Monthly Archive for November, 2007

Hollywood Actresses Paychecks
The Hollywood Reporter holds its annual Women in Entertainment breakfast next Tuesday. In anticipation of that event, they released an annual survey/accounting of how well (or not well) the top women in film are doing. While the money these women make is way more than any of us will ever see, they still don’t rank in the same universe with the guys, and women will never get over the hump until they prove they can open movies in Hollywood’s ass-backwards economic formula.

Interesting quote:
“But even though actress salaries seem to be bigger than ever, the news this year is not how large the paychecks of Hollywood’s hottest female stars have become, it is how low they are prepared to go to fill in their schedules.” (Do guys have to lower their salaries as much?)

Top 10 highest paid actresses:
1. Reese Witherspoon — $15 million-$20 million
2. Angelina Jolie — $15 million-$20 million
3. Cameron Diaz — $15+ million
4. Nicole Kidman — $10 million-$15 million
5. Renee Zellweger — $10 million-$15 million
6. Sandra Bullock — $10 million-$15 million
7. Julia Roberts — $10 million-$15 million
8. Drew Barrymore — $10 million-$12 million
9. Jodie Foster — $10 million-$12 million
10. Halle Berry — $10 million

Also note that the all the actresses are in their 30s to early 40s.

Sliding Scale: Salaries of Hollywood’s Leading Ladies (Hollywood Reporter)

Movies This Weekend
It’s the week after Thanksgiving and there are few wide releases opening. Those people in NY and LA should check out The Savages and Nina’s Heavenly Delights. I liked the Savages, but loved Nina’s Heavenly Delights. Very fun and light.

Also opening of interest is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel’s meditation on Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a catastrophic stroke at the age of 43 and suffered from lock-in syndrome where his brain was fully functional and nothing in his body worked except for one eye. This man was able to dictate a book by blinking out letters for months. An extraordinary film of courage and the power of imagination.

50 Smartest People in Hollywood
EW has thrown out the model of the power list and this year picks the 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. At number 1 is Judd Apatow, the man who makes it acceptable for young men to be schlubs and smoke pot all day, just as long as they get the girl who works to support their pathetic lives. I did find Knocked Up funny at times, but I think this trend of men acting like arrested teenagers in movies is sad and regressive and potentially dangerous.
Here is the criteria for getting on the list: 50 Smartest People in Movies (EW)

Women on the List
6. Meryl Streep, actor
15. Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
26. Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks SKG
30. Jodie Foster, actor/director
31. Kathleen Kennedy, producer
32. Thelma Schoonmaker, editor
33. Angelina Jolie, actor
38. Diablo Cody, screenwriter
39. Mary Zophres, costume designer
43. Beth Swofford, agent at CAA
45. Cate Blanchett, actor
47. Amy Powell, senior vice president of interactive marketing at Paramount
49. Sarah Polley, actor/writer/director

13 out of 50 – better than most lists from Hollywood. Interesting that Meryl Streep is higher than the most powerful woman in Hollywood, Amy Pascal.

Sundance unveiled the rest of its lineup – films to be screened out of competition.
Movies by and about women include:

“The Guitar” / USA, Director: Amy Redford; Screenwriter: Amos Poe
The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams. Cast: Saffron Burrows, Isaach De Bankole, Paz De La Huerta. World Premiere

“Incendiary” / UK, Director and Screenwriter: Sharon Maguire
A spirited young mother juggles grief and love in the aftermath of a dramatic terrorist attack in London. Cast: Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, Matthew MacFadyen. World Premiere

“Merry Gentleman / USA, Director: Michael Keaton; Screenwriter: Ron Lazzeretti
After fleeing an abusive marriage, a young woman sets off to start a new life. When she finds herself an unwitting witness to a murder she stumbles into a curious friendship with a depressed hit man. Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Michael Keaton. World Premiere

“A Raisin in the Sun” / USA, Director: Kenny Leon; Screenwriter: Paris Qualles
After moving to Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s, a black family struggles to deal with poverty, racism, and inner conflict as they strive for a better life. Adapted for the screen from Lorraine Hansberry’s play, this is a moving portrait of dreams deferred. Cast: Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sean Patrick Thomas. World Premiere

“Savage Grace” / USA, Director: Tom Kalin, Screenwriter: Howard A. Rodman
The true story of the beautiful and charismatic Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Their only child is a failure in his father’s eyes, and as he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for tragedy are sown. Cast: Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne. U.S. Premiere

“Towelhead” (FKA “Nothing is Private”) / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Alan Ball
The life of a 13-year-old Arab-American girl is illuminated as she navigates her way through the confusing and frightening path of adolescence and sexual awakening. Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Toni Collette, Summer Bishil. U.S. Premiere

“U2 3D” / USA, Directors: Catherine Owens, Mark Pellington
A 3-D presentation of U2’s global “Vertigo” tour. Shot at seven different shows, this production employs the greatest number of 3-D cameras ever used for a single project. World Premiere (Editor’s Note: A shorter version of “U2 3D” screened as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Film Festival in May.)

“Kicking It” / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Susan Koch
The lives of homeless people are changed forever through an international soccer competition. This film follows six players as they set off for Cape Town, South Africa to play in the Homeless World Cup. World Premiere

“Birds of America” / USA, Director: Craig Lucas; Screenwriter: Elyse Friedman
Three siblings couldn’t be more different, or more neurotic. But when they find themselves converging at the family manse, they become surprisingly indispensable to one another. Cast: Matthew Perry, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Foster. World Premiere

“Half-Life” / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Jennifer Phang
As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father’s desertion and the powerful presence of their mother’s new boyfriend. World Premiere

“Reversion” / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Mia Trachinger
In a world in which the past, present and future simultaneously unfold, a woman whose genetic mutation leaves her devoid of morality struggles to preserve her romance with the man she loves. World Premiere

“The Broken” / USA, Director and Screenwriter: Sean Ellis
On a busy London street a woman sees herself driving by in her own car. Stunned, she trails the mystery woman as events take an eerie turn into a living nightmare. Cast: Lena Heady, Richard Jenkins, Asier Newman. World Premiere

News
The case against using the Jane Austen paradigm for all female characters.
Jane Austen Must Die! (Sirens Magazine via Alternet)

The catfight bitchslap of Cashmere Mafia versus Lipstick Jungle will begin in earnest next year. (If they don’t get this writers strike settled it will get way too much press cause there will be no new episodes of other shows around) Brooke Shields in doing press for the show says that women should not apologize for being successful and wanted it all. Do we really need Brooke Shields to remind us?
Shields says new show will remind women they need not apologize for their success (AP via Macleans)

Keira Knightley opens next week in Atonement
Keira Knightley shines in Atonement (AP via Yahoo)

A lot of pressure is on Dakota Blue Richards who toplines the $180 million The Golden Compass opening next week.
Dakota Blue Richards: The 13-year-old poised to conquer the world (The Telegraph)

Desperately Seeking Susan to shut (BBC)

Tube Tonight
Hidden Plague – Ashley Judd is very smart about using her celebrity for good. In this special she examine HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. (10pm, National Geographic)

Sunday
Tin Man- a six hour mini series spins a new take on the Wizard of Oz starring Zooey Deschanel

In Praise of Cold Case
I know I’ve said this before but its worthy of a repeat — Cold Case, the CBS detective drama (Sunday, 9pm) is turning out to be the most feminist show on TV.

The episode this past weekend took place in 1982 and was about a serial date rapist; before the term date rape existed when women were dismissed by their family, friends and the police as having asked for it.

This episode was handled so well that after it was over I thought to myself that I bet a woman wrote and directed it. I was right. Episode was written by Executive Producer Veena Sud and directed by the highly esteemed film director Agnieszka Holland (Copying Beethoven, Europa, Europa). (Women film directors are becoming regular TV directors since there are so few opportunities in film for them- that’s another story)

I decided to check out the other senior staff (thanks to tivo) and was shocked and delighted to discover that of the 9 people listed under producer, consulting producer, co-exec producer and exex producer (in TV terms that means the writing team) 7 of them are women. Yes yo read it right — 7 out of 9 writers/producers are women. I have never seen that before. We need to support this show with all our might. And it’s not just because they are women, it’s because they write women so well.

Put This on the List
Just got some info on a film opening next March- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. Set in 1939 London, McDormand plays a fired governess who finds herself befriended by an American actress and singer played by Adams.

The Sundance Film Festival unveiled its lineup yesterday.
Fest will host 51 first time filmmakers. Women in the lineup include:

Documentary Competition:
“An American Soldier,” Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg
Uncle Sam wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. World Premiere

“American Teen,” Director and Screenwriter: Nanette Burstein
This irreverent cinema verite chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. World Premiere

“Flow: For Love of Water,” Director: Irena Salina
Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. FLOW confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause. World Premiere

“The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo,” Director and Screenwriter: Lisa F. Jackson
Jackson travels to remote villages in the war zones of the Congo to meet rape survivors, providing a piercing, intimate look into the struggle of their lives. World Premiere

“Nerakhoon (The Betrayal),” Director: Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath; Screenwriters: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family’s extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film. World Premiere

“The Order of Myths,” Director: Margaret Brown
In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated…and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether. World Premiere

“Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” Director: Marina Zenovich; Screenwriters: Marina Zenovich, Joe Bini, P.G. Morgan
This film examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski’s sudden flight from the United States. World Premiere

“Slingshot Hip Hop,” Director: Jackie Reem Salloum
The voice of a new generation rocks and rhymes as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. World Premiere

“Traces of the Trade: A Story From The Deep North,” Director: Katrina Browne; Co-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray; Screenwriters: Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan
History finally gets rewritten as descendants of the largest slave-trading family in early America face their past, and present, as they explore their violent heritage across oceans and continents. World Premiere

“Trouble the Water,” Directors: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
An aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, armed with a video camera, show what survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, and seize a chance for a new beginning. World Premiere

Dramatic Competition:
“Downloading Nancy,” Director: Johan Renck; Screenwriters: Pamela Cuming, Lee Ross
The tale of an unhappy wife whose online search for someone to put her out of her misery results in a torturous love affair. Cast: Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, Amy Brenneman. World Premiere

“Frozen River,” Director and Screenwriter: Courtney Hunt
Set in rural upstate New York on a Mohawk Reservation bordering Canada, a mother left to care for her teenage son finds herself lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling. Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O’Keefe, Mark Boone, Jr. World Premiere

“Good Dick,” Director and Screenwriter: Marianna Palka
The tale of a lonely girl drawn from her isolated life and solitary apartment by a doting young video store clerk who strives to capture her affections. Cast: Jason Ritter, Marianna Palka, Tom Arnold, Mark Webber, Martin Starr, Eric Edelstein. World Premiere

“Phoebe in Wonderland,” Director and Screenwriter: Daniel Barnz
Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl takes her already dysfunctional family down the rabbit hole when she seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher. Cast: Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Peter Gerety. World Premiere

“Sugar,” Directors and Screenwriters: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who last teamed up for “Half Nelson,” chronicle the journey of Dominican baseball star Miguel “Sugar” Santos recruited from his native country to play in the U.S. minor leagues. Cast: Algenis Perez Soto. World Premiere

“Sunshine Cleaning,” Director Christine Jeffs; Screenwriter: Megan Holley
Struck by financial hardship, an ambitious mother and her unmotivated sister become entrepreneurs in the field of biohazard removal and crime scene clean-up. Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, Alan Arkin. World Premiere

World Cinema Documentary Competition:
“Alone in Four Walls (Allein In Vier Wanden) / Germany, Director: Alexandra Westmeier
Adolescent boys struggle to grow up in a home for delinquents in rural Russia where life behind bars may be better than the release to freedom. North American Premiere

“The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins” / New Zealand, Director and Screenwriter: Pietra Brettkelly
Vanessa Beecroft is obsessively determined to adopt Sudanese twin orphans. Her consuming passion drives her marriage to a breaking point and fuels her controversial art, raising troubling questions about exploitation, culture clash, and the imposition of the West on Africa. World Premiere

“Dinner With The President” / Pakistan, Directors and Screenwriters: Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan
From on-the-street interviews to audiences with religious leaders to dinner with the President of Pakistan, the film takes the temperature of a culture on issues from politics to women’s rights. U.S. Premiere

“pUUJEE” / Japan, Director and Screenwriter: Kazuya Yamada
Against the backdrop of a magnificent but harsh natural landscape, a Japanese photojournalist encounters Puujee, a young girl who tames wild horses on the Mongolian plains.

“The Women of Brukman” (Les Femmes de la Baukma) / Canada, Director and Screenwriter: Isaac Isitan
Amidst Argentina’s financial collapse, workers take over a Buenos Aires men’s clothing factory and continue producing clothing on a self-management model. As the formerly poor become business managers, their lives are changed forever. U.S. Premiere

World Cinema Dramatic Competition are:
“Megane” (Glasses)/ Japan, Director and Screenwriter: Naoko Ogigami
Taeko’s southern vacation becomes a life-changing experience when she discovers a unique beach community unified by surprising and perhaps odd traditions in this comedic film. Cast: Satomi Kobayashi, Mikako Ichikawa, Ryo Kase, Ken Mitsuishi, Masako Motai. North American Premiere

“Mermaid” (Rusalka) / Russia, Director and Screenwriter: Anna Melikyan
The fanciful tale of an introverted little girl who grows up believing she has the power to make wishes come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism. Cast: Masha Shalaeva, Evgeniy Ciganov, Maria Sokolova, Nastya Doncova. International Premiere

“Riprendimi” (Good Morning Heartache) / Italy, Director: Anna Negri; Screenwriters: Anna Negri, Giovanna Mori
A modern young couple with a new baby are forced to deal with the almost comedic pain of breaking up while being the subject of a documentary that quickly crosses professional lines into their private lives. Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Marco Foschi, Valentina Lodovini, Stefano Fresi, Alessandro Averone. World Premiere

“Strangers” / Israel, Directors and Screenwriters: Erez Tadmor, Guy Nattiv
An Israeli man and a Palestinian woman meet serendipitously during the carefree atmosphere of the World Cup finals in Germany, drawing them out of the stark reality of their lives and into a passionate affair. Cast: Liron Levo, Lubna Azabal, Dominique Lollia, Patrick Albenque, Abdallah el Akal, Roger Dumas. International Premiere

News
Interview with Laura Linney
Anything but Typical (LA Times)

Can Enchanted beat the dreaded post Thanksgiving drop off? Disney is working to make sure this doesn’t happen. Some quotes from how they sold the film upon its release:

“Disney worried that focusing on the fairy-tale romance between Giselle (Amy Adams) and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) would scare off male moviegoers, leaving “Enchanted” with an audience that skewed as heavily female as “Hairspray’s.” Early trailers and Internet promotions also steered clear of the film’s musical numbers. Instead, the marketing focused on the film’s Disney pedigree, its characters and physical comedy.” (They really did not advertise that it was basically a musical with songs done by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and it looked like it was ready to open on Broadway next week.)

“Once moviegoers started to see the movie, men and boys apparently didn’t mind the music and romance; the opening weekend audience was 60% female and 40% male, the studio says. “It wasn’t just moms and daughters coming to the movie — it was the whole family,” Lima says.” (It’s not rocket science, produce a film that is good, and women as well as men will come. People have much more free time over the long Thanksgiving weekend, the pressure of having to see a film on a Friday or Saturday night is just not realistic for most people, especially women.)

And how they will try and keep it going:

“And, for the time being, Disney will promote the movie it has, not the movie it feared. “It’s first and foremost a romantic comedy,” Lima says. “And we shouldn’t be afraid of that.” DUH

Disney Angles for Another Enchanted Weekend (LA Times)

Movie of the Week- The Savages- written and directed by Tamara Jenkins
Writer-director Tamara Jenkins used her own family drama as inspiration for her second biting film, The Savages.

The stellar cast toplines Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as estranged siblings forced to come together to deal with the downward descent of their father into dementia.

Just like Margot at the Wedding these characters are incredibly flawed, not very likable, but they are real. Not a pretty movie both aesthetically (I have never seen Laura Linney look so bad) and topically, the film deals with a reality many people in our culture now face; what to do with an aging parent who becomes too incapacitated to deal with him or herself.

Neither of the Savage (family name is quite appropriate) siblings is really emotionally able to handle this type of adult decision especially because they were never parented properly and have been estranged from both their parents for decades.

But they handle it the best way they know how and it brings a reconciliation between the siblings. They had one of those cordial but distant relationships with the added layer of competitiveness and narcissism. Dealing with their father is humbling and forces these two together which helps each of them get over themselves.

Jenkins’ humor is raw and at times humiliating just like her first cult feature, The Slums of Beverly Hills. In fact it was her humorous take that got her the deal for this film from producer Ted Hope who had signed her “to write whatever she wanted to write, provided it had some humor to it.”

Here are some of Jenkins’ comments on her characters: “They’re terribly human and incredibly flawed and completely screwed up and I adore them for it. They’re these two mismatched, damaged people who are both in a kind of arrested development. Even though they’re in middle age, they really aren’t finished people yet, and that makes them very interesting.”

Film will have legs through the awards season and opens today in NY at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Angelika; and in LA at Pacific Arclight and The Landmark
For further release information: The Savages

Awards Watch
The awards season has kicked off! Women & Hollywood will continue to highlight the women getting nominating and winning throughout the season.

Independent Spirit Award nominations which will be handed out the day before the Oscars were announced yesterday. (To qualify for the Spirits the film budget needs to be under 20 million)

Women nominated include:
Best Feature: “Juno” and “A Mighty Heart”
Best First Feature- “2 Days in Paris”- Julie Delpy
Best Director: Tamara Jenkins- “The Savages”
Best Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins- “The Savages”; Adrienne Shelly, “Waitress”; Mike White, “Year of the Dog” (film is about a woman)
Best First Screenplay: Zoe Cassavetes, “Broken English” and Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Best Female Lead: Angelina Jolie, “A Mighty Heart”; Sienna Miller, “Interview”; Ellen Page, “Juno”; Parker Posey, “Broken English”; Tang Wei, “Lust, Caution”
Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Anna Kendrick, “Rocket Science”; Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Margot at the Wedding”; Tamara Podemski, “Four Sheets to the Wind”; Marisa Tomei, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
Best Documentary: “Lake of Fire,” Director: Tony Kaye (about abortion); “Manufactured Landscapes,” Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Best Foreign Film: “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Director: Cristian Mungiu (Romania) (about abortion); “Lady Chatterley,” Director: Pascale Ferran (France); “Persepolis,” Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi (France)
Producers Award: Anne Clements, producer of Ping Pong Playa and Quinceañera; Alexis Ferris, producer of Cthulhu and Police Beat

Gotham Awards were handed out last night in NYC
Breakthrough Award- Ellen Page for playing the pregnant teen in Juno (can’t wait to see this later today). She said: “I’m so proud that there is a teenage character like her going out into the world.”
Tribute award: Mira Nair

News
Barbra Streisand gets into the presidential race with an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. I think its a given that Oprah’s endorsement of Obama might have a more far reaching effect. But one can always hope.
Streisand Endorses Hillary Clinton (AP via USA Today)

Even though Amy Adams has been working for years, she’s become a star at 33. While that’s not too old, it’s also not 19. She’s got a slew of films coming up including Charlie Wilson’s War.
Uber Focus Propels Amy Adams (AP via Miami Herald)

Being a Sexist in Hollywood = Promotion
Jeff Robinov who you might remember from a month ago as the man who said he would no longer be making movies starring women, has now been given a huge promotion to be president of the newly restructured Warner Brother Picture Group. He will be in charge of film production, marketing, distribution as well as WB’s Indie label – Warner Independent. COO, Alan Horn still retains greenlighting rights, but other than that the kingdon is now Robinov’s.
Read the earlier story: Do Women Matter to Hollywood?

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The sharks are out already for The Golden Compass and in turn Nicole Kidman. The Guardian loved it- comparing Kidman’s villaness Mrs. Coulter to Darth Vader. Can’t wait to see it.
The Golden Compass (The Guardian)

Yesterday, Kidman also launched a new campaign against domestic violence with UNIFEM.
Kidman Launches U.N. Campaign (Reuters)

News
Documentaries seem to run in the Maysles Family. Celia Maysles debuted her documentary on her family at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Daughter’s Personal Search for Her Father (indieWIRE)

EW has named J.K. Rowling its Entertainer of the Year
Entertainer of the Year (EW)

DVDs This Week
Waitress- directed by Adrienne Shelly
“Written by director and co-star Adrienne Shelly (who was murdered shortly before the film’s selection for the Sundance Film Festival), Waitress is a frank and funny examination of the fears brought on by impending motherhood. Keri Russell plays Jenna, a waitress whose fabulous pies are about the only sweet ingredient in an otherwise dreary existence. An unwanted pregnancy, however, brings unexpected romance in this film co-starring Cheryl Hines.” (Netflix)
Check out W&H interview about the Adrienne Shelly Foundation:
Remembering Adrienne Shelly and Supporting Women Directors

The Namesake- directed by Mira Nair
“While he respects his immigrant parents (Irfan Khan and Tabu) and their decision to rear him in his United States birthplace, Gogol Ganguli (Kal Penn) is torn between Indian traditions and the modern Bostonian lifestyle. Jacinda Barrett and Zuleikha Robinson also star in director Mira Nair’s thought-provoking coming-of-age drama, which explores first-generation Americans’ delicate dance between culture and identity.” (Netflix)

Tube Tonight
Sisters in Law- 10pm, PBS
“In the little town of Kumba, Cameroon, there have been no convictions in spousal abuse cases for 17 years. But two women determined to change their community are making progress that could change their country. This fascinating, often hilarious doc follows the work of State Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba as they help women fight often-difficult cases of abuse, despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Six-year-old Manka is covered in scars and has run away from an abusive aunt, Amina is seeking a divorce to put an end to brutal beatings by her husband, the pre-teen Sonita has daringly accused her neighbor of rape.“
Sisters in Law

Enchanted won the box office race this weekend. Box office take for the Amy Adams starrer was about $50 million making it one of the best Thanksgiving weekends ever. I was able to see the film this weekend. Thought it was cute. There were a couple of very funny lines. Interestingly, the guy in my group actually liked it better than the women did. Women thought it was too sappy. At the theatre I attended in upstate NY, the audience was varied; girls as well as adult couples. Film was able to crossover into all hit quadrants. This film clearly has legs.

The African-American targeted This Christmas shocked the Hollywood box office prognosticators by raking in $27 million over the five day weekend. These box office predictors must have their heads under a rock. Why is it always shocking that movies targeted at a particular film-going audience does well? More than 22 year old white boys go to the movies. This Christmas was made for $13 million so it is already hugely profitable.
___________
Women Makes Movies (organization that supports women making independent films and videos) announces 12 new films chosen for its fiscal sponsorship program:

Akaken the Dragon – How the ancient Chinese sport of dragon boating is transforming the lives of a group of individuals searching for life after cancer. Dir. Liz Oakley

Changing My Mind About Palestine – An American woman takes a rollercoaster road trip through the West Bank that challenges her internalized stereotypes and perceptions of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Dir. Nora Malone

I Was Raped – Highlights the prevalence of rape in our culture and breaks the silence that surrounds it. Dir. Jennifer Baumgardner

I Wish I Was A Mango Tree – A powerful saga shared by millions of immigrants torn from their families by grinding poverty and a search for work. Dir. Irene Rial Bou

Semper Fi: Always Faithful – The troubling story of a massive water contamination at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, in which toxic water flowed for thirty years and exposed thousands of Marines to high levels of carcinogens. Dir. Rachel Libert

Someone Else’s War – Three Filipino workers travel thousands of miles from home to work for the US military in Iraq. Dir. Lee Wang

South Africa’s Women Judges – The personal struggles of six South African women judges, born and raised during apartheid, mirrors the larger struggle to establish a human rights-based constitutional democracy in that country. Exec. Prod. Ruth B. Cowan, Dir. Jane Thandi Lipman

Strong! – U.S. Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth works to become the strongest woman in the world. Dir. Julie Wyman

The Girls Of Rajasthan follows several students through an experimental school for girls who have had no education. Dir. Jennifer Dworkin

Watching – Profile of Eileen Clancy, founder of I-Witness video, a grassroots organization that networks and trains media activist in counter-surveillance tactics. Dir. Elizabeth Press

When Clouds Clear – A reflection of the history and culture of one small town that could vanish before it is even put on the map due to a corporate power structure that wishes to strip the land away from the local people. Dir. Anne Slick and Danielle Bernstein

U People upholds the vision that camaraderie and sisterhood is vibrant and sustaining, though not always easy among straight and gay and gender nonconformists in the African Diaspora. Dir. Hanifah Walidah

Learn More: Women Make Movies
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Attention all female filmmakers who needs funds to finish their films. Women in Film Foundation is seeking applicants for their film finishing fund.
More details:
Women in Film Finishing Fund

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SAG in support of the writers strike with a series of on-line videos: Speechless hosted exclusively on Nikki Finke’s site Deadline Hollywood. make sure to scroll down. Also the NYTimes writes today about Finke and her importance in the writer’s strike.
Alternative Journalist’s Web Site Is Scrutinized for Writers’ Strike News

News
Article on Natalie Portman
More Than Meet the Eye (The Guardian)

Most of the articles on the new regime at UA seem to focus on the Tom Cruise side of the partnership. Here is a piece from an Australian paper no less that focuses on Tom’s better half, Paula Wagner.

Some interesting quotes:

She says that she refuses to think of herself as a woman in a man’s world, but instead tries to capitalise on her “female qualities”. “Females are traditionally more verbal, more articulate, more communicative, more empathetic, more concerned about people’s feelings, more collegiate in a way, so I think that makes for great managerial qualities. Women also can be remarkably tough.

Of course times have changed. When I went to CAA in the talent department, I was one of three women there. Even in the early 1980s it was unusual, a female agent was an anomaly. And I will be honest, in my very lengthy career, I felt earlier on that I had to work really hard – that may just be my nature, but sometimes I felt I’m going to work harder, I’m going to run faster.

