
"I've lost my virginity four times onscreen - I'm a pro at it, apparently! One of the things I have been very keen on in doing those scenes is that they feel real because, I don't know about you, but I do not personally think losing your virginity is a fun experience. It's not glamorous - for some people, I think it is, but it wasn't for a lot of people on this planet - so for me, it was a matter of, if we're gonna do a scene that deals with that, it's not gonna be, her back arches and she gasps in excitement. No, no, it's gonna be messy and it's gonna be real. I think a lot of people feel pressured into it - not by a man or a boy in particular, but because of comparing themselves to other girls in their school. So when they actually get the deed done, they don't feel any sort of satisfaction because it wasn't for themselves. It was for others, in a way."
Shailene at a screening of White Bird in a Blizzard, New York City, October 15.
White Bird In A Blizzard follows 17-year-old Kat (Shailene), living in rural America in the late '80s. While Kat is experiencing a sexual awakening with the boy next-door, her mother suddenly goes missing, presumed to have walked out on Kat and her father. Shailene explained, "You look at the house and it's got the green lawn and no dust on the table, and it looks beautiful, but then you go inside and it's completely broken and all in shambles. I think that's how a lot of people live in this world."
White Bird is the third movie release this year for Shailene, following on the heels of her two star-making lead roles in Divergent, which was released in March, and The Fault in Our Stars, released in June. Although it's still too early into the awards season to say for sure, Shailene is already being predicted by many as a possibility for a Best Actress nomination at the 2015 Academy Awards for The Fault in Our Stars. She is currently one of the five predicted nominees by The Hollywood Reporter's awards analyst and HitFix wrote in this article out that a nomination is possible because she "received near universal acclaim for her work and the film turned out to be one of the surprise global blockbusters of the summer."