Nancy Meyers gets the cover of the NY Times magazine this Sunday with a very long piece by Daphne Merkin. I have no qualms about admitting that I am a big Nancy Meyers fan. There are many different reasons for my admiration of Nancy, one big one being the fact that she makes the movies she wants to make. There are lots of people who have issues with Nancy Meyers movies. Among the reasons people give are that her films are light, fluffy, stupid, make women act stupid, are horribly written, unrealistic, and too white.
Yes, Nancy Meyers creates a rich, white world populated by women (and men) but focused on women that none of us are ever going to live in. I look at the houses in Nancy Meyers movies (and the houses are so important they are like characters themselves) and I see the beautiful throw pillows, the gorgeous bedrooms and bathrooms, and I know I am on Fantasy Island. But honestly, I don’t think it’s any different than the world of Sex & the City.
But what Nancy Meyers does better than anyone is make these women relatable to other women, and those women go out and buy tickets to her films. That’s why she gets paid the very big bucks and has final cut of her films. (According to the article she makes $12 million a movie not including movie she makes on the grosses.) Of course I know that I won’t be able to write a play in the throes of a breakup and then have it produced on Broadway…but knowing that didn’t make me like the film (Something’s Gotta Give) any less. I think it made me like the film MORE because Diane Keaton’s character was so competent.
Here’s what Diane Keaton said about her:
“She’s a pioneer with regard to representing older women,” Diane Keaton said over lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel. “She’s the only one delivering the fantasy for women over 55. You’re beautiful, charming and you get two guys instead of one.”
Fuck yeah.
I think that’s one of the hidden gems (and many one of the reasons why people hate Meyers) is that she portrays middle aged white women and competent and complex. She shows women as multi-layered and that’s refreshing.
Meyers is supposedly a very difficult director. She does a lot of retakes. It takes a long time to make her films. So she does a lot of takes. The only reason why this gets so highly scrutinized is because there are so few other women working at her level. And other women in Hollywood know that she is paving the way for the future.
Here’s a quote from Callie Khouri:
“Nancy inspires a tremendous amount of hope in me,” she says. “She’s defied the conventional wisdom that women are over — both societally and professionally — past a certain age. I root for her in the way I do for all women who are trying to sledgehammer a hole into the wall of an audience and an output that’s almost exclusively male-dominated.”
Here are some other tidbits from the piece that I found interesting:
And this being a Nancy Meyers movie, men are as subject to critical scrutiny via the female gaze as women are subject to the male gaze.
I also found it very interesting to note that since she broke up with Charles Shyer over a decade ago, she has grown in stature as she moved into directing and he has well, not done as well (ie Alfie- need I say more?)
She is valued first and foremost for her track record at the box office; each of her post-Shyer movies has surpassed $200 million in revenue worldwide. Meyers is also paid for generating “creative value for the studio,” says Jeff Berg, chairman of I.C.M. and her longtime agent. “Studios like to have success,” Berg says, “and then they like to have the halo effect, whereby the films reflect positively on the taste of the studio.”
This woman has clout, power and respect in Hollywood. That is something we need to note and to learn from. She is another woman who used her writing to propel her into directing and most of the successful female directors have been going that route.
I am the first one to admit the soft spot in my heart for all things Nancy Meyers. The woman has written some of movies that I can watch over and over again. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched Baby Boom. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched Something’s Gotta Give. Even the Father of the Bride films are rewatchable and I tell everyone that The Holiday is a misunderstood gem especially the relationship between Eli Wallach and Kate Winslet.
See you at the theatre on Christmas Day! Can’t wait.
Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women (NY Times Magazine)
I like THE HOLIDAY, too. and I think IT’S COMPLICATED looks hilarious. It also helps that Meryl Streep is in it, too.
Whether we like or hate Nancy Meyers, she is at least creating roles for older actresses and hopefully paving a bigger path for female writer/director filmmakers to make more films and gain more respect.
While Private Benjamin is revered as a classic in my home and I really enjoyed Something’s Gotta Give, I’m hardly a Meyers fan. I strongly disliked both What Women Want and The Holiday and I do think there is some truth to the criticisms she gets. Still, I can’t help but respect her. Like Melissa said, she’s doing the movies she wants to do and she’s about the only director in Hollywood who’ll make romantic comedies about older women. And since she’s always working with great actors, Keaton, Nicholson, Winslet and now Streep, I still keep coming back for more. So even though I’m not too fond of her work, I will still see It’s Complicated at the theater.
Sorry, I disagree. I think all her films are terrible. I don’t give her any more credit than I would Michael Bay. Bad films are bad films regardless of the gender of the writer/director or the genre. If I know Nancy Meyers is the writer/director of a film I avoid it.
I am not a huge fan of her films. I enjoyed Somethings Gotta Give and I’ll have to defer on It’s Complicated as I haven’t seen it yet. I do respect her success and the fact that she’s actually creating roles for mature actresses. I just wish the female characters were more independent. And when they are portrayed that way like Helen Hunt in What Women Want, they are not very appealing. Women can be portrayed as strong yet vulerable without being bitchy. Or not like airheads.
One of the reasons I liked Somethings Gotta Give was Diane Keaton’s character. Had she been played by someone else like Joan Allen or Susan Sarandon, I am not sure the vulerability would have shown through. I credit Diane with making her character likable and strong not the writing.
But kudos to Nancy for her success in a very sexist and male dominated industry.
I’ve enjoyed some of her films a great deal. And truly, just to get women over the age of 35 on film as major characters and still sexual is great. I hope she continues to have success. But the problem with being one of the few truly funded women is that the films she creates become sort of the token “women” films. I would love to see more courageous, strong filmmaking about the experiences of women. Most films funded for women are around the plot of the lead woman character trying to obtain a man or baby. There are no other reasons for women to be seen. There are no other compelling plots for women – we are simple creatures.