Hollywood’s Leading Lady (The Age)

Q&A with Lili Taylor (Nerve)

Taking a couple of days off for Thanksgiving but want to leave you with some tidbits for your holiday weekend. See you next week.

Films for the Holiday Weekend
August Rush
In a depressing fall dominated by Iraq war movies that have underperformed at the box office, August Rush is a much lighter family drama/tearjerker that feels like a breath of fresh air. Story centers around a young orphan (Freddie Highmore- this kid is really good) who will not give up hope that his parents are coming for him. Turns out he is a musical genius (as are both his parents played by Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and he believes if he could just make the music loud enough his parents will know it is him and come find him. Since this is a Hollywood film, you can probably guess the ending.

On his travels he meets a dedicated social worker (Terence Howard) who takes a liking to him, and is taken in by Wizard a Fagin like figure played by Robin Williams. He is den dad to a group of homeless kids and keeps them safe but makes them work for him. He borderlines on creepy but the film thankfully never goes there

How August Rush (the name given to him by Wizard) ends up as an orphan is tragic. Russell (a brilliant cellist) gets pregnant after a night with Meyers (singer in a rock band) and her overprotective father makes sure they never see each other again. When Russell is in an accident close to her due date her father tells her the baby died and sends him off to an orphanage.

Russell’s Lyla is devastated by the loss and gives up her music as does Rhys Meyers’ Louis. Lyla and Louis both rediscover their music on the way to discovering their child. As you can probably tell music is a crucial element in the film and the climax concert in Central Park is very well done and quite moving. Tears were flowing all through the audience.

Film is skillfully directed by Kirsten Sheridan daughter of Jim Sheridan who was nominated for a writing Oscar for In America. Film opens wide in over 2300 theatres today.

Other films this weekend
The weekend juggernaut will be Disney’s Enchanted (which I have not yet seen). It’s going to be big. Opens in over 3700 theatres. Very excited to see Amy Adams and Dr. McDreamy back on the big screen in a romantic role. And those of you in LA take yourself to see Nina’s Heavenly Delights. We interviewed director Pratibha Parmar earlier this week.
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The writers and the studios are supposedly going back to negotiations next week. I read that the studios are starting to get pissed off that regular folks like us are calling their offices demanding that they settle the strike so that the TV season can be salvaged. Link below lists all the relevant phone numbers for you to make a harassing call to your most hated studio exec.
Bring Back TV!

TV this weekend
Thursday
Out of Africa- Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in Africa. What more do you need? (7:15am, MAX)

Saturday
Battlestar Galactica: Razor- for those of you who are not experienced in the updated Battlestar, this show is all about women in leadership roles. It’s what I call a post-gender sci-fi show. This self contained film stars Michelle Forbes as the commander of the Pegasus on the eve on the Cylon attack against the colonies. (Sci-Fi, 9pm)

Watched Sunday Night’s episode of Cold Case and if you don’t have this show on your weekly watch list, you should. (Just keep in mind if you TIVO it, the show sometimes starts late because of football so I add an extra hour just to be sure.)

The episode entitled Boy Crazy was written by Joanna Lovinger and directed by Holly Dale. From what I can tell from the credits, Cold Case (detectives try to solve cold cases) is a really woman friendly show created by Meredith Stiehm. The lead is Detective Lily Rush (played by Kathryn Morris) and is the most woman centric show in the Jerry Bruckheimer TV slate, and on CBS which seems to be the station dedicated to showing as many dismembered women it can get away with each week.

The show was about trying to solve the murder of a young woman from 1963 who “dressed like a boy.” There were many issues raised like gender identity disorder and roles assigned to women, and how it sucks not to fit in the world around you. Don’t want to give it away, but I thought it was handled very well. Check you listings because sometimes the show reruns the next Saturday. Kudos the the whole team.

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The Academy released the list of the 15 films shortlisted for the documentary Oscar. As usual, women are prominent in this category. Female nominees include:
Ellen Spiro (co-director Phil Donahaue): Body of War
Bonni Cohen (co-director Richard Berge): The Rape of Europa
Andrea Nix Fine (co-director Sean Fine): War/Dance
Tricia Regan: Autism: The Musical

Final five nominees will be announced on Jan 22 with all the rest of the Oscar nominations.

Filmmaker Alert
“The Tribeca Film Institute and fashion designer Gucci announced the joint launch of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. The fund will offer finishing funds and post production guidance to independent filmmakers in need of finances to complete documentaries that promote social change and illuminate issues in need of comprehensive coverage currently missing from mainstream media. ” (Indiewire)

News
Julie Christie has a good shot at getting a nomination for Away from Her.
Julie Christie is Good at Being Picky (LA Times)

Amy Adams on Enchanted (which will do some serious money this weekend) (EW)

Q&A with Charlotte Gainsbourg on the new Bob Dylan movie
Charlotte Gainsbourg Was Totally There for Dylan Film

Tube Tonight
Mia Farrow is featured in the Frontline documentary on Darfur (9pm, PBS)

Nina’s Heavenly Delights, an uplifting film about following your heart, opens this Wednesday, November 21 in LA, and November 30th in NY. Director, Pratibha Parmar spoke with Women & Hollywood about the film and the struggles women directors go through to get their projects made.

W&H: Why was it important for you to tell this story?

Pratibha Parmar: Many reasons. One of the received wisdoms in the film industry is that you should always make your first film about something personal. So I chose to write a story that was based on my own experience of falling in love in a way and with a person that was a complete surprise! I wanted to tell a story that has at its heart a non traditional ‘forbidden love’ but using a traditional genre like romantic comedy.

W&H: It took seven years from writing the story until production. How did you persevere in your vision throughout that time?

PP: Now I know why they say make your first film about something you feel passionate about, because in that long seven year journey to get this film onto the screen, it really was sheer blind passion and determination that helped me to keep going. You hear so many more ‘No’s’ then you ever hear ‘maybe’ or ‘yes.’ It was also pride and sometimes anger that kept me going. I could see male directors with half the experience that I have making their debut features without the kind of intense struggle that I was going through, without having to ‘prove’ that they were ready to make a feature.

By the time I had come to make Nina’s Heavenly Delights, I had already made award winning documentaries and also directed a number of short dramas. So it was frustrating to say the least when I kept being asked by potential financiers if ‘I was confident enough to direct drama’ and ‘work with a big crew.’ I don’t think the majority of men in the film industry internationally have an innate sense of confidence in women directors in the way they do with male directors.

W&H: Did you write the film knowing that you would direct it? Do you think that more women directors are writing their own scripts because so few scripts are available to them to direct?

PP: Oh yes, when I wrote the story it was very much with a view to directing it. I am a director first and foremost and want to tell stories that I don’t often see on the cinema screens. I think first we have to be SEEN as directors to be even sent scripts for consideration. I am always having to generate my own work and that can often mean that you have to wait so many more years until you make your next feature. So it would be lovely to be sent scripts that have already gone through ‘development hell’ and are ready to go into production.

W&H: Music is a very important element in the film and brings life to many of the scenes especially in Bobbi’s scenes. Talk a little about the importance of music in telling this story.

PP: Music has always been a key story telling device for me. I had chosen some of the songs in the film very early on. I wanted the texture of the music to reflect the world of the film which is a cross-cultural and cross everything else kind of world. The few Bollywood songs in the film have lyrics which help to advance the narrative. And then there are also contemporary pop songs like The Monkees’ ‘ Day Dream Believer’ and tracks from some great female singer/songwriters like Alex Parkes, Shelley Poole and Holly Vallance, whom many people will recognize. Music can trigger so many different emotional responses and you don’t always need dialogue when a lyric or a musical refrain can evoke the mood or story so much more effectively.

W&H: What do you want people to get out of this film?

PP: I want people to leave the cinema feeling happy, hungry and horny. No seriously – I want people to see the characters beyond their sexuality or culture. The film showed on British Airways long haul flights last Christmas and a friend was traveling from London to Delhi when it was screening. He got his whole cabin to watch the movie and at first a few of the Indian mothers were saying, ’oh dear, we didn’t know this happened in our communities,’ i.e., a woman falling in love with another woman, but then half way through the film, he said everyone forgot that Nina is gay and were rooting for her to win the cooking competition. It was great to hear that.

W&H: There are so few films released in the states that feature female leads and you not only have a woman lead in you piece, she is Asian and realizing she is gay. How is the film being marketed so that the widest audience possible will be exposed to the story? Do you think that the audience will be gay people, Asian people, Scottish people, women or all of the above?

PP: I hope that the audience will be people of every color, sexuality, musical tastes and everyone who enjoys a feel good movie! So far the film has screened at over 50 international film festivals – many of them mainstream festivals and some for niche markets. But across the board, the audiences have loved it. From Hong Kong to India to Paris to Turin, people have responded very positively.

