Lots of people find it strange that I have a blog called Women & Hollywood and I write from NY. I’m here in the LA for a couple of days now flown out by the folks at Focus Features to cover the new Sam Mendes movie Away We Go starring Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski. The film is written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.
I was kind of surprised to be asked to come to LA to cover the junket since it is not a “women’s film” per say. I also was a little anxious since I had not been to one of these events before about what I would need to write. Would there be a quid pro quo? Would I feel the need to write something better because they have spent all this money on me? But not one person asked me what I would write or if I would write anything.
I was so curious as to why they picked me I figured I would ask point blank. The publicist, Yannina Diaz Gonzalez told me that she loved my site and my writing and she thought my readers would be interested in the film. How awesome. What great feedback. Sometimes when you write in isolation you forget that people are reading the work and that it’s making a difference.
The junket was really cool. I loved the fact that I was in a room with Sam Mendes and could hear him talk about his work. It was great to meet John Krasinski who is so smart (he went to Brown) and now I think I will watch The Office. I had a one on one with Maya Rudolph who was so thoughtful and funny. I also got to speak with Vendela Vida who is a novelist and now a screenwriter and learned a lot from her.
The film opens June 5. I’ll be posting pieces closer to opening.
Now I’m off to two days of meetings before I head back to NY. We did a great meet up of Women & Hollywood folks on Saturday night which I will write about later.
Wow! Sounds like you had a blast. I can’t wait to see Away We Go. The trailer looks amazing.
I’m so glad they brought you out here!
I’m looking forward to the review. Your reviews have been known to determine whether I would drop 12 bucks on a film or not. Case in point:
Sunshine Cleaning- saw it opening wkend &
loved it.
I was at the pre-screening too. Did you agree with Sam Mendes when he said that he thought Verona had the control in the relationship? I thought it was interesting that Maya Rudolph didn’t think so, considering I felt her performance reflected that, albeit subtle, control.
Did you think the women in the movie were reflective of stereotypes? There was the flighty mom (Catherine O’Hara), the crazy, brash friend (Allison Janney), the over-the-top bohemian academic (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the adoptive mom jealous of her friend’s fertility (Melanie Lynskey).
I am glad that you got this kind of recognition. You are right in saying that when you write you often don’t get any (immediate) feedback on your work.
I really enjoy reading your blog and it’s one of my very few daily reads.