You know, one thing that makes me cringe is the patented “chick flick” trailer. If you make a “chick flick” trailer, you have a list of checkbox items to include. First and foremost is the squeal. You have to have the main female character high pitch squeal like a junior high schooler. This MUST be in the trailer. Re: Julia and Julia trailer where she squeals and stomps around like a little girl at the sight of a lobster. That HAS to be in the trailer. At one time, Meg Ryan could be counted on for this. Extra points for the woman squealing while falling over, squealing while being sprayed with a hose, or squealing while breaking a heel off.
I liked Something’s Gotta Give (though found it completely unbelievable that Amanda Peet would be with Jack Nicholson) but absolutely hated The Holiday. I fell asleep immediately. Either way great respect for her success!
I seem to be in the minority here for adoring The Holiday, despite not being a “chick flick” person at all. I think Sally might be onto something in her comment – IIRC it’s refreshingly squeal-free, despite the presence of Cameron Diaz, who’s as dependable for that purpose as Meg Ryan.
I’m not a huge fan of Meyers’ other films, but don’t have anything against them either. They’re just not something I’ll stop and sit down to watch if I happen across it. And I may very well find myself appreciating them more personally as I get older. As it is, I appreciate them intellectually for being full of middle-aged women who aren’t nearly as cookie-cutter as people generally seem to think.
I enjoyed Something’s Gotta Give (although I would have rather Diane Keaton had ended up with Keanu Reeves instead of Jack Nicholson). But we need more female directors like Kathryn Bigelow, who direct films outside the rom com ghetto.
Big wet raspberry to the NYT headline: ‘Can anybody make a movie for women?’
I doubt if this was the journalist’s idea, as it has little to do with the article itself, which was about Nancy Meyers herself not how to make movies for women. The only purpose this headline serves is to maintain the ‘otherness’ of women by reinforcing the male-centric cultural belief that women are an unfathomable mystery best left unsolved.
Whether by accident or design, it also bears a more than a passing resemblance to Meyers’ own film ‘What Women Want’, which was an allegory on how the culture distances itself from the inner world of women. Strange irony.
I work in the industry and see how we (as women) are treated. And women over the age of 30 (in front and behind) the camera? Forget it.
I agree with what Callie said.
I’m amazed – although I knew about (and loved) Something’s Gotta Give and I really like the look of It’s Complicated, I had no idea that she directed The Parent Trap or wrote Father of The Bride (both of which I loved) and then…
What Women Want – and The Holiday, both of which I did not enjoy – mostly for the casting of the male characters (although I did enjoy the Kate Winslet/Eli Wallach parts in The Holiday). And I haven’t seen it for a long time but I remember I walked away from What Women Want thinking it was a bit of a stretch for women to be attracted to Mel Gibson… Maybe that’s just a personal thing!
I do however, think Nancy Meyers is a fantastic mainstream filmmaker – her movies are ‘entertainment movies’ – nothing wrong with that at all! – and compete in the market of the highest-grossing films. And the best thing about this is that she writes films about and for older women. I was at a conference earlier this year where speakers talked about the casting of older women on British television (I’m a brit actress/writer) and the casting of women just seems to drop off when they fit 40/45 – apart from the big names.
(as an aside – I’d really love to see Meyers casting some of the ’smaller’ big names – Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep are wonderful actresses, but I’d love to see someone like Alison Janney, Catherine Keener, Ellen Barkin or Emily Watson do a ‘Richard Jenkins’ and be in with a chance for an award and some serious screentime. And on another note – because they are both ‘big names’ that haven’t done much work recently – how about Whoopi Goldberg or Goldie Hawn?)
Meyers is headlining a new market – a gap in the market most studio bosses have heretofore seen as not important enough to chase – films for, and about older women. With an aging population this is a sane choice for investors, and with the recession still hitting everyone hard we need to look at fresh ways to make and sell films. I think Meyers is only just getting started – I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next, and I can’t wait to watch It’s Complicated!
On paper Meyers basing romantic comedies around 50 something female protagonists is a wonderful thing in a culture of youth=beauty. However remove the veteran performers such as Streep and Keaton and the execution is as lifeless as the romcoms Aniston or Cameron Diaz have to suffer through.
Meyers,imo, at her worst helped create the idea of ‘women movies’ as uncinematic and bland chocolate confectionaries.
Here’s a comment from my mom (Linda Silverstein) that she couldn’t figure out how to post but said I could post on er behalf-
Hi it’s me, Mom. I’m a little sick today but I wanted to write and say that I thought the article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Nancy Meyers was a little off. I don’t know but she is one of the most important women in Hollywood and her movies are for rich white women who look like Diane Keaton. I sort of agree with the comment Steve martin made when he saw the house for “Father of the Bride.”-this is the house you want people to relate to? It’s funny. After enjoying her fabulous clothes and amazing houses and happy, happy happy people it’s so interesting to read about her and her background. I’m not sure she can create more regular characters or that her public wants them. How is this possible? She is just as much in a fantasyland as James Cameron is. But maybe some younger,ethnic not rich women would rather be on Pandora. What do you think?
Yes, Abigail!! Can someone please write Whoopi Goldberg a good role? Her talent is too fucking immense to let it waste away because she isn’t thin prissy white lady under 40 with straight hair. Her career should be twice as big as it is now.
^
I’m assuming the studios may not exactly be too keen on Goldberg getting a lead role nowadays. Like most actressess who were box office gold in the 80s and 90s she’s probably considered by execs to no longer have ‘it’.
at Chris Evans,
Write it yourself or better yet, find a female writer to be supportive of and help her get her story written and in the hands of a development team at a prod. company that is actually interested in making films like that.
good luck
T