Australian actress Jacki Weaver has explained why she told Anjelica Huston to “go fuck herself” last month, revealing to BuzzFeed News that she “saw red” and was “incensed” by Huston’s veiled criticism of her cheerleading movie.
“Sometimes my filter drops, and my filter dropped that day,” Weaver told Twitter morning show AM to DM.
“I just got a bit cross — ‘cross’ being the operative word,” she added. “I got incensed. I saw red. I lose my temper once a year, and that was it.”
The squabble between the two Hollywood veterans began last month when Huston made a veiled dig during a Vulture interview at Weaver’s most recent film, Poms. Released last month, the comedy centers on a cheerleading squad formed by a group of older women in their retirement home.
“Quite honestly, I’m looking for movies that impress me in some way, that aren’t apologetically humble or humiliating like, ‘Band of cheerleaders gets back together for one last hurrah,’ you know,” Huston told Vulture. “An old-lady cheerleader movie. I don’t like that kind of thing. If I’m going to be an old lady — and I’m sort of touching old lady these days — at least I want to be a special old lady. I don’t want to be relegated to some has-been making a comeback. I hate comebacks.”
When Vanity Fair asked Weaver for her thoughts on Huston’s comments, Weaver told the magazine that she had “just laughed” when she heard them, and unexpectedly added, “And then I said, ‘Well, she can go fuck herself.’ I was kind of disappointed. I had always been an admirer of Anjelica. And I thought, ‘That’s a bit mean and petty.’”
Weaver, who was nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in Animal Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook, defended her “laconic” remarks, but admitted to feeling some regret at the controversy they sparked.
“I just said, ‘Oh well, I was disappointed because I’ve always admired Anjelica,’” she said, “and I just laughed, and then I thought, Well, she can go fuck herself. Which, well, to be honest, that’s what I thought…and I’m sorry, I wished I never said that.”
“I do admire Anjelica Huston,” Weaver insisted. “I don’t think she’s a shithead. I think she’s a wonderful actress and a really nice woman.”
“I was a bit embarrassed that I said that,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said it.”
Jacki Weaver says she's worked with a few "ratbags" over the years: "Some really well-known actors who were absolute shitheads." 👀
But Weaver also came to the defense of Poms, saying that it was more than just a movie about “silly old women being cheerleaders.”
“It’s about love and friendship, and death and relevance, and aging and ageism, and it’s got a lot of heart,” she said. “It really does have a lot of heart.”
Weaver, who is starring in the new Epix thriller series Perpetual Grace, LTD alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, told BuzzFeed News she was thrilled to work with the Oscar winner — unlike some of her former costars.
“I don’t say that about all of them,” she said. “I’m not gonna name names, but I’ve worked with a few ratbags.”
“I’ve worked with some American ratbags … some really well-known actors who were absolute shitheads,” she said.
Translating her zesty Aussie slang for the Americans watching, Weaver described the term “ratbag” as having a broad definition: “It runs a spectrum from creep to just a dill.”
CORRECTION
Anjelica Huston’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this post.