Tag Archive for 'Nia Vardalos'

Memo to Hollywood: Women Go to Movies

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on June 9, 2009
in Box Office, Marketing and Movies
. 14 Comments

My Life in RuinsWe talk about this issue on this site all the time, but I love it when a woman in Hollywood gets down and dirty about how Hollywood treats women.

I love it even more when that woman is Nia Vardalos the keeper of one of the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time — My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  She is also in an elite club, her film was in the top 10 in 2002.

She has been everywhere pushing her return to Greece film My Life in Ruins.  My Life in Ruins is a bit like Mamma Mia, light romantic comedy that stars women with gorgeous scenery and a vibrant star.

But, it’s not a big budget action flick with commercials everywhere and opened last weekend on just 1,164 screens compared with 3,269 for The Hangover and 3,521 for Land of the Lost which has already been declared a flop.

But it still managed to make the top ten bringing in over $3,233,ooo at the box office.

The thing that we have been discussing on this site was whether the success of Sex and the City and Mamma Mia would change how Hollywood thinks about women.  The bad news from Nia is that these successes have done NOTHING to convince Hollywood that women are a market.

Here’s what she writes:

Lately, I’ve been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because… “women don’t go to movies.”

Really?

When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, he called them “flukes.” He said “don’t quote me on this.” So, I’m telling everybody.

This is such blatant sexism and the only way its going to change is for people — women and men — to show that they want to see movies about women.  (I have been trying to get the gender breakdown for 2008 in terms of ticket sales but the MPAA is skipping 2008 and will next release data at the end of 2009.  I anyone has gender breakdown numbers, please send them my way.)

So give Nia your support and get off your ass out and see her flick.  She’s standing up for you and we need to have her back.

“Women Don’t Go to Movies” — Huh? (Huffington Post)

Sitting down with Nia Vardalos (Variety)

Nia Vardalos Gets It Done … and Then Some (wowOwow)

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Tags: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos

Women at the Box Office This Weekend: June 5

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on June 5, 2009
in Box Office
. 2 Comments

mylifeinruinsAfter a long drought there are a few choices this weekend especially for those folks in the NY area. The widest release this weekend is My Life in Ruins, Nia Vardalos’ return to Greece and the big screen after a long absence. Vardalos has been everywhere trying to sell this movie. Vardalos is clearly the best part of the film. She tries hard and has a great personality but the script lets her down. She plays an academic without a gig stuck doing bus tours of Greece. The scenery is spectacular. It was so bright and blue that at times I wanted to take out my sunglasses. So for those of you who will be taking a staycation this summer instead of a vacation, this might be the film for you. It’s a light romantic comedy. You get the picture. Here’s an interview with Vardalos from the LA Times. I am also looking forward to her directing debut in a couple of weeks which reunites her with John Corbett from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

seraphine

Opening in limited release (NY and LA) is Seraphine a bio pic about French artist Seraphine de Senlis.

Seraphine tells the story of virtually unknown painter Seraphine de Senlis a woman who spent her days as a maid and her nights holed up in her room painting some extraordinary works.  She was lucky enough to be cleaning the flat of collector Willem Uhde and when he randomly discovered her work he encouraged her to keep painting.  His encouragement kept her going for many years even while he was out of her life until he returned and became her patron.

Yolande Moreau, gives one of those intense and career making performances as the gruff artist who would rather buy paint supplies than eat.  She did not live an easy life, and as she aged she lost her capacity to keep her severe mental illness at bay.  Sadly, she spent her last decades in an institution not painting.

Seraphine never received a one woman show in her lifetime but after her death one was held in 1941.  This film has revived interest in her art and another retrospective was mounted in Paris.  Sadly, most of her paintings were destroyed because her work was not valued at the time.

This story is a reminder of how many creative women’s works have been lost and erased because they were not valued mostly because they were done by women, and the importance of making sure that doesn’t happen anymore.

away_we_goLastly, but not least is Away We Go the new film by Sam Mendes.  This film is the flip side of Mendes’ last one Revolutionary Road.  It’s about a happy couple Verona and Burt (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski) on a journey to find a “home” as they await the birth of their first child.

What I loved about this film is that Verona and Burt are partners and that is so rare in films today.  A female role written as well as a male role.  She is not the sidekick, girlfriend or eye candy.  She’s his partner and every word in this witty, funny and moving script by married writers Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers rings true.  This film would never have worked without the amazing chemistry between Rudolph and Krasinski.  They really come off as a couple who have been together a long time.

The film is a series of encounters with their friends and family as they try and figure out where to make their lives.  (It helps that they both work from home so they have a ton of flexibility as to where to live.)  At each stop the supporting cast they meet up with is stellar including : Allison Janney, Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Melanie Lynskey among others.  Each encounter builds on the on the other.  Some are hilarious (Janney), others are moving (Lynskey).  This movie felt very different to me.  It reminded me of what I felt when I saw Juno.  Smart and different.

(Film opens in limited release today and will roll out over the country over the next few weeks.)

Check out my interviews with writer Vendela Vida, Allison Janney and Maya Rudolph.

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Tags: Away We Go, Nia Vardalos, Seraphine

My Life in Ruins to Close Tribeca

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on April 10, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

My Life in Ruins the film which stars My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s Nia Vardalos as a greek tour guide looking to get her mojo back will close the Tribeca Film Festival on May 2nd.  The film opens nationally on June 5th.

Nia Vardalos and director Donald Petrie will be at the Apple Store in Soho on May 1st at 7pm.

More info

Check out the trailer:

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Tags: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos