Why did one country ban almost all of Claire Danes’ films?

Claire Danes earned a permanent place in the hearts of many TV viewers in 1993 when she played 14-year-old “Wicked” screenwriter (and musical playwright) Angela Chase on Winnie Holzman’s short-lived ABC drama “My So-Called Life.” ” It was rare to see a teenage character portrayed by an actor of the same age (Danes was actually a year younger than 15-year-old Angela), and what an amazing difference this character made. Danes effortlessly conveyed the horror and exhilaration of being a high school student in America, meaning she could go from heartbreakingly sympathetic to downright annoying at the turn of a dime. These are teenagers. We’ve all been there once.

Some of us also had the opportunity as teenagers to leave the communities in which we grew up and visit other cultures and countries. Looking back, these were vital experiences that expanded our understanding of the world and taught us the importance of empathy. This is how we grow and, hopefully, become more enlightened human beings.

Visiting another country as an exchange student is a very different thing from doing so as a budding movie star producing a major studio film. So, when Claire Danes traveled to the Philippines in the late 1990s to film Jonathan Kaplan’s “Brokedown Palace” (A riff on Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express.”), was covered by the privilege; However, because the film was shot in poor areas of the country (which doubly so for Thailand), she was exposed to conditions that would have concerned her abroad.

And it had an impact. When she shared her honest reaction to all of this with the American media, she earned the wrath of the Philippine government.

In a 1998 interview with Premiere journalist Christine Spains, Danes spoke of what felt like a hellish ordeal. Here’s the clip as it appeared in the previous film magazine:

“The filming was plagued by an outbreak of malaria and hepatitis, and had to be halted for several sick days. “It was very difficult,” says Danes, now comfortably ensconced in a Beverly Hills luncheonette, where she devours a plate of extremely rare. “The Place.” It smells like cockroaches. There’s no sewage system in Manila, and people don’t have anything there. (We saw) people with no arms. ‘No legs, no eyes, no teeth. We shot in a (psychiatric) hospital, so women were sobbing and cutting scenes. It was rats. everywhere.”

When the country’s then-president Joseph Estrada learned of the Danes’ comments, he brought down the old ban hammer. “She shouldn’t be allowed to come here.” He told CBS. “She should not even be allowed to set foot here. Her statements were not justified.” (It’s worth noting that the 1998 CBS story deleted the phrase “(we saw)” from Danes’ quote, making her comment sound much worse than it was.)

Since the Danes have gone unruly in the Philippines, she has become persona non grata in the country, and her films cannot be shown. There is no evidence available that the ban has been lifted, so Filipinos have been unable to watch Denmark’s Primetime Emmy Award-winning performances in the HBO film “Temple Grandin” and “Homeland” series on Showtime. Meanwhile, Danes continues to come under fire for once being a sheltered 19-year-old who spoke without empathy, and whose worst career choice was perhaps… He rejected the role of Kate Winslet in the movie “Titanic.” The world is a very silly place.