The US distributors, Regent Releasing/hereFilms have been fantastic so far! They totally get that the movie has great potential to break out into the mainstream and so they are trying (with their limited resources) to get the word out there. Ultimately with films that are not ‘star’ led or have some kind of celebrity marketing push, it’s the WORD OF MOUTH that is crucial. So I really hope people who have seen it and like it blog about it, get onto Rotten Tomatoes and other sites and write or vote for it and help spread a buzz.

W&H: What does it mean to be a woman director in a world where so few women are directors? Do you feel an added responsibility?

PP: The main responsibility I feel is to myself as a story teller and to make films with truthfulness, honesty and integrity. In doing so, if the work inspires other women to want to become directors, then that’s terrific but I am not into carrying that ‘burden of responsibility’ for all women or all minorities for that matter. Having said that, I am an Associate of the Birds Eye Women’s Film Festival in the UK and have been their supporter since they first formed. As an active member of Women in Film & Television in the UK, I helped to initiate the Women Directing Change program where less experienced women directors get the opportunity to shadow more experienced film directors, both men and women. The abysmally low number of women directors is appalling- so I am supportive of anything that helps to change that.

Keep watch as to when the film will open in your city. More info: Nina’s Heavenly Delights

News
Box Office- Margot at the Wedding playing in only two venues brought in over $82,000. Film expands to 35 venues in the top 12 markets, Wednesday.

Jennifer Jason Leigh stars with Nicole Kidman in husband Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding
Jennifer Jason Leigh Brings Home to Work With Her (LA Times)

Emmanuelle Seigner on Movies and Rocking Out (LA Times)

Linda Cardellini talks about ER’s 300th episode
Nurse Role Gives Linda Cardelini a Nice Health Run on ER (NY Daily News

German director Doris Dorrie talks about her new film, How to Cook Your Life (indiewire)

Anne Thompson talks up Laura Linney’s performance in Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages.
Oscarwatch: The Savages Jenkins and Linney (Variety)

Not all young actresses get lured into the tabloid world. Why don’t we hear more about them?
Young Actresses Focused on Careers (Variety)

A story about the International Women’s Film Festival in Israel
Israel’s female filmmakers get big boost with ‘Women in the Picture’ (Israel21c)

Tube Tonight
Friends with Money- Nicole Holofcener’s look at how money gets in the way of friendships. (12:45pm and 8pm, ENCORE)

Grey Gardens- the cult documentary that spawned a Broadway show and now a movie starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore (7:15pm, SUNDANCE)

Weeds- season finale (10pm, SHOWTIME)

Review- Margot at the Wedding
Noah Baumbach is not afraid to write unlikable characters. I admire that. I liked The Squid and the Whale, his semi-autobiographical look at the demise of his parents marriage. His new movie, Margot at the Wedding, is at its core the story between two estranged sisters both on the brink of big life changes. The sisters are played by Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Baumbach’s wife) who admirable take on Baumbach’s complex script.

Neither one of them gives a false note, and it is important to note especially on Kidman’s part, her continual risk taking movie choices. Looking at her roles you can see that this is a woman interested in growing as an actress, rather than being focused on box office. It turns out that some of the roles she played were in successful movies that made money, and then she was pigeon holed on the box office take for the rest of her films. It’s the studios fault that they offered her millions of dollars for films they knew stunk and then blamed it on her for not being able to “open a movie.” From my assessment of her career, I don’t think she cares about being able to open a movie.

The sisters come together to celebrate Pauline’s (Leigh) wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black) an unemployed musician/artist. The fireworks start immediately when Margot (Kidman) questions and judges Pauline’s decision. They go at it and even they they say they are each others best friend, you know that they aren’t, and that quite possibly they don’t really like each other. Family is tough stuff and Baumbach is not shy. Margot, in judging Pauline, is deflecting her own downward spiral seen through self-medicating and told through rude comments.

Movie opens on two screens and will hopefully go wider soon.

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I am very angry at the folks at Criminal Minds right now. Here’s why. I am a big fan of procedurals and have really enjoyed Minds especially when Mandy Patankin was on it, but I am getting tired of this whole mutilating and killing women theme which this show seems to relish. Then, on this last episode (which did great in the ratings) the one female character who actually has character, who is not stick thin, and plays the techie, got shot by a guy after their dinner date. The show totally played into the stereotype of if it seems too good it probably is, and perpetuates the bullshit that only skinny hot girls get the cute boys. They better resolve it well next week or else they will incure my wrath.

News
Jodie Foster will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership award at the 16th annual Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Power 100 Breakfast to be held in Hollywood on December 4th.

The movie 9 to 5 is now a stage play. It will be performed in LA and will star Allison Janney (CJ from the West Wing) in the Tomlin role.
9to 5 Set its World Stage Premiere (AP via Miami Herald)

Kristen Stewart will star in Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight (Variety)

Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl is taking advantage of her star status by signing to star in Columbia’s romantic comedy The Ugly Truth from the writers and director of Legally Blonde.
Katherine Heigl Set for Truth (Variety)

A Stuntwoman in Hollywood
Stuntwoman still Loves Her Occupation (Christian Science Monitor)

Rosie O’Donnell Returns to Nip/Tuck (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

I love America Ferrara from Ugly Betty. She is a breath of fresh air in a world of young women gone wild in Hollywood.
American Ferrara Relates to Her Ugly Betty Role

The fantastic Imelda Staunton talks about the roles for older women, and society’s ridiculous obsession with youth.
Imelda Staunton on Her New BBC Drama

Tube to Watch

Tonight
Sunset Boulevard – 8am, HBOS
Bull Durham – 8pm, AMC

Tommorow
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle- 3pm, IFC
Born Yesterday (the version with Judy Holliday)- 10pm, TCM

Molly Shannon stars in the Lifetime movie More of Me where the busy mom divides into four separate women to deal with her busy life. Rent Year of the Dog instead. Shannon is much more interesting in that.

Sunday
The final chapter of The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard – 9pm, PBS
The Philadelphia Story- 10pm, TCM

Slooow News Day

Ellen Degeneres is in a really hot spot. She was planning on coming to NY to tape her show, but the Writer’s Guild threatened to picket since she has basically been back at work since the writers struck. She stayed out the first day and twice didn’t do a monologue, but she’s at work. Her problem is that she is a syndicated show with WGA writers on the staff. Ellen is also a member of the guild. Most syndicated shows don’t employ guild members. I don’t envy her. Screwed if she does work, and screwed if she doesn’t.
Ellen Under Fire

News
Renee Zellweger talks to Bazaar Magazine about remaining sane in Hollywood. It’s sad when being able to be sane is not the norm.
Zellweger Says She’s Proud of Her Sanity (USA Today)

Women’s Murder Club- On the set, there’s a lot of murder, but not any girl fighting
For Cast and Crew it Isn’t a Club So Much as a Clan (USA Today)

Abbie Cornish soon to be big star on her role in Elizabeth
Abbie Cornish Found a Character in Her Corset (Sydney Morning Herald)

Tube Tonight
Cybill Shepherd is TCM’s guest programmer with Ninotchka, Notorious and His Girl Friday. TCM, 8pm
30 Rock- Edie Falco guest stars as a democratic political operative who falls for Alec Baldwin’s Jack.

Women’s Murder Club – My Favorite New Show This Season
I have been looking for an excuse to talk up the Women’s Murder Club, and an email from Sarah Fain, creator and showrunner is just that excuse. I know that critics kept falling over themselves to promote Pushing Daisies, which I find quite boring and I haven’t watched my saved episodes for several weeks.

She emailed to clarify (guess that she has some time during the strike, fortunately for me) that she and her writing partner Liz Craft created the show and they run the show with R. Scott Gemmill. They are all executive producers along with Joe Simpson, Brett Ratner and James Patterson who wrote the book the show is based upon.

The show stars Angie Harmon who is so much better here than she was on Law & Order. I also especially like Paula Newsome as the medical examiner.

Show airs on ABC at 10pm on Fridays. This week’s episode features Harmon’s real husband, Jason Seahorn.

Variety has a series of stories on Women in Showbiz: The Politics of Change
One focuses on politics about how women in Hollywood are not all rallying behind Hillary Clinton (doesn’t make them any different than women across the country). Story also mentions the HWPC (Hollywood Women’s Political Caucus, disbanded ten years ago, which gave women in the biz a united political voice. I think we need to bring back HWPC!
Hollywood Women Split Political Loyalties (Variety)

Another focuses on the growing influence of lesbians. “These days, the war in Iraq looms large for lesbians, trumping even gay marriage and adoption rights as a front-burner issue.” Well, duh. Ilene Chaiken, creator of the L Word and de-facto lesbian spokesperson adds: “Our voice is louder and stronger, and we have more potent meaning in the political conversation than we had in the past, when we were less visible.” (Variety)
Lesbian Politics More Than Marriage

Pieces also include: How Hollywood Women are Speaking Against the Iraq War
Women Join Voices Against Iraq War
Stars Battle Violence Against Women
The Darfur Crisis
Hollywood Puts Spotlight on Darfur
AIDS
AIDS Awareness Goes Global
Animal Rights
Stars Speak Out About Animal Rights
Immigration
Hollywood Part of Immigration Debate

Good package, but I get annoyed when Variety dumbs down its pieces.

