Tag Archive for 'Zoe Saldana'

Hollywood Feminist of the Day Zoe Saldana

zoe-saldana

Zoe Saldana is in a unique position.  She is poised to be in not 1 — Star Trek — but two — Avatar — of the top grossing movies of the year.

Not bad.  She recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog and had some great feminist things to say about the state of women and hollywood.

How bad is the landscape out there for decent female roles?

They’re out there — people just aren’t investing in them. We can sit here forever discussing it, because it has a chicken vs. the egg quality. Bottom line, producers are business people. Hollywood is a money-making machine. At the end of the day, they have to produce numbers that will help them keep their jobs and companies alive. But we as consumers have a lot more power than we think. Women need to demand better roles and get audiences to see their films. Because if a film doesn’t make $150 million, producers and studios aren’t going to bankroll a similar film next time. If there were more filmmakers that were female, trust me, it would be all about women.

Avatar” Star Zoe Saldana on the State of Women in Hollywood (Wall Street Journal)

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Tags: Avatar, Star Trek, Zoe Saldana

The Most Powerful Women in Hollywood According to Nikki Finke

emilyTonight in Hollywood Elle Magazine will host the annual salute to women in Hollywood.  I am looking forward to the day when we don’t need to highlight women because they will have as much power as men, but in reality, women are nowhere near as powerful as the guys.

The women being ackowledged tonight include: Katie Holmes, Zoe Saldana, Emily Blunt, Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, Julie Andrews, Julianne Moore, and Bonnie Timmerman. (How come there is no link to the Julie Andrews and Bonnie Timmerman pieces?)

The highlight of the issue includes the most powerful women in Hollywood according to Nikki Finke the feared blogger who writes Deadline Hollywood.

Here’s the intro:

Last year I was on ELLE’s Women in Hollywood power list; this year I was asked to write it. That’s ironic, because I hate power lists more than one-size-fits-all spa robes. These influential jobs are not necessarily comparable. Are the casting directors I included more important than the cinematographers and film editors I didn’t? So what I have is a very subjective roster of women I deem essential to a town run by alpha males who don’t play well with others. Women in general do. In case you’re wondering, 2009 was a lousy year for female producers because the Industry has contracted, so they’re MIA here. But there are still some movie moguls standing, and, even better, TV execs are thriving. My favorite category, however, is the “coaches.” The trick in Hollywood is not just getting power, it’s keeping it, and if women need psychic intuition or telephone therapy or wise advice from showbiz legends for an edge, who am I to judge? Well, I am the judge. It’s my list!

Here are some of the categories on THE LIST.

THE TALENT

Tyra Banks, mogulette
So much more than that model show, she seems the likely successor to Oprah both in talk and in other TV programming her production company has cooking.

Beyoncé Knowles, singer, actress
She’s come into her own as an actress (Cadillac Records, Obsessed), pitchwoman extraordinaire (L’Oréal, American Express, Pepsi), and inaugural ball star, and is worth $87 million (No. 4 on the 2009 Forbes richest entertainers list).

Kathryn Bigelow, director, producer
This veteran action director (Point Break, The Weight of Water), unafraid of shocking us, may already have a bead on the Oscar with her latest, The Hurt Locker.

Miley Cyrus, Inc.
Young and gorgeous, rich and bankable, versatile and talented, earns $25 million a year, all in one teen-tween package.

Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, talk show host
She has broken every gay barrier—even Madison Avenue is comfortable with her.

Tina Fey, actress, comedian, writer
She saved NBC’s bacon during the 2008 election with her Sarah Palin bit on SNL and with her Emmy-winning 30 Rock.

Michael Patrick King, writer-director and 2009’s honorary female
He gave us the best years of Sex and the City on TV and can be credited for reviving the chick flick in Hollywood when the movie version grossed $415 million.

Stephenie Meyer, novelist
Delivered Hollywood its hottest franchise in years, the Twilight vampire series. She’s sold 70 million books to date, and the films have grossed $383 million worldwide.

Nancy Meyers, director
One of the few women directors who constantly works (The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give) because she’s expert at defining the sexual zeitgeist.

Meryl Streep, actress
She shattered Hollywood’s ageism and sexism; at 60, she’s getting her best and showiest roles.

Continue reading ‘The Most Powerful Women in Hollywood According to Nikki Finke’

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Tags: Emily Blunt, Julianne Moore, Julie Andrews, Katie Holmes, Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, Zoe Saldana

Star Trek’s Gender Problem

star-trek-uhura-posterI went to see Star Trek last night here in LA on a big screen in Culver City.  Personally, I prefer to see the big blockbusters during the week cause I hate the crowds. Everywhere I was yesterday in LA people were talking about the movie.  It really is a company town.

I was very excited to see the film because I was a trekkie growing up.  I think The Wrath of Khan is one of the scariest films ever and I pretty partial to Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home where Captain Kirk (William Shatner) falls in love with the whale researcher played by Catherine Hicks.

I was excited to see it because it was directed by JJ Abrams who did Alias which I still miss, and the film’s writers also are the guardians of Lost Fringe which I am addicted to.

JJ’s a good director.  The pace was fast, there were good effects but I found the story lacking.  How many times in one movie can we see Chris Pine as the young Kirk attempt to get strangled.  It looked like his eyes were going to pop out.

But I think the film missed a huge opportunity with its women.  Maybe I’m spoiled from Battlestar Galactica and I know TV is different from films, but I think they blew a big opportunity by stereotyping women’s roles.  What I loved about Battlestar Galactica was that gender didn’t matter and in this film it clearly did.  There were a lot of women in miniskirts just walking around.  Star Trek has much inter planetary diversity including Kirk’s relationship with an all green woman, yet still can’t get over the gender stereotypes.

The three female characters of significance were insignificant — one gave birth, one was a mother, and one was a girlfriend.

Jennifer Morrison – Cameron from House played Kirk’s mother and her part consisted of her giving birth to the future Captain Kirk.

Winona Ryder played young Spock’s mom (Zachary Quinto) and they had to give her a ton of wrinkles because in real life she is only 6 years old than him.  Winona has not even hit 40 and she is already playing a mom.  That’s Hollywood.

Zoe Saldana had the biggest female part playing the young Lt. Uhura a gifted linguistic specialist who discovers an important signal yet is relegated to window dressing.  Why couldn’t they give her something cool to do that showed off her skills?  The way they handled the Scotty character was great.  Why couldn’t they have handled Uhura better?

I thought it was interesting that they had her character in a relationship with Spock but at times that relationship seemed so out of place and it felt like it was just thrown in to placate women.

The film is a hit.  The reviews are stellar.  According to the statistics, women bought 40% of the tickets on opening weekend.  But, I’m disappointed with JJ and his crew.  They usually have so much more respect for women.

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Tags: Jennifer Morrison, Winona Ryeder, Zoe Saldana