Monthly Archive for February, 2009

I bookmark a lot of stories over the week that I want to blog about.  Most of the time I don’t get to all the pieces.  So I decided that on Friday I will post the links  just so things don’t get too stale.

A Singular Woman (The Telegraph)
I know literally nothing about novelist Anita Brookner but this piece made me want to read her books. She wrote her first novel at 53 and has won the Booker Prize. This is a fascinating interview:

Of course, Brookner is completely wrong when she says she is ‘not very interesting’. She is one of the most extraordinary women I have ever met, brutally candid about her inner life, completely devoid of the consolations of self-delusion or self-pity. A conversation with her is like walking across Siberia – it may appear bleak and forbidding, but at the same time it is shockingly, exhilaratingly bracing. There is something almost heroic in her droll resistance to any glimmer of hope. ‘Well,’ she says. ‘One must be a realist.’

Another insightful Kim Voynar commentary, Mr. Hollywood and the Women (Movie City News)

Whether selling women as the objects of sexual pursuit for the male leads (Fired Up), or women as obsessed with fashion and shopping (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sex and the City) or their relationships with the men in their lives (He’s Just Not that Into You, Sex and the City), or women in peril (Taken, Friday the 13th, Slumdog Millionaire), or a career woman learning the importance of love and a good man (New in Town), in any given week’s box office charts you can find abundant examples of the ways in which Hollywood marginalizes the societal role of women.

Movies have a tremendous reach and probably a greater influence over shaping the views of audience members than viewers want to admit or Hollywood studio heads would ever want to accept responsibility for. And while I wouldn’t want to see a world in which movies are subjected to some politically correct feminism film censorship board, it would be nice to see Hollywood reflecting more accurately the realities of the post-feminism world in which we live today — and helping to shape a tomorrow in which the idea of women as subjects controlling their own destinies — not just objects orbiting around men — are the rule rather than the exception.

Why Can’t A Woman Write the Great American Novel? (Salon)

Onto this mine-studded terrain and with impressive aplomb, strides Elaine Showalter, literary scholar and professor emerita at Princeton. Showalter has fought in the trenches of this particular war for over 30 years, beginning with her groundbreaking 1978 study, “A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing,” and culminating in her monumental new book, “A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers From Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx.” Billed as “the first comprehensive history of American women writers from 1650 to 2000,” “A Jury of Her Peers” has to negotiate the treacherous battlefield between the still-widespread, if fustian insistence on reverence for Great Writers and the pixelated theorizing of poststructuralists hellbent on overturning the very notion of “greatness.”

It’s refreshing to see one film that stars a woman (girl) being talked about as a franchise.  The interesting news of the day is that the studio behind the films Summit is supposedly talking with Drew Barrymore about directing the third film which has just been given a release date of June 30, 2010.  Mind you part 2 with Chris Weitz at the helm hasn’t even started filming yet and it is set for release on November 20, 2009.

I think it’s great that Summit is back to considering a woman for the job, but I’d really like to see Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut about the world of roller derbys,  Whip-It! starring Ellen Page.  Maybe (hopefully) they’ve seen a cut and Barrymore shows great promise as a director.  I hope Whip-It! is a big hit and it makes Summit prescient in its hiring.  Having a new gig before your previous film comes out is so uncommon for women directors that any news of that occurring is welcome in my book.

‘Twilight’: Is Drew Barrymore a candidate to direct third movie, ‘Eclipse’? (EW)

Ann (L) and Nancy Wilson (R)

The awesome Wilson sisters from Heart are getting a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP (the songwriter’s association.) I love the fact that last year when the Republicans were using their most popular song Barracuda at events, they got really pissed off and released a public statement telling them to stop.

ASACAP President Marilyn Bergman said this about Heart:

“Their success and influence helped pave the way for other female artists, and they continue to build their musical legacy with an artistic energy that remains as strong today as when they first started out over 35 years ago.”

Congrats. Honors will be handed out at event on April 22.

Heart’s Wilson sisters to be honored by music biz (Reuters via Yahoo)

This is a really interesting interview in The Guardian (how come the Brits do such great pieces) about Glenn Close talking about issues related to women and power.  I would so expect Close to be a kick ass feminist based on the roles she’s played but I sometimes forget that these people are actors and off screen they are way different.