Remembering Adrienne Shelly and Supporting Women Directors

Last night the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, founded in memory of the murdered director, (director of this year’s sleeper hit Waitress which could potentially get Keri Russell some nominations) had its inaugural gala with a reading of Adrienne’s screenplay The Morgan Stories. Celebs scheduled to appear included: Alanis Morissette, Edie Falco, Mary-Louise Parker, Gina Gershon, Jason Patric, Leelee Sobieski, Nathan Dean, Jake Hoffman and Maria Tucci.

Women & Hollywood posed some questions to Adrienne’s husband, and foundation founder, Andy Ostroy, about why he started the Foundation in his late wife’s name.

Women & Hollywood: Why did you start the Adrienne Shelly Foundation?

Andy Ostroy: Following Adrienne’s death, I was asked by many people where they could donate money in her name. Once I was able to think clearly about this, and consider Adrienne’s passion for filmmaking, especially as a woman, the idea for the Foundation was born. I knew that it would be a very worthwhile cause that we could champion in her honor.

W&H: Why is it important to support female filmmakers?

AO: Overall, women are the true underdogs in filmmaking. Perhaps just 7% or so of all features are directed by women. This is an embarrassing statistic. Female filmmakers have a strong passion and a distinct message…and that voice needs to be heard more loudly. The Adrienne Shelly Foundation exists to help support these incredibly talented women as they strive to produce their work.

W&H: What type of grants will the foundation be giving out?

AO: We’ve provide a variety of financial awards that include film school scholarships, production grants, finishing funds and living stipends, ranging from $5000-$10,000.

W&H: What do you want people who are interested in women and film know about Adrienne Shelly?

AO: Adrienne was a one-of-a-kind human being with a unique voice that sadly is no longer with us. She brought a rare, magical blend of comedy, drama and unpredictability to her writing, all of which had ass-kicking female empowerment as its ultimate central theme. Had she lived, she would’ve undoubtedly gone on to become one of America’s most prolific filmmakers. “Waitress” proved that.

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Variety is running one of their regular features, this one is on comedy. As you can imagine, since there are hardly any comedies written by or about women, the section skews male. No actresses are featured, only one writer (Diablo Cody- guess if this was one year ago there would have been no female writers- how about Nancy Meyers?), and they have a section on Judd and His Merry Men. Several women — Jenna Fischer, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Jamie Pressly and Amy Poehler are feauted in the Tube Titans story. I’m not even linking to it, I’m so disgusted by the whole package.

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Since women are so infrequently honored and acknowledged in Hollywood, the Paley Center’s “She Made It: Women Creating Television and Radio” which honors 50 women for their contributions to TV and radio deserves note. Here is the list of this year’s honorees:
Perry Miller Adato
Gracie Allen
Jay Presson Allen
Candice Bergen
Frances Buss
Peggy Charren
May Chidiac
Betty Cohen
Judy Crichton
Nancy Dickerson
Margaret Drain
Rebecca Eaton
Linda Ellerbee
Betty Furness
Amy Goodman
Lee Grant
Bonnie Hammer
Salma Hayek
Maria Hinojosa
Gwen Ifill
Marta Kauffman
Barbara Kopple
Claire Labine
Lynda La Plante
Margaret Loesch
Nancy Malone
Caryn Mandabach
Mary Margaret McBride
Beth McCarthy Miller
Marilyn Suzanne Miller
Andrea Mitchell
Gloria Monty
Christine Ockrent
Suze Orman
Rosie O’Donnell
Abbe Raven
Shonda Rhimes
Martha Rountree
Radhika Roy
Lucie Salhany
Jennifer Saunders
Martha Stewart
Hannah Storm
Nina Totenberg
Ellen M. Violett
Meredith Vieira
Judith Cary Waller
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Yang Lan
Paula Zahn

The women will all be honored at a ceremony on December 6.
She Made It (Hollywood Reporter)

News
Jada Pinkett Smith will make her directing debut with her script for the film The Human Contract. Hubby Will Smith will executive produce. (Variety)

I’m kind of getting tired of writing about Diablo Cody like she is the only female screenwriter in Hollywood. It was cute for a while, but now its getting old. Cody and her Juno director (out December 5) Jason Reitman are reteaming for her new script, Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox. “The film tells the story of a cheerleader who is possessed by a demon and starts feeding off the boys in a Minnesota farming town. Her “plain Jane” best friend must kill her, then escape from a correctional facility to go after the Satan-worshiping rock band responsible for the transformation.” Sounds dreadful (Hollywood Reporter)

Damages has been renewed for two more seasons of 13 episodes each. Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Tate Donovan are all signed on.

Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel has signed on to star in Ticket to Rise to be directed by Vicky Jenson. “Ryden Malby, a college grad who is forced to move back into her childhood home with her eccentric family while she attempts to find a job, the right guy and some direction for her life.” Screenplay is by Kelly Fremon (I would venture a guess that she is a woman based on the film description) (Variety)

Sarah Michelle Gellar, hero to young women and former star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appears on the cover of Maxim wearing just her bra. Why do young women in Hollywood feel they need to get naked to promote their movies? They never ask young men to do that.

Portia de Rossi, Ellen Degeneres’ partner, is taking on her first gay role on Nip/Tuck.
De Rossi Nips at Challenges (USA Today)

Warner Bros TV and Telepictures are launching Mom Logic a website targeted at women with children. (Variety)

Sneak Preview
Saw August Rush directed by Kirsten Sheridan (daughter of Jim Sheridan of My Left Foot fame) starring the incredibly talented Freddie Highmore this weekend. Very uplifting and moving film. Also stars Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys-Myers. In this season of depressing films, I think one has a chance to break out of the pack. Opens nation-wide on November 21.

More on Diablo Cody, it screenwriter girl. I’m fascinated by the continued press obsession with this woman. I am sure part of it is the fact that she was a former stripper – which every article mentions. She seems to be enjoying and reveling in her 15 minutes. Here are some interesting quotes from the EW piece on her and her upcoming film Juno. Even being in Hollywood for less than a year she already knows where women rate in the business.

“I think teenage girls deserve a better shake in cinema”, she says pointing to My So-Called Life’s Angela Chase as the rare female character in pop culture she’s actually want as a friend.

With buzz for Juno building, Cody has found herself a hero among young Hollywood women desperate to play something besides arm candy. “I Never get to meet with male actors because they don’t need me,” she says. “But actresses? Constantly.”

And because she is the new broad in town, studios are sending her any and all projects that star a woman. “If there’s a female protagonist or romance, they just assume it’s up my alley. What, because I have a vagina?” (EW)

Did you notice the NY Times Magazine this weekend entitled Hollywood Goes West? Another completely male focused issue. The only women I noticed with the Questions for Patty Limerick column by Deborah Solomon (but she doesn’t count as Hollywood to me); Jane Smiley and Nicole Krauss both have short pieces within the longer articles; pictures of Kelly Macdonald, Holly Hunter and Julianne Moore along with an exploitive picture of Tara Reid.

News
I’ve noticed that a lot of the stories and voices of the writer’s strike have been male (Tina Fey on day one is a notable exception.) Here is a LA Times story of a single mother on strike.
A New Mother is Full of Joy — and Fear (LA Times)

New film Holly takes on human trafficking (review to come soon)
More Than Cinema: a Campaign to End Child Sex (NY Times)

Movie of the Week- Steal a Pencil for Me
Being a nice Jewish girl from Long Island, I have seen my share of Holocaust documentaries. They are usually so disturbing that I tend to spend the next week incredibly depressed. That’s what I expected when I watched the new documentary Steal a Pencil for Me, but that was not the case. Turns out Steal a Pencil for Me is an uplifting and hopeful love story told through the backdrop of the Holocaust.

In this compelling story by Academy Award nominee Michele Ohayon, the lovers Jack Polak and Ina Soep first meet at a party in Amsterdam in 1943. There are several big problems they must overcome to be together, the first is Jack’s unhappy marriage, and the second is Hitler. Soon after meeting, they are both deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and it is under those brutal circumstances that their love blossoms shown through the letters they wrote to each other.

Amazingly, they both survived and just celebrated 60 years of marriage. An incredibly hopeful story born out of a time of deep despair.

