{"id":1891,"date":"2026-06-02T21:53:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/geena-davis-on-the-boroughs-fearless-women-and-why-shes-still-me-at-every-age\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T21:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:53:30","slug":"geena-davis-on-the-boroughs-fearless-women-and-why-shes-still-me-at-every-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/geena-davis-on-the-boroughs-fearless-women-and-why-shes-still-me-at-every-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Geena Davis on \u2018The Boroughs,\u2019 Fearless Women and Why She\u2019s \u2018Still Me\u2019 at Every Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

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She terrified us in The Fly<\/em> and Beetlejuice,<\/em> made us laugh and cry in A League of Their Own<\/em> and pretty much defined an era in Thelma & Louise.<\/em> Geena Davis has spent decades building one of Hollywood\u2019s most iconic and wide-ranging careers\u2014and now she\u2019s back with one of the most buzzed-about projects of the year. Welcome to The Boroughs<\/em>, the supernatural mystery series from the masterminds behind Stranger Things<\/em>, the Duffer Brothers, which premiered on Netflix on May 21 and is currently claiming the number-one spot on the streaming service.<\/p>\n

But Davis\u2019s impact has never been confined to her performances alone. As the founder of the Geena Davis Institute, she has spent years pushing Hollywood to tell more authentic, inclusive stories\u2014work that earned the Institute the Television Academy\u2019s Board of Governors Award in 2022. She co-founded the Bentonville Film Festival to champion underrepresented voices, produced the award-winning documentary This Changes Everything<\/em> and most recently opened up about her own life in her bestselling memoir, Dying of Politeness<\/em>. Oh, and she received her honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (because of course she did). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We caught up with Davis to talk about The Boroughs<\/em>, why age is just a number and the data that\u2019s actually changing Hollywood.<\/p>\n

What was it like when you got the call to play Renee?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI immediately thought, \u2018Oh my God, this is perfect for me. It\u2019s like it was written for me.\u2019 And then, I heard that they had me in mind when they were creating it. I loved it. When I accepted it, I had only read the pilot, but I was immediately saying, \u2018Oh, yes, this is for me. I\u2019m doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What was the most fun part about playing her? I know there\u2019s a lot going on in the show, but she\u2019s just so cool and free-spirited.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I loved. I aspire to be like Renee. I haven\u2019t gotten there in my real life yet\u2014maybe one day! I love that character. She just does what she wants, thinks what she wants and says what she wants. I really admire that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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TOTAL LOOK: DOLCE & GABBANA; EARRINGS AND NECKLACE: POMELLATO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her character is part of a bigger community\u2014hence the show\u2019s name\u2014and you really are a gang of unlikely heroes. How did it feel to play these strong characters? Does it all mean something bigger for how society views age?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI loved that about it. I love that there\u2019s no question that\u2014although we\u2019re all around 70\u2014there isn\u2019t anything we can\u2019t do. We\u2019re very capable. We have good teamwork. We come up with solutions. We take it into our hands\u2014we don\u2019t reach out to anybody else to solve this problem or enlist other people in helping. We feel competent and capable of figuring it out ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love that. Is that the message you hope you are giving in your personal life\u2014to fans and women in general?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYes, and I think it is a good message. From my own personal experience, every time I start a new decade, I have had a little trepidation about what it might be like. And then that all proves to be completely unfounded. I always say, \u2018I\u2019m still me.\u2019 It\u2019s not like you\u2019ve turned into somebody else when you get to a certain age or a certain decade. I still feel exactly like I did when I was younger.<\/p>\n

My dad was in the hospital when he was 95, and I noticed that the nurses spoke really loudly to him and seemed very condescending when they talked to him. I guess they assumed that if he\u2019s that old, he can\u2019t quite understand everything or something. It drove me nuts. I finally asked: \u2018Dad, do you feel like this old guy? Is that what you feel like?\u2019 And he said, \u2018No, not for a second. I feel like I did when I was 30. I\u2019m exactly the same.\u2019 It\u2019s proved to be the case in my life as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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LEFT DRESS: ROWEN ROSE; NECKLACE & BRACELETS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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RIGHT DRESS & EARRINGS: ZIMMERMANN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thank you for sharing that. You\u2019ve been doing the press and the flights and the Cannes circuit. How do you feel your best when the schedule is so hectic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit of a freak in that I don\u2019t get jet lag. It\u2019s really unfair that I get to escape the effects of jet lag. Maybe someday I will, but it\u2019s a breeze for me. I don\u2019t do anything special to prepare myself or to make sure I get through it okay. I just go with the flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there any skin-care products that you like to use, or anything wellness-wise that helps keep you on track?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYou know what? I don\u2019t do anything for skin care! But I\u2019ve been a sucker for buying some products I\u2019ve seen on TikTok! If I hear that something is anti-aging or will make my skin better, I buy it\u2014but then I never use it! I have a whole display of these bottles on the counter in my bathroom, but I don\u2019t really use any of them. Thank God I can get away with it because it would be really bad if I didn\u2019t do things that would help me out if I really needed it. It\u2019s not fair, but I get by fairly well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, you have beautiful skin. Whatever you\u2019re doing is working.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI\u2019m firmly convinced that part of it is that I don\u2019t take the sun. I always have sunblock on. It\u2019s been that way since I was 22 or something. Back then, I just decided I was going to wear sunblock every day, and I stuck to that. I also never got a tan as a kid; I had to avoid the sun or I would burn. I learned that early on. So, I think that really saved me a lot of problems with my skin. I\u2019ve avoided the sun forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

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LEFT TRENCH: SANTA; SUNGLASSES: L ECURIE PARIS; EARRINGS: POMELLATO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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RIGHT DRESS: DONNA KARAN NEW YORK; EARRINGS & RING: POMELLATO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Very smart. Part of your career is also pushing for representation on screen. Do you think it has gotten better, and where do you think it still needs to go?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe good thing is that what I do involves data, so I know the answers to those questions. It\u2019s not what I think.<\/em> So many times, people jump to conclusions. For example, when Thelma & Louise<\/em> came out, whatever the reviewer or whoever thought about the movie, they would all say, \u2018This will change everything. There are going to be so many female-led movies now!\u2019 Of course, I was like, \u2018Hot dog, I can\u2019t wait!\u2019 Unfortunately, the reality turned out to be a bit different.<\/p>\n

My institute, which I, embarrassingly, named after myself, is called the Geena Davis Institute, and it researches the images on screen. It\u2019s been 21 years, and we\u2019re still going. We started out focusing mostly on gender. Now, we have six categories we look at: race and ethnicity, body type, age, disability, LGBTQ\u2014all different things. We have data on what\u2019s improving, what\u2019s changing and what\u2019s not. We are doing better in gender. It has improved very much since we started all that time ago. For kids\u2019 movies and kids\u2019 television, we\u2019re pretty much now at parity with the male and female characters. And we\u2019re doing quite well with characters of color, but the other categories are just abysmal representation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we do. We do this research and share it directly with creators, rather than trying to educate the public or anything. Since I know everybody in the industry, we just go directly to them in a very supportive and friendly way. It\u2019s been great. And I can say it\u2019s really working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the show is out, and you\u2019re wrapping up the press and the travel for it, will you get to take some time off from work this summer?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cActually, I\u2019m off to shoot a movie. It hasn\u2019t been announced yet, so I can\u2019t mention the name. Then, hopefully, in the fall, I\u2019ll be going back to shoot the second season of The Boroughs<\/em>. Fingers crossed!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n