In an interview with Vulture<\/a>, Judd reflected on her work in Heat and the movie\u2019s portrayal of female characters, sharing that she and her partner have been rewatching all of her films.<\/p>\n \u201cThe depiction of women in this movie is not okay,” Judd said of the 1995 thriller. “I look at all my movies that way.”<\/p>\n Judd, 57, said she now looks at her roles through a different lens, specifically regarding the representation of women and the ways in which they reflect internalized misogyny.<\/p>\n Warner Bros.<\/p>\n ‘Heat’ (1995) Ashley Judd<\/p>\n \u201cToday, when people say, \u2018Kiss the Girls is my favorite movie,\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about that,\u2019 because male sexual violence and male torture of women is not entertainment, and that\u2019s what that movie is about,” she shared.<\/p>\n “Calling it \u2018resilience\u2019 rather than going into the structural inequality that caused the harm to happen in the first place \u2014 we\u2019re all implicated in that,\u201d she reflected.<\/p>\n Despite its flaws, Judd admitted that she \u201cloved being a part of” Heat. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m glad, still, that I was a part of this movie, and I do think it\u2019s iconic,” she shared. “It\u2019s a reflection of reality, and reality is problematic.”<\/p>\n “To say the movie is problematic is not to put the responsibility and focus where it lies, which is with the reality of which it\u2019s a reflection,” she added. “Observation and critique is what I\u2019m offering.”<\/p>\n In the movie, Judd played Charlene Shiherlis, who was married to Val Kilmer\u2019s career criminal character, Chris Shiherlis. Judd described their ill-fated relationship as \u201cRomeo and Juliet, but the reverse, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Toward the end of the film, the characters say goodbye without a word, as Charlene makes a last-minute choice not to turn Chris in.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m giving him freedom. I distanced ourselves from each other for this scene,\u201d she shared about working with Kilmer, who died in April 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce Val and I finished the other scenes, we didn\u2019t connect again, which may have, in its own way, contributed to the feeling of the finality of this moment, and the longing.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannon Finney\/Getty<\/p>\n Ashely Judd<\/p>\n In addition to Judd and Kilmer, Heat starred Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore and Natalie Portman.<\/p>\n Since the 1995 hit, Judd has starred in films like Frida, Divergent, and Double Jeopardy, to name a few. She has also been an outspoken activist on behalf of women, speaking out against Harvey Weinstein,<\/a> working with organizations like YouthAid and the International Center for Research on Women, and the United Nations.<\/p>\n![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4f38adb6feb492bdea34492c6b69300a.jpeg\"\/)
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