To see the current Women and Hollywood you need to head over to our new home on IndieWIRE.
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I just wanted to make sure that those of you who get my site through a reader or daily email are getting the new content being posted over at IndieWIRE. We are trying to migrate people over but some things will fall through the cracks.
So to make sure you are getting the updated feed sign up here. To make sure you are getting your daily fix of Women and Hollywood by email sign up here.
If you are getting a daily email (one with actual blog posts) then you have been successfully migrated over to the new feed.
Thanks
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Dear Friends and readers-
I have some very exciting news about this site. As of Jan. 19, we are moving over to IndieWIRE. Yes, you read that right, this blog is going BIG TIME. They are several exciting things about the move including the fact that IndieWIRE has an ad team selling ads for the whole network, but more importantly, it is an acknowledgment that the issues we all care about will have a bigger platform.
I’ve accomplished great things on my site as a lone blogger in the wilderness. Things I never dreamed were possible. The traffic and reach grow each week, but the reality is, that it is time to take it up a notch and that’s what the exposure on IndieWIRE will do.
I want to thank the people at IndieWIRE, especially my new colleague Anne Thompson who has been a big supporter, for welcoming me into the fold. I look forward to working with her and also new editor-in-chief Dana Harris, as well as the rest of the team.
Rest assured my fierce feminist friends that this blog and its mission remain intact. I can write what I want. This is not me selling out to “the man or the woman.” Everything will be as is except for the fact that we have a new address:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/
Moving over to IndieWIRE is a big deal to me and I hope is a big deal to you. So please make sure to bookmark the site and update your feed if you use that.
Lastly, it might take a couple of days to get fully up to speed on the new technology so please bear with me (since I am also producing a film festival in the next three weeks.)
Thank you so much for all your support.
See you over on IndieWIRE.
Melissa
FYI: If you need the archives you need to keep this site bookmarked too. The old site will remain live and accessible.
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I was excited over the potential to see a rebooted version of Wonder Women. If Battlestar Galactica, a cheesy show, can be remade into a major league great show, how can we not do some justice to Wonder Woman.
But it looks like I won’t be able to break out my protective bracelets or purchase an adult version of my beloved underoos (which I wore as a a costume until they fell apart) because no network was interested in picking up the script from David E. Kelley.
I know that The Bionic Woman reboot didn’t work, but Wonder Woman updated for our time could rule. Guess we have to settle for the Charlie’s Angels reboot. I would personally rather have Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman TV Show Not Moving Forward (EW)
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The BAFTA nominations were revealed today and there are some surprises.
Here’s what I noticed:
- Complete snub of Winter’s Bone – no Jennifer Lawrence nomination
- No women directors nominated
- Finally a little love for Made in Dagenham with a nomination for outstanding British film and finally a nod for Miranda Richardson.
- Noomi Rapace got a nod for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Hailee Steinfeld is in the leading actress category and Lesley Manville in the supporting category.
- Melissa Leo left out of the supporting category
- No Women Nominated for Music, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Editing
- Women nominees dominate the costume and makeup and hair.
Awards will be given out on February 13.
The Women Nominees
BEST FILM
Inception – Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
The Social Network – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Céan Chaffin
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Another Year – Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
Made in Dagenham – Nigel Cole, William Ivory, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
The Arbor – Director, Producer – Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
LEADING ACTRESS
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Noomi Rapace – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey – Black Swan
Lesley Manville – Another Year
Miranda Richardson – Made in Dagenham
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Black Swan – Thérèse DePrez, Tora Peterson
The King’s Speech – Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
True Grit – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
Black Swan – Amy Westcott
The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan
Made in Dagenham – Louise Stjernsward
True Grit – Mary Zophres
SOUND
Inception – Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, Ed Novick
MAKE UP & HAIR
Black Swan – Judy Chin, Geordie Sheffer
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
The King’s Speech – Frances Hannon
Made in Dagenham – Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
Full list
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At a time when many theatres are retrenching because of financial difficulties, Arena Stage is bucking that trend and is actually expanding under the guidance of Artistic Director, Molly Smith. Smith, who has led the theatre for over a decade, has seen the theatre through a $135 million expansion.
