Mila Kunis Says Hollywood Needs More Leading Roles For Women
— -- Mila Kunis doesn't want you to put her in a box.
The actress, who stars in the upcoming film "Bad Moms," said she struggled in the past to work on more than just television shows and romantic comedy movies.
"The only way to do that was to not have an ego and hustle. I just auditioned for everybody," Kunis said in an interview on ABC News' "Popcorn With Peter Travers." "All my 20s was about proving people wrong, so to speak, about putting me in little boxes."
Kunis, who starred in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall, "Black Swan" and "Book of Eli," addressed how difficult creating a successful female-led film like "Bad Moms" can be in Hollywood.
"The hardest part about all of this is when a movie that is starring women does well, everyone goes, 'Wow, that's amazing.' … But when it goes bad, then everyone goes, 'We knew it. We knew this was going to happen,'" Kunis said. "A male-driven film, it doesn't matter, whether it's good or bad, no one comments on it. It's just either good or bad. With a female-driven film, it's females. 'Well this female succeeded, or this female failed.' It's going to have to change one day."
As the head of her own production company, Kunis said she's tried to change the industry by bringing more female talents together and female-driven concepts to television. Though she believes the television industry has become more open-minded, she says writers' rooms are still incredibly limited in female talent.
She's thankful for the support of her husband Ashton Kutcher, who she calls a "hands-on dad" and helped with the transition when she went back to work.
"I really do have an incredible husband, who's supportive of any decision I make and not only supports me, but is, you know, there for the family as well," she said. "I think that we as women, not even moms, but as women, put too much pressure on ourselves to be what is considered perfect in society, you know socially speaking. All the time I feel stressed, but it’s all self-induced."
Kunis credits her mother, who makes a cameo at the end of her latest film, and father for supporting her and her brother and allowing her to become an actor. Kunis and her family immigrated to the United States from Soviet Ukraine as refugees when Kunis was 7 years old.
"Second grade was – I blocked it out. I thought it was easy for me. My mom said I came home crying every day, but I don't remember it. To me everything was fine because I didn't imprint it," Kunis said.
When she was 9 years old, Kunis' parents allowed her to start acting, as long as she continued to study in school. At just 14 years old, she got the role of Jackie Burkart on "That 70's Show," where she met Kutcher, who was 19 years old at the time.
Kunis, who is expecting her second child with Kutcher at the end of the year, said she had never been attracted to Kutcher until she was older. Once the series ended, she and Kutcher kept in touch via AOL Instant Messenger, but had always remained just friends.
It wasn't until her late 20s that the two connected romantically. Kunis said this is because they both need to change as individuals in order to become the two people they are who love each other today.
"We both went through a lot. We've both learned a lot. We became different people. And those two people fell in love. The people that we used to be were like homies. We were friends," Kunis said. "Like, he did my chemistry homework. He would take me home because my parents took my car away 'cause I was grounded. Like, but never was it romantic until, you know, much later."
Kunis added, jokingly, "We did [do this movie.] It's called, 'Friends With Benefits.' It's called, 'No Strings Attached.' … Let me tell you how that one ends."
Watch the full video above for Mila Kunis' full interview with Peter Travers on ABC News' "Popcorn With Peter Travers."
