Melissa McCarthy & Lupita Nyong'o Discuss Being a Woman in the Industry - Watch Now!

Melissa McCarthy and Lupita Nyong’o are on the cover of Variety‘s Actors on Actors issue, out now.

Here’s what the 48-year-old Can You Ever Forgive Me? star and the 35-year-old Black Panther actress had to say…

Melissa, on being a woman in the industry: “I feel like there’s forward motion when people are like, ‘What a difference, huh?’ I’m like, ‘Let’s not oversell it.’ But I do like seeing more women behind the camera and in front of it, and I like seeing more real women being portrayed.”

Lupita, on female representation: “I just did a film this summer, and the boom operator was female, and I’d never seen that. You realize how preprogrammed you are in those moments, that I’d never even considered that I’d never seen it. I feel like this conversation is really good that we’re having, that it is sustained and that we don’t congratulate ourselves too much, but we don’t berate ourselves either…it’s about the awareness and that it takes everybody to be aware that this is not just a battle for women. It’s one for men, as well, and that they have a very, very pivotal role to play to change those demographics. I’m excited about this.”

For more from Melissa and Lupita, head to Variety.com. Watch their conversation below!