I don’t usually get excited about comic book character movies since most of them are about guys with superpowers that don’t appeal to me and the ones that star women usually stink, but this new one Frenemy of the State- that Universal has just acquired for Brian Grazer to produce sounds quite interesting.
The film will be adapted by Rashida Jones, actress and daughter of Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones, and her friend actor Will McCormack who wrote the graphic novel. Who knew that Jones was a comic book geek?
Here’s the description:
The adventure revolves around a young wealthy heiress who works undercover for the CIA.
And here’s what Jones said about the character who will be around 20:
“She has lived a life of privilege, attended the best schools and learned every language, but her obsession with spying on exes gets her into trouble and she is recruited to be a spy in exchange for not going to prison. There is a comic element to it, this girl who is so conscious of social standing and wearing the right shoes, suddenly becoming responsible for these dangerous, life-threatening missions.”
It’s smart to target the show towards younger women and I like that it won’t be overly serious. Sounds like it could have elements of D.E.B.S. in it which I still think is one of the funniest girl spy movies ever made. Maybe they could get Angela Robinson to direct this too.
Here’s to hoping that she won’t be wearing cones on her breasts or a cat suit or high heels while chasing a bad guy.
That is amazing. Now I’m excited! But I also hope they’ll cast an actress who can act and not use her for sex appeal…
Sounds promising, but I can’t shake the feeling it’ll meet the fate of other female superhero movies like Catwoman and ELektra. These films never get the same kind of love and attention from the studios as the male ones do, and thus they end up being really shitty, almost no promotion, and focus mostly on how “sexy” the movie is and how tight and skimpy the outfits are.
I share Chris’ concern. The studios, wanting to appeal to young men (their favorite audience) will sex the heroine up and objectify her.
You should check out “Y the Last Man” comic book series, that’s also coming out as a movie starring Shia laBouf, last time I heard. Lot of strong female characters in it.
Totally stoked to see this one. I had hoped that it would get a film or TV adaptation. Yay for Rashida!
Hey, if they ever want to do follow-up graphic novels I have a really good artist for them. :)
I would rather take “cones” any day over yet another female action film that feels the need to use comedy to mitigate the action. I don’t know if you guys have noticed, it’s like the only heroines that are allowed to be on the big screen are ones who won’t take themselves seriously. That was one of the many arguments against both Elektra and Catwoman. I didn’t see DEBS, but I did watch Totally Spies, which I thought was cute – reminded me a lot of the Charlie’s Angel’s franchise, which I also liked. But I don’t want them all to be this way. And another thing about Angie in the Tombraider series: she virtually NEVER WEARS HEELS (just at the very end of the first film when she is trying to please her friends/employees). I just wanted to highlight that. So I’ll take a competent and deadly Lara Croft who wears flat, practical shoes during fights than a sans breast-enhanced Pepper Pots tottering around in stilettos while a man in monstrous, robot-like armour is trying to kill her. I’m not saying it’s either or; I just don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and there are a lot of great things about the Tombraider franchsie that we just don’t get anywhere else.
And while I can completely understand the angst against general action films because of the dichotomy between male and female attire are so stark, I think it’s muddier in comic book – and specificially super hero comic book – adaptations. The Phantom, Spiderman, and Superman have sported catsuits (super tight unitards) in both their comic and movie appearances (as well as on tv). X-Men and Batman have often wore stereotypical hero gear in their books, even though it was tweaked for theatrical releases. So yeah, Scarlett in her Black Widow gear or Catwoman looks different against Iron Man or the new more armoured Batman, but they wouldn’t look much different from Spidey.
I share a general concern with you Chris and Allison, but I don’t know if I would agree with the culprit perse. First, this is far more like Alias the movie than a superhero movie, so they should have an ok time adapting it.
But while marketing seems to do whatever they will, I think their was a good amount fo care taken on both. Look at Elektra – she wasn’t even supposed to have a movie really – it should have been Daredevil II, but her character resonated so much that they decided to make a sequel. Does anyone know otherwise? In an interview I read, the screenwriters talked abut how much they loved Elektra, and read the books when they were younger. They weren’t happy the way it turned out. And if you look at her clothing she wears much more that she does in the book. In fact, with the exception of Catwoman I think female superheroes have put on more clothing in their celluloid forms. Catwoman is a harder sell, and maybe that’s why Burton, Pfeiffer and Judd bowed out of it. But did anyone watch the making of Catwoman? Seems the director in striving to make it very different from Selena Kyle decided to make this Catwoman really like a cat! So the revealing clothing was supposed to show her spine curvature and accentuate that when she walked, just as you notice it in a real cat. I don’t know if it was a wise choice, but when I saw it again looking at her movements and uniform with that focus, she did pull off the cat-like feel.
I feel more like the audience sank those films. Unlike some other films, I remember seeing Elektra and Catwoman posters long before the movies showed up. In fact I think they specifically used more marketing with them because they thought the women could carry them on their star power. Didn’t quite work. And I saw both. I wouldn’t say they were the greatest films ever, but they seemed as good as many a film that have debuted in the number one position. Taken did amazingly well, and I didn’t think it was better than Elektra at all.
I wonder if there is something in the cultural psyche that won’t let us allow females to be true heroes. It seems even when they start to crouch over there, they get labeled with being like guys – either by production, or the audience, or even some female actors I’ve listened to. This can be ok in other genres, but in an action genre, and specifically the superhero sub-genre, this is downright cripling.
In fact, as I am brainstorming, I am wondering if this is like the case of african americans often in comedies but rarely in dramas on tv. It’s like it’s ok when tempered with humor. And just like the other films out there, if we don’t go see even the mediocre ones, we won’t get the good ones.
But I LOVE that fact that Rashida is getting to adapt her own work, that’s great. And I think Shia is a good fit for Y the Last Man.
Thanks for the info Melissa!
Frenemy looks ace (partly because it looks like Alias which I love), but I have to say that imagining Shia le Beouf as the last man on earth in Y-the last man makes me terribly depressed.
In terms of recent(ish) comic book adaptations, Xmen’s Wolverine is a delight for the (straight) female gaze, as was Nite Owl in Watchmen. Yes female super heros wear skimpier things but I think that focusing on costume and appearance distracts from what’s really happening that’s stopping these films’ success.
@d It’s really interesting what you say about Catwoman, makes me want to check it out actually to see how the end result failed where the concept seems decent.