BY Women and Hollywood
Watch This: Barbara Walters Officially Announces Retirement
As we previously reported, the rumors swirling about Barbara Walters’ retirement in 2014 were growing. Finally, the journalism legend confirmed and announced her retirement on The View...
Kate Winslet to Star in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker
Kate Winslet is going to star in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker. Moorhouse has also written the script which is based on the novel by Rosalie Ham. Winslet will play Tilly, a woman who...
Trailer Watch: August: Osage County – Starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts
August: Osage County, based on Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer winning play, looks to be another powerhouse role for Meryl Streep. Streep plays Violet Weston, the troubled matriarch of the dysfunctional...
The Backlash Continues: Women Onscreen Falls to a Five Year Low
Make no mistake about it, no matter what you read or what people try and make you believe, things are not all roses and candy for women onscreen or behind the scenes in hollywood. In a brand...
Angelina Jolie’s Courageous Revelation
In a courageous op-ed in today’s New York Times, Angelina Jolie revealed that over the last several months she has undergone a prophylactic double mastectomy because she has BRCA1 gene....
Pilot Update: ABC Picks Up 3 Women Created Pilots, CBS Picks Up 1
As the upfronts continue, the television news keeps coming out. ABC has picked up 3 women created pilots, including Super Fun Night from the hilarious Rebel Wilson and Trophy Wife from Emily Halpern...
Watch This: The Invisible War on PBS
Make sure to watch The Invisible War airing on PBS tonight at 10pm. It’s an extremely important film that examines the rape epidemic within the U.S. military. With the increase in the sexual...
Women Directed and Written Projects Chosen for Sundance Institute’s June Directors and Screenwriters Labs
The Sundance Institute announced the 13 projects chosen for their prestigious June Director and Screenwriter Labs which take place from May 27-June 27. The program has fellows work with...
Olivia Colman, ‘Girls’ Take Home BAFTA TV Awards
Last night, BAFTA handed out their TV awards. Actress Olivia Colman won big–receiving both the female performance in a comedy award for Twenty Twelve and supporting actress award for Accused...
Sundance: Jill Soloway’s Afternoon Delight Gets Pick Up from Film Arcade and Cinedigm
After winning the U.S. Dramatic Directing award for her film Afternoon Delight, Jill Soloway’s Sundance film has finally got picked up by Film Arcade and Cinedigm. In a statement, The Film...
Brave Director Brenda Chapman Responds to Merida Coronation
Last week we wondered what Brave writer and co-director Brenda Chapman would have to say when she heard about Merida getting the Disney princess makeover. We suspected she’s be pissed and we...
Weekly Update May 10: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Venus and Serena – Directed by Maiken Baird and Michelle Major (doc) Venus and Serena takes an unfiltered look into the remarkable lives of the greatest...
Kerry Washington FINALLY Covers A Major Fashion Magazine
Kerry Washington is on a roll. She was in the hugely successful Django Unchained. She’s in one of the hottest shows on TV as the star — Olivia Pope — who is in love...
Pilot Watch: The CW Is Clear Early Winner for Women, NBC and Fox Order No Women Written Shows
This is crunch week in TV land where current shows either get picked up for next season or cancelled and some happy pilot writers get a series pickup. As of this morning, NBC, Fox and The...
Los Angeles Film Festival Announces Line Up
The Los Angeles Film Festival recently announced their line up. And it’s great. Some of our festival favorites are screening including Lake Bell’s In A World, Stacie Passon’s...
Interview with Judy Chaikin – Director of The Girls in the Band
The Girls in the Band opens for a one-week run in NYC on May 10. Tickets here. Women and Hollywood: What drew you to making this film? Judy Chaikin: I come from a family of musicians...
Guest Post: Invisible Women Who Rock
We are both filmmakers launching documentaries featuring different generations of women pursuing their artistic vision in the predominantly male bastion of rock and roll. And of course, the...
Pissed Off: When Did Playing Evil Women Become a Rite of Passage for Oscar Winning Actresses?
You know I hate all the princess shit that we see everywhere. The film business has up it ass that boys get to be superheroes and girls get to be princesses. The boys save the girls and...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Willow Smith
God I love this girl. She rules and I want that t-shirt. Smile girl. You are awesome. h/t Jen Pozner and from How You Say My Love in Thug
TV Watch This: Trailer for The Fosters – Executive Produced by Jennifer Lopez
The Fosters, excutive produced by Jennifer Lopez, is a new show on ABC Family that focuses on a lesbian couple who alongside their biological children take in foster children. ABC Family has a great...
HBO Summer Documentary Series Very Women-Centric
Last week, HBO announced their summer documentary series and it is very women-centric from the content to the majority of women directors of these films. Some of the women-centric docs include Pussy...
Three Women-Centric Films Opening on August 16th
If you survive the summer of male centric super hero and action films, mark your calendars for August 16th because three women-centric films will be opening. While August has been in the past seen as...
Novelist Claire Messud Schools Publishers Weekly
Claire Messud’s latest novel, The Woman Upstairs, has been getting a ton of great critical buzz (and was also in the recent women’s fiction satire video Ron Charles released). In an...
Don’t Forget: Kristen Wiig to Host SNL This Weekend
You know you’re excited. We sure are. Might be a good live tweet occasion.
The Directing Workshop for Women 2013 Showcase
On Monday night I stepped into the Directors Guild Building for the first time to attend the annual showcase for the AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women My feelings about that place are...
Watch This: Rose Troche’s Sci-Fi Short ‘Elliot King is Third’
Director Rose Troche has directed a short film for Futurestates, an online series of sci-fi shorts that explore the future of American society through a variety of topics. Troche’s short,...