The article talks about how Close has played powerful roles with masculine characteristics and gets away with it unlike other women.  Come to think of it I can’t think of a single role where she played the standard “wife” role.  She may have been wives like in Something About Amelia (remember that one?) or The Big Chill but she’s never taken the back seat to anyone.  I love her as General Cammermeyer in Serving in Silence.  Also, if you are not watching her as Patty Hewes in Damages (FX) you are seriously missing out on an extraordinary performance. She’s so scary and intense.

Here are some quotes:

About Damages:

“It was their idea to explore what power does to people,” Close explains. “That’s what interested me. Because I think for a woman it’s always a very, very tricky position to know how to maintain your power, in a world that’s mostly dominated by men.”

About the lack of film roles for women:

Yet every year the number of Hollywood women competing for Emmys rather than Oscars seems to grow. Close refers half-jokingly to herself and others, including Holly Hunter and Sally Field, as “the sisterhood of TV drama divas”, but it has been suggested that their transition to television owes less to professional preference than pragmatism. “We’re seeing these actresses on television,” the TV editor of Variety said recently, “because there aren’t any decent parts in the feature world for them.” Close readily agrees there aren’t enough strong roles for older women: “That is a reality, there are nowhere near enough.” But the notion of television as a consolation prize provokes a firm shake of the head.

About how Hollywood has changed: (don’t think I completely agree with her on this one)

For an actor who has played such fearlessly dangerous women, Close seems surprisingly wary of anything that could be construed as contentious. When I ask how she has had to operate to survive in an industry dominated by men, she replies quickly: “Oh, I would say the industry has definitely changed during my career. There are lots of powerful women in Hollywood now; it’s really changed. I remember Dawn Steel [the head of production on Fatal Attraction]. She came in for a lot of censorship, by which I mean criticism, because she was very strong and very direct. It is that syndrome. Men and women like women who are a little bit more apologetic and feminine, rather than own their position and go for it. But in fact I think Hollywood might be one of those areas where things have really changed.”

On feminism:

Close has always been reluctant to describe herself as a feminist. “I’ve certainly never been the kind of person who wants to stand up on a soapbox and start shouting,” she agrees cautiously. “And I’ve never been very comfortable with so-called celebrity political activism. The first time I ever went on a march it was a pro-choice march in Washington, but it was just after my daughter had been born, so I felt slightly differently about it then. I wore my daughter’s pacifier [dummy] round my neck. But then they put me right at the front, and so I was there with Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda.” She laughs, and rolls her eyes. “And they were all going” – she imitates a roar, with raised fist – “and I was going” – and she pulls a sheepishly startled, what-am-I-doing-here? face.

The G2 interview: Decca Aitkenhead meets Glenn Close (The Guardian)

British playwright Chloe Moss was awarded the $20,000 Susan Smith Blackburn prize for her play This Wide Night.  The Blackburn Prize is the highest honor a female playwright can receive aside from a Tony or Olivier or another industry awards.

The Play focuses on two women struggling to rebuild their lives after being in prison and was commissioned for a UK program that works with women affected by the criminal justice system and ran last year in London’s Soho Theatre and toured the UK.

Here’s a quote from Playbill.com from Moss:

the play…”explores the importance and uniqueness of relationships formed in prison: how they can, or perhaps cannot, exist in another context; and also resettlement – when ‘freedom’ can actually feel like a very bleak and frightening prospect.”

British playwright Lucinda Coxon, also received a Special Commendation for her play Happy Now?.

Moss gathers Blackburn Prize (Variety)

British Playwright Moss Wins 2009 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (Playbill)

Can’t believe I missed this.  But it’s so good that it’s worthy of repeating.  Thanks to Twitter and a blog called The Illusionists here is Meryl Streep talking about sexism in Hollywood in a way that no one else can.

She may not have won the Oscar but she wins my heart and admiration every time she opens her mouth.

Talking about sexism in Hollywood on Nightline earlier this month:

Look around the world women are living as we were in the 19th century…They’re bartered, they’re property, they don’t have the rights we have.

