In the boorish Hollywood of Entourage, women primarily existed to be ogled—unless, that is, they were chastising Vincent Chase and his bros. So Alison Brie’s story about the awful, objectifying process of auditioning for the HBO show is depressing, but unfortunately not entirely surprising. Entertainment Weekly reports that during an ATX Festival panel for the upcoming Netflix series GLOW, Brie said she was told to dress skimpily and go topless in order to try out for a small part on the Doug Ellin series. “Early in my career, I auditioned for three lines on an episode of Entourage that I had to go on in a bikini!” Brie explained. “Or like shorts and the tiniest shorts. And they were like, ‘Okay, can you take your top off now?’”
GLOW’s Casting director Jennifer Euston, also of Orange Is the New Black and Girls, condemned whoever was involved on Twitter. She wrote:
Brie shared the story in the context of discussing how little progress has been made since the 1980s, when her new project, about the world of women’s wrestling, takes place. “It has not changed that much,” she said. “The audition process has not changed that much.” GLOW premieres June 23 on Netflix.
Update: Brie clarified her comments on Twitter, saying that she was not asked to be nude, but was wearing a bikini under another top.