Opens in NY and LA today.
More Info: Steal a Pencil for Me

Also opening: War Dance co-directed by Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
War Dance

News
Katee Sackhoff is really the only thing working in the disappointingly bland Bionic Woman.
Woman of Steel (Backstage)

An all-black revival of Cat on a Hit Tin Roof directed by Debbie Allen will open on Broadway in March. (Variety)

Winona Ryder has been cast as Spock’s mother in the new Star Trek movie directed by JJ Abrams. In another case of Hollywood fantasy casting, Ryder is only 6 years older than Zachary Quinto who was cast as Spock. Wouldn’t it make sense to cast someone who could actually be his mother to play his mother?

The Color Purple has figure out how to get African Americans to the theatre.
Color Purple a Family Affair (Variety)

Piece on Nicole Kidman who has two films coming up, Margot at the Wedding and the Golden Compass.
Nicole Kidman (USA Today)

Tube Tonight
Citizen Ruth- one of the funniest abortion dramas. Stars Laura Dern. (FLIX, 8pm)

Nina’s Heavenly Delights – a delightful film
Put this film on your list when it comes to your town- Nina’s Heavenly Delights, directed by Pratibha Parmar, one of the most fun and uplifting films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s the story of a Scottish woman of Indian descent who returns home after her father’s sudden death and winds up taking his place in a nationally televised curry cooking competition. The film deals with so many important issues like assimilation, family, being true to yourself all wrapped up in a whole lot of Bollywood fun. It really reminded me of the wonderful tone that I loved in Bend it Like Beckham. Film also has a great soundtrack.

Look for it in LA on November 21, NY on November 30, Portland, OR on December 28. other cities will roll out in early 2008. More info: Nina’s Heavenly Delights

This column from the LA Times’s Oscar columnist Gold Derby pisses me off. The headline is: Can Being Pregnant Help Helena and Cate to win Oscars? The column then goes on to discuss pregnant nominees who have and haven’t won Oscars when pregnant. I find this so retro. Let’s keep our eye on the ball. The issue we should be discussing is the lack of opportunities and roles for all actresses.

News
Interview with Michele Ohayon,director of Steal a Pencil for Me a documentary opening tomorrow in NY & LA (review tomorrow)
Michele Ohayon

Scottish Actress Kelly McDonald stars in the upcoming No Country for Old Men
Kelly McDonald’s Chameleon Ways (LA Times)

Another Q&A with Alison Eastwood (AP via Yahoo)

Preview Review- Lions for Lambs
How psyched was I for a movie starring Robert Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep? Tom Cruise and I go way back to the early 80s where he spent some time on my bedroom wall during high school when he was breaking through in Risky Business and the under appreciated All the Right Moves. Meryl is good in everything she does (I can’t think of a single movie where she was bad); and Robert Redford is well, Robert Redford – savior of independent cinema.

I would love to tell you that Lions for Lambs is the important war movie this fall, but I can’t. It’s not even the second or third important war movie this fall. It’s a preachy, boring polemic that is an utter disappointment on all levels.

The story is told from three different perspectives. The first is Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. Cruise plays a Republican Senator hell bent on creating a new war strategy because we need to win this “so-called” war on terror. Streep plays a seasoned journalist called in to interview the Senator as the offensive is launched in order to report the facts on this brilliant new war strategy for Afghanistan. Much as I loved Tom Cruise when I was a teen, I think that he is virtually unwatchable nowadays. I had a really hard time separating his screen role from his off-screen role. I think that some of it was due to the fact that I kept thinking this smarmy Senator was going to jump on his office coach to try to convince the reporter that this new war strategy was the right thing to do.

The second story is about the soldiers (Michael Pena and Derek Luke) carrying out the Senator’s offensive in Afghanistan with devastating results, and the third story is about a professor (Redford) trying to inspire a gifted student to give a shit about something more than getting drunk and getting laid.

Redford doesn’t believe this is a war drama, he feels it’s a human drama ” which dares to ask the audience to question, wonder, and feel–and urges them to participate more fully in their own fates, as well as that of the country.” Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan who also wrote this fall’s The Kingdom this movie just makes me again realize how stupid and male focused war is, and how our world needs to figure out better ways to solve problems.

If you are looking for a film that asks provocative questions about war and what happens when soldiers come home see In the Valley of Elah. It’s bleak and much stronger than Lion’s for Lambs. (Opens Friday, November 9)

News
Glamour magazine gave out its annual women of the year awards this week. The awards went to Jennifer Garner, Shonda Rhimes, Elizabeth Edwards and Toni Morrison.
Glamour Women of the Year Like a Little Risky Business

Eleanor Ringel comments on the Alliance of Women Film Journalists site about the paucity of choices for women actresses. If these are the roles available for the A list, what’s it like for everyone else?
2007 Roles for A List Actresses

New Line is banking on the girl driven franchise starting with the Golden Compass to take up the mantle of Lord of the Rings.
New Line Banking on Compass (Variety)

Interesting piece from The Guardian:

Tube Tonight
Season Finale of the Sarah Silverman Show (10:30pm, Comedy Central)
Biography of Janis Joplin (11pm, Bio)
Joplin documentary recalls star’s over-the-top lifestyle

Kasi Lemmons Talks to Women & Hollywood
Kasi Lemmons is one of the few female African American women directors working in Hollywood. Her most recent film Talk to Me is out now on DVD. Check out the review here: Talk to Me (Huffington Post)

Women & Hollywood: This film is a love story between two men, which is rarely seen on film. Why was it important for you to tell this story?

KL: One of the most important films for me growing up was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which was a movie about male friendship. It helped shape my feelings about film relationships and I realized I didn’t see that. I wanted to get inside a relationship between two men where they could be vulnerable and need each other. I feel that it’s real, and yet men are very afraid of showing emotion and being demonstrative. It helps us to understand men more when we realize they are capable of these friendships.

W&H: When did you know you wanted to make the switch to the directing chair? (One prominent role Lemmons played was Jodie Foster’s roommate in Silence of the Lambs)

KL: It happened very organically. It was the late 80s and I was into politics. I went to film school thinking I would put a camera on my shoulders and make documentaries. The first film I made was about being homeless in NY. But, I had a tendency to dramatize. Bill Cosby then hired me to write a screenplay (which was never produced) and that’s how I got into the Writer’s Guild.

The storyteller part of me was always very alive. I wrote plays all the time. At a certain point I had a story I could tell from the beginning to end and I realized I had to write it down. I wrote a part that I could play when I was 40. It happened faster than that. I met an agent and he said we had to put it together and find a director. People passed on it. One day I woke up and realized that I had to direct it (Eve’s Bayou). I didn’t suddenly decide that I was a director, and even after I directed Eve’s Bayou I thought I was done.

W&H: It’s unacceptable how few women and African American women directors there are working in film today.

KL: In every other field there are women. There are women in high levels of politics. There are women in high levels of management at the World Bank. There are women in high levels everywhere. Why is it that there are not more women directors? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s a particular backwards industry in this country. I can’t speak for other countries because they seem better.

Storytelling is not like running the World Bank. Storytelling has a masculine and feminine side. We’re dealing with humanity. As artists, women are wonderful at telling men’s stories, as men have been wonderful at telling women’s stories. Yet at the same time you need the push and the pull. You need the other side of the coin.

W&H: Why does this continue to be such a problem?

KL: It doesn’t make much sense that they wouldn’t be interested in women’s visions. Look at television. They are always looking for women’s stories to tap. I think it might have something to do with the concept of what a director is — a white man between 30-50 with the hat on backwards in sneakers with a little scruff.

W&H: You lobbied for this film. Did you have to work harder to get this film?

KL: I had to get the meeting. I had to wait until they had gone through meetings with the usual suspects. I made it known that I wanted to do the movie and then the only moment of self consciousness I had was before the first meeting and it wasn’t just that I was a woman. I went in super prepared and super passionate and I got through that meeting. I was half way through my second meeting and Mark Gordon said ok.

W&H: Is this Mark Gordon who produces for TV?

KL: He believes in the power of women. It’s something he believes in and enjoys doing it without thinking. It’s not that he is making a political statement, its just the guy he is. Mark saw my passion, heard what I had to say and said ok.

W&H: How important is it to tell African American stories?

It’s very important but there have been stories I have been attracted to that have not been African American stories. I’ve written all kinds of things, however I am attracted to characters. African American stories have such a dynamic history, and it’s my people so it’s special to me. I think we occupy an interesting place in American history – very violent, very strong and triumphant and so I am drawn to those characters. I am drawn to stories.

W&H: What advice would you give a young woman director?

KL: Find a way of telling a story that represents an aspect of you, so you can use it as a calling card to help shape your identity so someone else doesn’t put you in a box. Create something or find a piece of material that is a love letter to yourself.

W&H: What are you working on next?