3 of the nominated films this year have 26 men and one woman – Slumdog Millionaire, Milk and Frost/Nixon.  (I actually would say that each films has a woman so it would be 26 and 3 though none of the women are leads).  We accept it and it’s not unusual.  But we would go nuts if it was 26 women and one man.  It would be a very unusual thing.  So we’re still not telling everyone’s story in our country and that’s where we are.

Tomorrow (Thursday, Feb 26) I am moderating a panel at NYU’s Fusion Film Festival entitled:
Smart Talk: Women and Film in the Blogosphere

We will be discussing issues facing women when blogging about film and ways to support women’s films and filmmakers.
The panel is at 4pm at 721 Broadway, 9th floor.  FREE

Joining  me in the conversation will be: Panelists include: MaryAnn Johanson (Flickfilosopher), Lisa Collins (Hollywood.com) and Lauren Wissot (Beyond the Green Door)

Fusion is a student run film festival supporting women filmmakers.  Would love to have you join in the conversation.

Have we entered the bizarro universe?  Does every guy feel the need to direct a comic book movie?  I thought that some guys would not be interested but it seems like they all are.  Guess the see the big paydays and then more freedom down the road.  Or maybe they just see the big payday.

I was pretty shocked to read that Michel Gondry had signed on to direct Seth Rogen in The Green Hornet.  It’s not like Gondry is someone you would think about directing a comic book movie.  He’s made the small but memorable Be Kind Rewind, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

According to Variety he got the gig “after presenting a vision that wowed production presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach.”  Nice that a male director can have vision that “wows” the boys.

As if that’s not enough Kenneth Branagh has also said fu to Shakespeare and his reputation as a thespian by jumping on the comic book horse to direct the Paramount/Marvel film Thor. It’s true that his earlier films are better than his recent ones… but Thor?  Come on.

Looks like in the near future the only movies in theatres will be from comic books.

Didn’t make it to a screening but this film looks interesting and engaging.  Opens today at the IFC in NYC.  Taylor seems like a really cool director she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces to Watch” in 2006, and runs Hidden Driver Productions with Laura Hanna, which specializes in intellectual, cultural and political issues.  Gotta meet these women.

Synopsis (from the website):

In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today’s most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.

Peter Singer’s thoughts on the ethics of consumption are amplified against the backdrop of Fifth Avenue’s posh boutiques. Slavoj Zizek questions current beliefs about the environment while sifting through a garbage dump. Michael Hardt ponders the nature of revolution while surrounded by symbols of wealth and leisure. Judith Butler and a friend stroll through San Francisco’s Mission District questioning our culture’s fixation on individualism. And while driving through Manhattan, Cornel West—perhaps America’s best-known public intellectual—compares philosophy to jazz and blues, reminding us how intense and invigorating a life of the mind can be. Offering privileged moments with great thinkers from fields ranging from moral philosophy to cultural theory, Examined Life reveals philosophy’s power to transform the way we see the world around us and imagine our place in it.

Featuring Cornel West, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Kwarne Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor.

Examined Life

Sandra Bullock used to make somewhat interesting movies.  They were kind of light, and fun and she played a little kooky really well.  She was great in Miss Congeniality and Murder by Numbers and showed her acting chops in Crash and as Harper Lee in Infamous (the Truman Capote movie no one saw but was pretty good.)

So what the hell has happened?  Is it an age thing?  Is it a script thing?  Her most recent films The Lake House and Premonition were just dreadful, and made around $50 million each.  Not great.  Her last real success was in 2002 with Two Weeks Notice co-starring Hugh Grant (the man is a chick flick success magnet!)

But the problem is her next two films, The Proposal (opening this spring) and All About Steve (opening this fall) not only look painful, it seems that her characters have crossed over from kooky to certifiably crazy.  I don’t like this trend at all.  In The Proposal which is directed by Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses) Bullock plays a mean executive who abuses her assistant played by Ryan Reynolds.  Turns out she’s from Canada and is about to be deported so she forces him to marry her or lose his job.  This is not the intense and driven career women we have seen Diane Keaton or Sigourney Weaver play in Baby Boom and Working Girl.  This is just plain old crazy.