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For standing up for female directors and saying this backstage at the Golden Globes:
I would just like to say to the academy members: why don’t you grow a pair and vote for Lisa Cholodenko as well!
Go Mark.
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I started out the day yesterday watching a town hall meeting on ABC’s This Week about the Tuscon shooting. It was an incredibly moving event that showed true humanity and humility. Needless to say the ending of my day lacked both humanity and humility. This country is a wreck. An awards show with pretty dresses is always a way to forget for a moment. But the whole tenor of the comedy felt out of place in this climate.
Ricky Gervais is a funny guy. But his jokes, even though they were mostly true, felt inappropriate.
But there were some moments of note:
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Kathryn Bigelow is getting ready to start shooting her next indie flick now that she has secured financing from Annapurna Pictures which is run by Megan Ellison.
The pic written by Mark Boal will shoot in the summer and is still being written. Here’s a description from Variety:
Project is based on the true story of a U.S. military black ops mission, the ramifications of which are still being felt around the world.
Rumors are that it is about the mission to capture Osama Bin Laden.
Glad she is getting back behind the camera. Bigelow and Boal are turning into quite an interesting team.
‘Hurt Locker’ pair nab pic financing (Variety)
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This is one thing I hate about Hollywood. There was a story that made its rounds in the blogosphere over the last couple of days about how top tier actresses like Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway and some up and comers like Charlotte Reilly are all vying for the two female leads in the next Batman films.
There are supposedly two female roles — the bad girl and the love interest.
Could I be any more bored?
We all know these parts will be small and crappy and that the women will be sidekicks cause that’s what we’ve seen before in this franchise. Even an actress like Maggie Gyllenhaal couldn’t convince me that her part was worthy of her.
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The Television Critics Association meeting in going on in LA so there is a lot of TV news coming out. A new pilot script was just picked up by Fox entitled I Hate My Teenage Daughter.
Here’s the log line:
The story is about two women who were tormented by mean girls when they were younger, and are now appalled to realize their daughters are turning into the same type of girls they never liked.
I get it. It’s tongue and cheek and supposed to be funny. I even like the description, but I hate the TITLE. Teenage years are tough enough for parents and kids without the TV box making things worse. The issue to me is that no one would ever create a show entitled “I Hate My Son” cause we know that would never fly.
I have some hope that the title is just a fluke because the show is written by by two women Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer who worked on The New Adventures of Old Christine which I loved.
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In this great preview piece in W by Lynn Hirschberg on director David Fincher, there are some new photos of Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander.
Some things to note: Fincher thinks of Salander as a modern day Pippi Longstocking; he calls her “a goth Pippi, ” and the script by Steven Zaillian does not stick too close to the book:
The script…departs rather dramatically from the book. Blomkvist is less promiscuous, Salander is more aggressive, and, most notably, the ending—the resolution of the drama—has been completely changed. This may be sacrilege to some, but Zaillian has improved on Larsson—the script’s ending is more interesting.
David Fincher Gets The Girl (W)
Another picture after the jump
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Isn’t it supposed to be better for women in the doc world? Haven’t there been extraordinary movies by women documentarians made this year? But still there are NO women included in the final five for the DGA award for outstanding documentary.
Five women (out of 15) made it to the short list for the Oscars including Lucy Walker who made two fine films this past year.
The fact that the DGA did not include any of those women — or others who were left off that list including Laura Poitras — does not give me a good deal of hope that a woman will make it onto the final Oscar nomination list.
Question- who nominates these awards and how many women are on the nominating committee?
DGA Nominates Five for Outstanding Doc (IndieWIRE)
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Miriam O’Reilly was a presenter on Countryfile on the BBC in 2009 when she was replaced. She claimed she was replaced because of her gender and her age. She was 51. She refused to settle and went to court and yesterday was vindicated. The count of gender discrimination was dismissed.