Disney Crowns Brave’s Merida a Princess
In completely baffling and disturbing news, Disney has decided to make Brave heroine, Merida into their 11th Disney Princess. On May 11th, Merida will join the other Disney princesses in a royal...
Trailer Watch: Violet & Daisy
Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) are a pair of teen assassins who are hired to kill crime figures in New York City. When the pair gets a new job targeting a mysterious man (James...
Women Win Big at Australian Directors Guild Awards
Women won the majority of the major awards at last week’s Australian Directors Guild Awards. Cate Shortland won the Best Director award for her film Lore and Rachel Perkins won Best Director...
Bette Midler on Broadway in I’ll Eat You Last
I’ll Eat You Last takes place on a fateful day in 1981 when Sue Mengers got the phone call that she was no longer representing Barbra Streisand. The two most powerful women in Hollywood...
Olive Kitteridge Gets HBO Miniseries Treatment with Lisa Cholodenko and Frances McDormand
Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitizer winning novel, Olive Kitteridge, is set for a four-hour miniseries at HBO. Adapted by Jane Anderson, Olive Kitteridge tells the story of a small New England town...
Trailer Watch: Girl Most Likely – Written by Michelle Morgan and Co-Directed by Shari Springer Berman
This is Kristen Wiig’s first leading role onscreen since Bridesmaids. I hope people are not expecting Bridesmaids 2 because this looks a bit more intense. Formerly titled Imogene,...
Lauren Season 2 Premieres on WIGS
Lauren, starring Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario, begins it’s second season on WIGS today with its first four episodes. Lauren continues the story of a soldier who is raped and is...
Aisha Tyler Masterfully Calls Out Her Haters
We are just so impressed with Aisha Tyler, comedian and actress. Turns out Tyler is also a huge gamer and while some folks in the community were receptive about her being invited to host the...
Weekly Update May 3: Women-Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Kiss of the Damned – Written and Directed by Xan Cassavetes If you are a fan of horror films, especially not the torture porn crap of late, you’ll...
Melissa McCarthy’s Tammy to Take on 2014 Independence Day Box Office
As we anxiously countdown the days until The Heat is released on June 28th, we are always excited to hear any news about the lovely Melissa McCarthy. As we had previously reported, McCarthy was...
Guest Post: Aroused
I never thought I would ever make a documentary film, let alone one where my leading cast would be some of the biggest names in the Porn industry. I am a photographer, and yes, I have always felt...
Trailer Watch: Crazy Kind of Love – Directed by Sarah Siegel-Magness, Written by Karen McCullah Lutz
Crazy Kind of Love, directed by Sarah Siegel-Magness and written by Karen McCullah Lutz, focuses on a broken family helmed by Augusta (Virginia Madsen). However their relationships to one another...
TIFF Rerun: Interview with Susanne Bier – Director of Love Is All You Need
Originally published on September 19. Love Is All You Need opens in limited release on Friday. At the Toronto Film Festival you see a lot of heavy movies really early in the morning. Love is...
Jessica Chastain to Star in The Zookeeper’s Wife
Jessica Chastain has just signed on to star in The Zookeeper’s Wife, an adaptation of Diane Ackerman’s novel, that will be directed by Whale Rider director Niki Caro. With a...
AFI Holds Directing Workshop for Women Showcase
AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women program will be holding a screening of eight short films all directed by women. The films are a result of a year-long fellowship with AFI, honoring those in...
Nora Ephron, Cyndi Lauper Among Tony Award Nominees
Earlier this week, the 2013 Tony awards nominations were announced. Nora Ephron received a posthumous nomination for Best Play for Lucky Guy. Iconic pop star, Cyndi Lauper, was nominated for...
Trailer Watch: Byzantium – Starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan
Check out the trailer for Byzantium (written by Moira Buffini) starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan as mysterious women who move to a coastal down where deadly occurrences begin to happen. The...
Trailer Watch: Second Trailer for The East – Co-Written by and Starring Brit Marling
As the trailers for The East continue to roll out and with its recent outing at SXSW, the buzz for Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s tense thriller is growing. The film stars Marling as Sarah,...
A Dude to Direct Hillary Clinton Biopic
As we previously reported, a biopic about everyone’s favorite lady and potential presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is in the works. The Black List scripted penned by Young II Kim...
Guest Post: The Appearing Female Magician – Desperate Acts of Magic
When I was seven, my parents took me to a magic shop at Pier 39 in San Francisco. I bought my first magic trick, the Imp Bottle. I loved playing with it. Not long after that, my parents bought me a...
Women In Film, Los Angeles Announces Crystal + Lucy Awards Honorees
Women In Film, Los Angeles has announced their Crystal + Lucy Awards Honorees for 2013. It’s an extremely impressive lineup. The awards, established in 1977, celebrate women and men in the...
Women and Hollywood Heads to Los Angeles
I’m coming to LA! Come join me and the whole Indiewire gang for an evening of fun on May 7 at Sadie’s from 6-11pm. Sadie’s is located at 1638 N. Las Palmas. They will have...
Guest Post: Marilyn Monroe Comic Book Tribute
I had written one comic book for the publisher, Bluewater Productions, which was about Elizabeth Taylor and they asked me to take on Marilyn. I said yes because I loved writing the first one so much,...
Guest Post: Can Major League Dreams Defy Martial Law?
In the face of daunting odds of gender, geography and living under the gun, women and girls are the power players in my new documentary – The Only Real Game. This is the first nonfiction...
Trailer Watch: Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes – Starring Willa Holland
Teenagers of many generations have connected to Judy Blume’s iconic novels that focus on their interior lives. It’s actually pretty surprising that none of Blume’s work hasn’t...