She also stars in All About Steve where she plays a stalker! who after one date with a weatherman played by Bradley Cooper stalks him at work until he comes around and realizes he likes her. Awww.  Gross.  Stalk a guy enough and in the end he’ll discover some endearing traits about you and fall in love.  The blame for this script goes to a woman Kim Barker who write the equally pathetic License to Wed.

Even more disturbing is that the trailers don’t even try to hide the contempt for her characters or show any redemption at the end.  And these are supposed to be romantic comedies.  They seem to enjoy playing up the fact that she is crazy.

The more I learn about the films coming out this year the more upset I get.  It’s like the hatred for women — and not surprisingly I can’t just blame the guys for this crap.  A woman directed The Proposal and a woman wrote All About Steve.  I know that everyone needs to pay the bills and needs jobs but PLEASE think about what a young couple on a date will think about women when they see these movies.  That women are crazy and need to stalk a guy to get him to love him.  It feels not only like the positive energy of 2008 has been destroyed but that we are being punished for it.

Trailer for The Proposal:

Trailer for All About Steve:

I haven’t been this excited about the theatre docket in a long time.  It seems like this spring the action for women will be on the Broadway and off Broadway stages.

The excitement begins with Jane Fonda in 33 Variations by Moises Kaufman who conceived the Laramie Project about Matthew Sheperd’s murder.  Fonda who hasn’t been on stage in 46 years! plays a Katherine Brandt musicologist dying of ALS who wants to understand Beethoven’s end of life obsession with Diabelli’s Variations.  The play also focuses on her tumultuous relationship with her daughter played by Samantha Mathis.

The excitement continues with the long awaited return of Joan Allen who stars with Jeremy Irons in Impressionism about about the relationship between a photojournalist and a gallery owner.

Cynthia Nixon spends a lot of time on stage and she will be seen at the Roundabout in Lisa Loomer’s play Distracted about a mom dealing with a 9-year old who may or may not have ADD and needs to decide whether to medicate him or not.

One of my favorite movies (starring the aforementioned Jane Fonda) 9 to 5 has been made into a muscial which stars Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg from The West Wing), Stephanie J. Block and Megan Hilty.

Other shows of interest:

Christine Ebersole and Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirt

Tovah Feldshuh in Irena’s Vow as woman who protects dozens of Jews from the Nazis;

Mamma Mia director Phyllida Lloyd takes on the political thriller Mary Stuart based on the rivalry between Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth.  Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter stars as Mary and Elizabeth.

Olympia Dukakis plays a Holocaust survivor in Craig Lucas’ 2005 play The Singing Forest at the Public.

Prolific playwright Yasmina Reza’s new play God of Carnage stars Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden (and James Gandolfini and Jeff Daniels.)  Even more exciting is the return of Tina Howe whose new play Chasing Manet stars Jane Alexander and Lynn Cohen as two women plotting their escape from their nursing home.

Off Broadway brings hot director of the moment (when is that a woman?) Kate Whoriskey directing Christina Anderson’s Inked Baby about a woman unable to conceive a baby and gets her sister to carry her child at Playwirght’s Horizons.

Remember it’s as important to support women’s theatre as it is to support women’s films.  If you have a little extra cash this spring come out and see one or more of these fine women on stage.

A Radical Vixen Retakes the Stage (NY Times)

Update:

Seems that I missed some important women and women playwrights. Here are my omissions:

Susan Sarandon, Lauren Ambrose and Andrea Martin in Ionesco’s Exit the King.

British actresses Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, and Amanda Root highlight the transfer of the Old Vic’s production of Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy of plays, The Norman Conquests.

The Atlantic Theatre will present the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian’s play Make Me.

Both Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf are accomplished authors and thinkers.  It’s kind of cool that both their latest books The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and The End of America by Naomi Wolf have both been made into documentaries.

Political filmmakers Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo) and Matt Whitecross took their documentary of Klein’s book which highlights “disaster capitalism” to the Berlin Film Festival earlier this month.

Award winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (The Devil Came on Horseback) adapted Wolf’s book The End of America about the clamping down on American freedoms. Wolf talked about the power of film in The Guardian:
“I also saw the power of news footage, both archival and contemporary, to move the emotions in a way that my poor computer could never do.”

