Uma Thurman Called This Superhero Film a ‘Male Fantasy Nightmare’
Actor Uma Thurman has dabbled in the superhero genre in her long and successful career. But there was one superhero film she acted in that she labeled a nightmare for a surprising reason.
Uma Thurman has starred in two superhero films
Thurman’s extensive film resume also included a couple of superhero projects under her belt. In 1997, she played the villainous Poison Ivy in the critically panned feature Batman & Robin. But in 2006, she had her turn to play the hero in the movie My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Unlike Batman Forever, which was based on an existing comic book property, My Super Ex-Girlfriend was an entirely original piece.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend was a comedy that saw Thurman play the superhero G-Girl. The movie’s focus, however, wasn’t about G-Girl saving the world. Instead, it concentrated on the superhero’s romantic relationship with her boyfriend played by Luke Wilson. Thurman’s character would become jaded after Wilson breaks up with her. Afterwards, G-Girl would spend most of the time using her superpowers to harass her ex.
Uma Thurman called ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’ a male fantasy nightmare
Originally, Thurman was attracted to the movie because she found it funny. The actor had been trying to break into the comedy genre for quite some time. The film’s director, Ivan Reitman, gave her that opportunity with My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which also co-starred Anna Farris.
Thurman was also attracted to her character’s abrasive attitude.
“This character is just basically an uncensorable human being who just can’t control her responses and reactions and is pretty much just out of control. The idea that someone just doesn’t think before they speak and just blows a gasket at every turn was just immensely fun and interesting for me,” she once said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Although she considered her neurotic, Thurman felt G-Girl was a bold take on a female superhero. Despite it being a romcom, however, Thurman was hesitant to call the movie a ‘chick flick.’ The actor asserted the movie appealed to too many men at the time for that to be the case.
“Guys love this movie. This movie is written by a man, made by a man. It’s sort of a male fantasy nightmare. So guys are loving the movie. But I throw that shark for every girl in America who ever wanted to throw a shark in her life,” she said.
Uma Thurman felt ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’ was different than other superhero films at the time
The superhero genre had a completely different makeup around the mid 2000s. These were the days before the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Dark Knight. Still, the industry was full of noteworthy superhero projects back then like the Spider-Man and X-Men films. As comedic as it was, the Kill Bill star believed My Super Ex-Girlfriend stood apart from those kinds of films because of its unique premise.
“I think that one of the great things about the script, that unlike the typical valiant type superhero, there’s a whole comedy base here with the reality of it all,” Thurman said in a 2006 interview with MovieWeb. “Here’s this girl like any of us who stumbles on a rock, and by the way she says girl because she is girl and so if she called herself woman at seventeen she would have a problem. But she really is more tense than kryptonite. She’s just a real person. She wants to have a real life. She just deals with her responsibility of having superpowers, but she really resents it. I guess that’s the humor in the piece.”