Here’s what O’Reilly said:
It wasn’t about the money. I just wanted my career back…I took this action because I wanted to work for the BBC. I’m really impressed that they have apologised. However, we have a long way to go with ageism in visual media – not just the BBC, the whole industry.
Here’s what her lawyer Camilla Parker said:
This has huge implications for all broadcasters not just the BBC. The lesson is that presenters should be selected for their ability not their age…Women and men on screen should not be hired or fired on the basis of their age.
Age discrimination is a huge issue for women especially in the news business.
Miriam O’Reilly: I was right to stand up to BBC (Guardian)
Miriam O’Reilly case: winners and losers (The Guardian)
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According to EW, ABC is about to pick up a new series entitled Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23.
When Cougar Town acquired its unfortunate title it reflected the premise of the show, but this is just so much worse.
Here’s the premise: The story is about a naive young woman who comes to New York City and ends up with a trouble-making party-girl roommate.
And to top it off a woman — Nahnatchka Khan — is one of the creator/writers.
Not cool.
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A couple of women got nominated for directing TV shows. No women were nominated in the movie or mini-series category.
Here are the female nominees:
Dramatic Series: JENNIFER GETZINGER, Mad Men, “The Suitcase”
Comedy Series: BETH McCARTHY MILLER, 30 Rock, “Live Show”
Musical/Variety: LINDA MENDOZA, Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in Performance at The White House
Daytime Serial: SALLY McDONALD, The Young and the Restless, “Episode #9553″
JILL MITWELL, One Life to Live, “Starr X’d Lovers – Episode #10,688″
Commercial: STACY WALL, (Imperial Woodpecker)
DGA Nominees
‘Boardwalk Empire’s’ Martin Scorsese Among Directors Nominated for DGA TV Award (HR)
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My screen saver is a picture of Kathryn Bigelow holding her two Oscars. Each day when my computer boots up that is the first image I see. I never expected a woman to win best director and best picture last year (though I was hopeful), and I sure don’t expect it this year (because I am a realist), but it is an image that I hold onto because it shows what it possible.
Last year the DGA nominated Kathryn Bigelow for their annual prize — and she won for the first time EVER.
This year NO women nominees. Back to reality. Back to women being left out.
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As the debate about Oscar nominations concludes this week, one interesting conversation that has been going on is the debate about whether True Grit actress Hailee Steinfeld should be placed in the best actress or best supporting actress category.
The campaign for Steinfeld from the studio is focused on securing her a supporting nod. That makes perfect sense on the surface. She’s a first time actress, she’s 14, and she stars opposite some of the biggest stars including last year’s best actor winner Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. And as we all know that best actress is a very competitive category with Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Natalie Portman (The Black Swan), and Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) as virtual locks for best actress.
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Raven Symone showed up last week at the People’s Choice Awards looking notable slimmer. Clearly, she was under pressure to lose weight because this is the comment she made when asked about her figure:
I thought I looked fabulous before and nobody else did…So, whatever.
Interestingly, the attention her new figure is getting is making her uncomfortable and as she said people are looking at her for different reasons.
Actually, now I wear bigger clothes because I don’t like the way people stare at me…I liked it before. Now, you’re just looking at me for the wrong reasons. Before, you were actually looking at me for a real reason.
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It’s been almost a year since Kathryn Bigelow made history winning the best director Oscar and in that time she directed a pilot — Miraculous Year — for HBO that did not get picked up, put together a deal for studio picture — Triple Frontier — starring Tom Hanks that will film in the spring of 2011, and is actively pitching another indie film to be written by Mark Boal who wrote The Hurt Locker.
She’s not a big public speaker and has never been known to talk about gender issues, or women or what it means to have been the first woman to win the best director Oscar, but she know she has clout.
And she rolled that clout out this week just as everyone is finalizing their Oscar nomination ballots. She introduced two private screenings of Winter’s Bone in LA this week that included star Jennifer Lawrence and director Debra Granik.
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