Trailer for The End of America:

Winterbottom Brings ‘The Shock Doctrine’ to the Silver Screen (Spiegel)

Smugglers of truth (The Guardian)
Purchase The End of America here

The Oscar nomination for Melissa Leo has paid off with the DVD release of her film Lullaby.  Typical Melissa Leo intense.

Description from Netflix:

Melissa Leo stars in this riveting thriller as struggling middle-aged mother Stephanie, whose life is turned upside down when she learns that a brutal South African drug lord (Joey Dedio) has abducted her drug addict son. With few resources and little money, Stephanie ventures into the darkest corners of Johannesburg’s slums and risks everything to recover her troubled son. The supporting cast includes Lisa-Marie Schneider.

BBC is adapting writer Vera Brittain’s World War I memoir Testament of Youth for the big screen.  Here’s a description:

Brittain’s autobiography chronicled the war from a woman’s perspective, and is regarded as a seminal work of feminism. “The myth of female inferiority has always been rooted in the contention that men die for their country but women do not,” she said.

Vera Brittain to be Subject of Film (The Telegraph)

Halle Berry will star in Who Is Doris Payne? about a female international jewel thief who had a 50 year career.  Script is by Eunetta Boone.

Cate Blanchett could potentially play Australian politician and One Nation founder Pauline Hanson.  It all depends on the script and the timing.  I don’t agree with Hanson’s anti-immigrant policies (the article compared her to Sarah Palin), but I’m always up for a Cate Blanchett starring film.

Columbia is taking the the British miniseries Lost in Austen to the big screen.  From Variety: “film will center on Amanda, an ardent Jane Austen fan, lives in present day New York with her boyfriend, until she finds she’s swapped places with Austen’s fictional creation Elizabeth Bennett.”  I missed this when it was on last month here in the US.  Sam Mendes is on board to produce.

photo by Brigitte Lacombe

I guess the folks at Time Magazine are breathing a sigh of relief this morning since they predicted Kate Winslet would win on the cover of the mag last Friday.  Whew.  Mark Harris did a great profile. (He is one of the most interesting and insightful people writing about Hollywood today.)  I’m glad she won but towards the end her naked ambition was getting uncomfortable to watch.  I still wish she had won for Revolutionary Road.

Here is the most interesting point of the piece:

In an industry that insists that most actresses remain giggly, pliable and princessy well into middle age, Winslet has somehow avoided that pigeonhole entirely. She doesn’t play girls; she never really has. She plays women. Unsentimentalized, restless, troubled, discontented, disconcerted, difficult women. And clearly, it’s working for her.

I find it quite interesting that Winslet has not had to play the “girl.”  Is it the accent, the fact that she’s not American?  It clearly helps that she is incredibly talented, but if I were a younger female actress I would be trying to figure out how to have her type of career.

Kate Winslet’s Moment (Time)

Each week I listen to the podcast of The Business a behind the scenes look at Hollywood.  The show does some great interviews and brings forward voices and issues relevant to the Hollywood machine.  I usually learn a lot when I listen to it.

The current host Claude Brodesser-Akner is leaving, and veteran journalist Kim Masters (NPR, Slate) will take over next month.   It will be a nice to have a woman’s voice talking about the business of entertainment.

Check out the show here

Melissa Leo at the Oscars

I personally thought the Oscars were quite interesting, though still too long.  I think they should think about putting some of the technical categories on the show that happens two weeks earlier. People just really want to see the main categories, the stars and those of us on the east coast want to make it to bed before it’s Monday.

That being said, Hugh Jackman rocked.  He’s a showman and like he said to Barbara Walters on the preshow, the telecast needs more show than biz.  The opening number was funny and god love Anne Hathaway for getting up there and singing.  I loved the design of the stage, it made the whole ceremony feel more intimate.

I thought it was incredibly smart and moving in how they handled the acting awards.  Having past winners talk, really talk, about the actresses/actors who were nominated really made them all feel like winners.  And the women they got up on the stage, loved them.  Eva Marie Saint, Whoopi Goldberg, Sophia Loren, Goldie Hawn, Shirley MacLaine, Angelica Huston…what a treat.

