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Deep sadness is inevitable in the wake of the passing of someone held dear, and perhaps that sadness is especially widespread when it comes to the loss of a legend like Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died at age 87 on Friday, September 18. But while scrolling Twitter late Friday evening and throughout the day on Saturday, there was also a mix of deep grief, extreme amounts of hopelessness, and perhaps one too many F-bombs (said mostly to summarize how hard this loss hits). In a moment when such a powerful figure is gone, where do we turn to regain some positivity? How about feminist icon, journalist, and political activist Gloria Steinem?

I recently had the great honor to speak to Steinem for the upcoming release of The Glorias, the Julie Taymor-directed feature film based on Steinem’s book, My Life on the Road, which covers a significant amount of her life's journey. Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson, and Ryan Keira Armstrong play Steinem at different ages life, but the movie also has those various Glorias converse with each other through something Taymor dubbed a "bus out of time," as teased in the trailer.

During our chat about the film, I had to take a moment to ask the self-proclaimed “hope-aholic” what she would say to someone who’s struggling with the pain of this loss and feels like they can’t forge forward right now. Here’s what she said:

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Image via LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions

“Well, I would only say that hope is a form of planning. Hope is what we have as a vision of the future, and if you allow that to be taken away from you, then you’re defeated from the beginning. So it isn’t that I’m blindly optimistic, though I am hopeful, but I do treasure and value and try to gain support in myself for hope, and that means being with people who share your hopes. We are communal animals. We’re not meant to be by ourselves, and that’s what social justice movements are for.”

We’ll have more from this paired interview with Steinem and Taymor for you soon as we near the release of The Glorias on digital and streaming exclusively on Prime Video on Wednesday, September 30. For more, read our review of The Glorias, written by Collider's own Adam Chitwood.