Julia Ormond discusses her role in the new HBO film "Iron Jawed Angels"
GLORIA BORGER, co-host: And welcome back to CAPITAL REPORT. When cultural battles like gay marriage dominate headlines these days, it's hard to believe that less than a century ago, women were fighting for the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement is the subject of a new HBO movie called "Iron Jawed Angels." It stars Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston and Julia Ormond. Ormond plays one of the leaders of the suffragette movement, Inez Mulholland. She led thousands of women in a parade through downtown Washington in 1913. And Julia Ormond joins us now on CAPITAL REPORT. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. JULIA ORMOND ("Iron Jawed Angels"): Thank you.
BORGER: First of all, tell us a little bit about this movie.
Ms. ORMOND: It's a terrific movie. I wish I had a bigger part in it, but it was an amazing script, and it's a story that I think surprisingly few women and men know that I found very compelling about the women's suffrage movement and the sacrifices, the length that they went to and what they suffered in order to get women to vote.
BORGER: Now Inez, the woman that you play...
Ms. ORMOND: Yeah.
BORGER: ...was a college activist at Vassar...
Ms. ORMOND: That's right.
BORGER: ...College and got thrown out of assorted universities for organizing women, right?
Ms. ORMOND: Yes, she did. I think she wanted to organize something on campus, and she ended up doing it in the cemetery opposite or something and got thrown out but then was allowed back in. But she was a phenomenal woman, but the story isn't focused on Inez. It's focused on the story of Alice Paul, and you could make a film that was just about Inez. But she was a labor lawyer, and two people from the NAACP spoke at her funeral. She was the first woman to be given a state funeral, I think.
BORGER: Now when you think about all the things that women had to go through and the names that women were called and the things that they had to put up with and could not do...
Ms. ORMOND: Yeah.
BORGER: ...we're now having a debate here obviously in this country about the rights of gays and whether gay marriage should be something that should be accepted legal, etc.
Ms. ORMOND: Right.
BORGER: Do you see any kind of comparison there at all?
Ms. ORMOND: I think there is a comparison. I think one of the things that's comparable is that obviously at the time, there were two completely different schools of thought on women having to vote. There were people who think that women shouldn't have been trusted with the vote or shouldn't be trusted with the vote and that they were, therefore, sort of voting against it. And there were other people who almost sort of slipped into a kind of apathy, because they thought, 'Well, constitutionally, it's so obvious that women are going to get the vote.' And I think one of the amazing things about America -- I'm not an American citizen. I'm a British citizen but I'm an American resident. And one of the things that I enjoy in this country is the debate and the level that debate goes to and people's right to discuss something and vote on it as an issue. So I think in this upcoming election, it's clearly going to be something that's going to be a hot topic.
BORGER: It sure will. And, Julia Ormond, I should also say that in this country, women are the most coveted voting group now in this country, because they vote in greater numbers than men. We should point that out.
Ms. ORMOND: I had thought that single women were one of the demographics that were not registered in large numbers.
BORGER: Well, married women are.
Ms. ORMOND: Married women are.
BORGER: Married women with children.
Ms. ORMOND: Right.
BORGER: They're the ones everybody wants.
Ms. ORMOND: Right.
BORGER: Julia Ormond, thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. ORMOND: Thank you.