Just to show that I have an open mind, I thought the Judd Apatow comedy film was very funny.  The tone was just right and James Franco cracks me up.  I also loved how Hugh Jackman announced the musical is back with a big shout out to the success of Mamma Mia.

About the winners: I did OK on my calls.  I knew Slumdog would clean up but I never got on that train and still really can’t see how it became this juggernaught.  Saw Loveleen Tandan hidden in the crowd of kids and people when Danny Boyle was interviewed on the pre-show. (the co-director)  Missed Penelope Cruz, and so glad I missed my Mickey Rourke call cause Sean Penn made a great speech.

In general, I enjoyed it but there are long sections where the only people you see on stage are guys.  They need to figure a way to get more women involved cause this is supposed to be our “super bowl” (even though we all know that’s a crock.)

Worst moment- Trailer for The Proposal.  The Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds flick where she as his boss forced him to marry her because she’s about to be deported to Canada.  It looked totally offensive and if it was reversed and she were forced to marry him we’d be calling it sex slavery.  This year in movies about women is really starting to depress me.

Independent Spirit Awards

I’m so glad Mickey Rourke didn’t win and Oscar cause if he got to talk any more about his dog I was going to fling something at the TV.  Enough already.  Every single headline in the google search is about Mickey Rourke and The Wrestler.  I’m still pretty shocked that The Wrestler won for best film.  Melissa Leo was humbled by her win for Best Actress and gave a great speech (which I will try and find to post.)

The Oscars are Sunday and I am honestly not too interested.  The whole thing seems kind of boring.  But I will watch if just to see what Hugh Jackman does.  More exciting are Saturday’s Independent Spirit Awards which I find infinitely more interesting especially because there are way more women nominated.

Not that you asked, but since I read a ton of film stuff I figured I’d share my predictions in some major categories for both award shows.  But keep in mind, nobody including the people who get paid to write about this stuff, really knows anything and surprises could always happen.

Oscars

Best Picture: Will Win- Slumdog Millionaire; Should Win- Milk.  Nothing can stop the feel good movie of the season, but if I were voting Milk would get my award because it was an all around great movie.  Extremely well directed and acted.

Best Actor: Will Win- Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler; Should Win- Sean Penn, Milk.  Hollywood loves their comeback guys and has serious issues with Penn’s politics.  Penn also recently won for Mystic River.

Best Actress: Will Win- Kate Winslet, The Reader; Should Win- Melissa Leo, Frozen River.  It’s shameful that Winslet was nominated for The Reader over Revolutionary Road but it seems that the Academy is ready to give her an award.  I think that giving her the award will in some minor way satisfy the diss of Sam Mendes.

Supporting Actor: Will Win- Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight;  Should Win- Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road.  His scenes in that film affected were game changing scenes for the entire film.  I for one thought The Dark Knight was overrated and bloated.

Supporting Actress: Will Win- Viola Davis, Doubt; Should Win- Viola Davis, Doubt.  I think this is the win Doubt will get.  Davis, just like Michael Shannon gave a game changing performance that effected the rest of the film.  I also think that Hollywood wants in some way to get on the change bandwagon and will feel good about giving an award to an incredibly deserving African American.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Will Win- Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog; Should Win- Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon.  I just thought that movie rocked and don’t know why it’s been buried (well I do know it’s cause Hollywood hates Nixon – the long memories of the old men in Hollywood probably remember Nixon on the HUAC committee when he was a baby Congressman.  But also remember that he wwas the one who signed Title IX into law.)

Original Screenplay: Will Win- Dustin Lance Black, Milk; Should Win- Dustin Lance Black, Milk.  I would love to give this to Frozen River which I loved, but Milk was so amazingly written.  Tough when it needed to be and compassionate at other times.  It taught me a lot.  I also think this will give Hollywood an opportunity to stick it to people who voted against Prop 8.