KL: I’m writing a pilot for Mark Gordon and CBS. I am also writing a piece for Picturehouse on the civil rights movement.

Talk to Me is available on DVD now.

____________
Julia Roberts is basically the only female “star” today and she really hasn’t toplined a movie in three years. In a new interview with Vanity Fair timed to come up with her new film Charlie Wilson’s War, Roberts talks about her wish to stay at home to knit and compost. Here’s a quote: “The highest high would be growing our food that I then make, and then composting and growing more — that kind of circle.” Wonder why they don’t take us more seriously? (Vanity Fair via Miami Herald)

News
Day one of the writer’s strike has already claimed a casualty – the premiere of Cashmere Mafia. Show was set to debut November 27. No new date has been announced.

Patrick Goldstein has an analysis of the failure of art-house films this fall. Could it be that TV is actually better than what’s playing in theatres?
Art-House Depression

Interview with War/Dance co-directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine (IndieWIRE)

Angelina Jolie on her upcoming film Beowulf.
Beowulf Aroused Jolie’s Maternal Feelings (ABC News GMA)

Profile on up-and-coming English actress Ruth Wilson
You Fight for Your Luck (The Guardian)

Brick Lane the films based on Monica Ali’s novel and directed by Sarah Gavron has caused controversy in the Bangladeshi community in London. It opens there next week.
Controversial Brick Lane Film Hits Theatres (Reuters)

Jeanne Tripplehorn joins the cast of the HBO drama Grey Gardens as Jackie Onassis. Pic stars Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.

Turkish filmmakers have taken up the cause of honour killing.
Can Film Help Put an End to Honour Killings? (The Guardian)

Judith Ivey will direct a revival of the musical Vanities on Broadway. “Set in the 1960s and ’70s, “Vanities” follows the lives of three women who were best friends as high school cheerleaders in Texas.” (Variety)

DVDs releasing this week
Blame it on Fidel: “Nina Kervel-Bey stars as 9-year-old Anna, a privileged young girl living in Paris and comforted by a simple life filled with order and routine. But over the course of one year, Anna’s structured life is thrown into turmoil when her parents are drawn into Paris’s turbulent and radical 1970s political scene. Julie Gavras (daughter of famed French filmmaker Costa-Gavras) directs this 2007 Sundance Film Festival competition entry.” (Netflix)

Run Granny Run: “At age 89, Doris “Granny D” Haddock walked across the country in protest of big-money influence on elections. Five years later in 2004, she got a chance to run for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. Learn her unlikely story in this engaging documentary. Chronicling the charismatic activist hero in her colorful travels, director Marlo Poras took home the Audience Award for Documentary Feature at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival.” (Netflix)

Thought of the day- a woman can win the NYC Marathon nine months after having a baby, yet a woman cannot be bonded to direct a movie while pregnant. WTF?

WGA on strike- how will this effect women writers who already don’t have an equal share of the jobs? One outcome could liberate me from the TV since I hate reality shows and if the strike goes on too long all that will be airing are reality shows. Since many people in America love reality shows and if the ratings are good, maybe the networks will decide that they will stick with reality and fuck the writers. Doubtful, but you never know.

EW’s annual holiday film issue is out this week and includes a list of potential Oscar contenders. Typically, there is not one woman on the best director list. If they didn’t give out Oscars for best actress and supporting actress, women probably wouldn’t get any awards at all.

The European Film Award nominees (the European equivalent of the Oscars) were announced and films about women dominate the best film category. (There will be very different nominees for the Oscars, I guarantee)
The Best Picture nominees include:
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; La Vie en Rose, Persepolis and The Queen

For best actress the nominees are:
Marion Cotillard in LA MÔME (La Vie en Rose)
Marianne Faithful in IRINA PALM
Carice van Houten in ZWARTBOEK (Black Book)
Anamaria Marinca in 4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMINI SI 2 ZILE (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)
Helen Mirren in THE QUEEN
Ksenia Rappoport in LA SCONOSCIUTA (The Unknown)

Awards will be handed out December 1 in Berlin.

Natalie Portman has signed a deal with Participant Productions to make socially relevant films for her newly formed company Handsomecharlie Films. First film for her company will be A Tale of Love and Darkness based on the Amos Oz novel which Portman will direct. Portman chose Participant because “we all have the same desire to make meaningful and artistically fulfilling films and are committed to the idea of stories leading to greater empathy and action for world issues.” (Variety)

Missed this story last week by Anne Thompson about the fall being good for femme directed films. Gotta disagree with the assessment – five or six directed films (I have not counted, just guessing) by women out of 75 or so is not good in my book. When when will stop being happy with the crumbs?
Fall Proves Fruitful for Femmes (Variety)

Jennifer Lopez’s film Bordertown about the murder of the women in Juarez directed by Gregory Nava is no longer slated for a theatrical release. Its going straight to video. Too bad, important topic. Variety said the film was booed at its premier last year. can it be that bad? Nava is a seasoned director? Anyone seen this film?

News
More of Tamara Jenkins from the NY Times’ holiday movie issue.
An Unblinking Look at Death Without Nobility (NY Times)

Hilary Swank stars in the upcoming P.S., I Love You
Hilary Swank Finds Love at Last (LA Times)

Character actresses are few and far between these days. Here is one still kicking.
A Character of An Actress (New Zealand Herald)

Marjane Satrapi on Persepolis
Tales of an Iranian Bee Gees Fan (The Telegraph)

Brooke Shields has teamed with Tupperware to promote girls friendships and of course her new show Lipstick Jungle which is supposedly about female friendships.
In Life and in Lipstick Jungle, Brooke Shields Relies on Women

Showtime has renewed Weeds starring Mary Louise Parker for a fourth season. New episodes will air next summer.

Tube Tonight
American Masters honors Carol Burnett with a retrospective Carol Burnett: a Woman of Character (9pm, PBS)

Why Has I Could Never be Your Woman Not Been Released?

This Amy Heckerling written and directed film had been in the can for over a year. Several release dates have come and gone – first last May now November 9 and nothing, no info. And I have been very vigilant in trying to get to the bottom of the story but nobody is talking.

Film stars Michelle Pfeiffer as a woman who falls for the younger Paul Rudd. It doesn’t seem that the typical story of the film being bad is the case here, because people who have seen it think its good.

Problem seems to be with the initial distributor Bauer Martinez who has had recent financial problems. The distributor listed on imbd is no longer handling the film and Heckerling is understandably remaining mum since she wants to get her film out.

If Amy Heckerling, one of the most talented female directors around, is having this many problems getting her film in the marketaplace with a star like Michelle Pfeiffer who had some good buzz this summer around Hairspray, what does that mean for other women directors?

_____________________

There are no female directed or female-centric films being released this weekend. If you are looking for something to see I recommend Gone Baby Gone.

Hollywood is obsessed with the potential writers strike so news about Hollywood is slooow. I’ll leave the reporting on that subject to everyone else.

LA Times looks at the best supporting actress category. Their picks include:
Cate Blanchett- I’m Not There
Ruby Dee- American Gangster
Olympia Dukakis- Away from Her
Romola Garai and Saoirse Ronan- Atonement
Jennifer Garner- Juno
Catherine Keener- Into the Wild
Queen Latifah- Hairspray
Jennifer Jason Leigh- Margot at the Wedding
Fernanda Montenegro- Love in the Time of Cholera
Emily Mortimer- Lars and the Real Girl
Julia Roberts- Charlie Wilson’s War
Amy Ryan- Gone Baby Gone
Meryl Streep- Lions for Lambs
Tilda Swinton- Michael Clayton

These choice seem quite, light. I haven’t seen all the films but my top pick so far is Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone.

News
The 10th Anniversary African-American Women in Cinema takes place in NY from November 9-11.
More information: African American Women in Cinema

Variety pieces on Laura Linney and Catherine Deneuve on the eve of their tributes at AFI Fest.
Linney Practiced in Art of Deception
Deneuve Represents French Femininity

Lesbians are everywhere on Nip/Tuck (just nowhere else on broadcast TV)
More lesbians Than Ever on Nip/Tuck (After Ellen)

Meryl Streep will star in Nora Ephron’s new flick Julie & Julia based on the best-selling book. Ephron will direct her own script, Amy Adams, about to break out in this month’s Enchanted, will play Julie. (Hollywood Reporter)

Eliza Dushku will star in the new Joss Whedon series, The Dollhouse about a top-secret crew programmed differently for each mission for Fox. (Variety)

Julia Roberts will co-star with Clive Owen in Duplicity a couple crime caper ala Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

The Women’s Murder Club received an order for three more scripts.

Tube Tonight
That Girl, Marlo Thomas appears on Ugly Betty. (8pm, ABC)
To Die in Jerusalem- documentary that profiles the families of a Palestinian suicide bomber and his victim. (HBO, 9pm)