Lili Reinhart recalls male director's shocking on-set comment

Lili Reinhart pulled back the curtain on a toxic moment from her past, and the revelation is as unsettling as it is telling.

While promoting her female-helmed film Forbidden Fruits, the Riverdale alum was asked to share “one acting note that you took personally” during a Cosmopolitan video with co-stars Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp and Lola Tung.

Reinhart didn’t hesitate.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, before recounting how “a male director come up to me and silently lean over and go, ‘Just suck in your stomach a little bit.’”

The room fell into stunned silence.

Her co-stars urged her to reveal the name.

Reinhart, with a sly smile, responded, “Tell you later.”

The moment reflected the very contrast she’s now celebrating with Forbidden Fruits.

Directed by Meredith Alloway, the SXSW debut places Reinhart at the center of a witchy femme cult operating out of an upscale mall store.

As Apple, she leads Cherry (Pedretti) and Fig (Shipp) in welcoming Pumpkin (Tung) into their coven, only to confront their inner darkness or face violent consequences.

Stopping by Deadline’s SXSW Studio last month, Reinhart reflected on the empowerment of working in a female-centric environment.

“It was ultimate collaboration, which is so nice, because sometimes that’s really not the case, and it’s like, ‘This is what you’re wearing,’” she explained.

For her character Apple, “it’s a lot of black and tight, but it’s not for the male gaze. It’s for herself. And I think you can see the difference … it’s not to say ‘look at me,’ it’s to say ‘stay the f*ck away from me’ in a way, which I think is great.”

The juxtaposition is striking: A past marred by a director’s demeaning note, and a present defined by collaboration, autonomy, and a refusal to bend to the male gaze. 

Reinhart’s revelation leaves audiences wondering: Who was the director, and how many more stories like this remain untold?