Best Doc: Will Win- Man on Wire; Should Win- Man on Wire.  What a great movie.  Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time even though we all knew the outcome.  There could be an upset with Trouble the Water and I would be really ok with that.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS (skipping the awards I have no clue about)

Best Picture- Frozen River

Best Director- Courtney Hunt- Frozen River

Best First Screenplay- Dustin Lance Black- Milk

Best Female Lead- Melissa Leo

Best Male Lead- Sean Penn- Milk

Supporting Female- Rosemarie Dewitt- Rachel Getting Married

Supporting Male- James Franco- Milk

Best Foreign Film- Gomorra

Best Documentary- Man on Wire

Phyllida Lloyd

I think it’s great that we continue to have stories talking about the lack of opportunities for women directors, but what I find so frustrating is that even after numerous good articles there are still no solutions offered.  This same Forbes article could have been written 10 years ago.  Nothing has gotten better, in fact things have gotten worse.

I really wish that the studios and indie companies would put together a commission to figure out how to get more women directors.  Can people in power really believe that if there were more women directing films that the quality of the films would suffer?  I really think that it has to do with what people expect that women want to direct. Men direct movies about women all the time.  Damn, most of the chick flicks we all hate are directed by guys.  Why it is such a leap to think a woman could direct a movie about guys when guys are expected to direct movies about women?

Phyllida Lloyd who gets the honors of the highest grossing female director of the year with Mamma Mia said in the piece: “I find it staggering and rather depressing when you look at the Oscar list… it’s that the stories are all so male-driven, even with the independent films. It’s quite a bleak canvas.”

We all know that Catherine Hardwicke and Mimi Leder and Kathryn Bigelow have no problem directing boy action flicks contrary to the conventional wisdom that all women want to direct women’s stories. Here’s what Hardwicke had to say:

“People have literally said to my face that I can’t do action,” says Hardwicke, who has worked as a stunt coordinator as well as directed the action-packed Lords of Dogtown and put her signature action stamp on Twilight. “That does make me mad. There’s a lot of stuff they would never say if I were a guy.”

Julie Taymor

But, on the other hand what’s so bad about wanting to direct women’s stories?  It makes me so angry that we are put down and made to feel like crap because we are interested in seeing women’s stories onscreen.  It’s like we have cooties.

Julie Taymor does nail it.  Women don’t help women.  Someone please explain to me why this continues to go on?

“I think the thing that shocked a lot of us is that women got to very powerful positions in the studios and were worse about hiring women, not better,” says director Julie Taymor. “It behooved them to play the boys’ game better than the boys. They were very nervous about appearing to be doing women’s films, which is ridiculous.”

“We’ve been talking about women directors for 15 years,” says Taymor. “On the other hand, you could still probably name on 10 fingers all the women directors that anybody would know. If a woman doesn’t have a successful film in the box office, it’s much more difficult for her to get her next picture than it is for a man.”

For her part, Hardwicke thinks things are actually getting worse for female directors: “We’re going backwards. It’s a distressing situation.”

While Kuras asserts it’s not a question of skill or craft. “We just need the opportunity,” she says.

And with over a billion dollars in female-generated box office receipts in 2008, it will be interesting to see if opportunity finally does come knocking.

I feel like a broken record sometimes.  Maybe it’s time that we figured out a way to get this women director issue out to the masses.  We need to show why it effects them.  How about a public education campaign?

Up Close and Personal: Women Director (Forbes)

Taraji P. Henson

Essence Magazine brought together the top African American women in Hollywood to celebrate their power and success.  Awards were given to: Halle Berry (Power Award), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Visionary Award), Diahann Carroll (Legend Award) and Taraji P. Henson (Lexus Star to Watch Award) and the event was hosted by Queen Latifah.

The event also honored the fact that two African American women are nominated for best supporting actress award at the Oscars. Only three black women have gotten that award in its history (Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind; Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls.) Halle Berry is the only African American woman to have won the best actress award in 2001 for Monster’s Ball.

Angela Burt-Murray, editor in chief of Essence had some great quotes:
It is an exciting year, and wonderful to see two roles that are not stereotypical, not anything that has any controversy around it, just deep, layered performances…

People would like to think that with the election of the new president that perhaps that sort of change would trickle into Hollywood, but we will have to wait and see if people are truly going to be judged on their talent.

There have been times throughout history where African-American women have delivered great performances and haven’t been acknowledged.

Black actresses make their mark in Oscar race (Reuters)
Hat Tip: Brown Sista