BY Women and Hollywood
Junie Hoang Loses Age Lawsuit Against IMDB
Actress Junie Hoang lost her lawsuit against IMDB for revealing her actual age online. Hoang first sued IMDB (and parent company Amazon) in October 2011 for $1 million for putting her actual age of...
Weekly Update April 12: Women-Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Currently Playing Free Angela and All Political Prisoners – Directed by Shola Lynch (doc) The Brass Teapot – Written and Directed by Ramaa Mosley 6 Souls The...
Bette Midler Takes Broadway as Infamous Hollywood Agent Sue Mengers
The iconic Bette Midler is hitting Broadway again for the first time in 40 years playing another iconic woman, Hollywood agent Sue Mengers. In John Logan’s I’ll Eat You Last, Midler...
Regal Cinemas Bringing Girl Rising to Theaters
We previously reported about Girl Rising, a film showcasing the importance of girls education across the world. The film focuses on 9 girls from 9 different countries, and their stories are written...
Guerrilla Girls Call for Girlcott of The Alley Theatre
Houston’s Alley Theatre announced its 2013-14 season with 9 plays that examine the “American character.” Not one of the plays is written by a female playwright. All 9 plays are...
Heroine of the Day: Deborah Copaken Kogan
Yesterday a shit bomb was dropped on the internet in the form of an essay by photographer/TV producer/novelist Deborah Copaken Kogan entitled My So-Called Post Feminist Life in Arts and Letters which...
Talking Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal on Melissa Harris-Perry
On this last week’s Melissa Harris-Perry show she devoted a whole segment to Shonda Rhimes’ show Scandal. In the segment she is joined by Andrea Plaid, Heather McGee, Joy-Ann...
Pamela Paul Named Editor of The New York Times Book Review
Pamela Paul has been named the the new editor of the The New York Times Book Review section succeeding Sam Tanenhaus. She is the 20th book review editor and only second female after...
Julie Taymor Settles Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Lawsuit
As we had recently reported, a trial date had been set for May between Taymor and Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris, producers of the musical Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. This had been after months...
Poster Premiere: A River Changes Course – Kalyanee Mam
Kalyanee Mam’s A River Changes Course is a documentary that chronicles the lives of three Cambodian families who are dealing with the struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life while...
Is Barbra Streisand to Direct Film About Margaret Bourke-White and Erskine Caldwell?
To be honest there is some confusion about this story. 411 is reporting that Barbra Streisand was going to direct Skinny and Cat to star Cate Blanchett about the lives of...
Jane Campion to Receive Carrosse d’Or
At next month’s Cannes Film Festival, Jane Campion will receive the Carrosse d’Or. Campion is serving as president of the Cinefondation and the short film jury at the festival....
SXSW Interview with Hannah Fidell, Lindsay Burdge and Kim Sherman of A Teacher
A Teacher is a tense, unflinching piece of film that gets under your skin and refuses to let go. It’s the tightly drawn portrait of Diana (Lindsay Burdge), a young high school teacher who is...
Women and Hollywood Heads to Chicago
I just wanted to give a heads up to any readers in the Chicago area. I’m going to be in town on the evening of April 25th to do a salon for my book, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk...
Meryl on Margaret
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died yesterday. To say that she was a controversial figure is a huge understatement. On top of all the discussions about her work as Prime...
Nora Ephron Documentary Being Developed at HBO
Close to a year after beloved screenwriter/director Nora Ephron died due to complications from leukemia comes the news that HBO will be developing a documentary about Ephron’s life. Her son,...
Trailer Watch: Farah Goes Bang – Directed by Meera Menon, written by Meera Menon and Laura Goode
Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month is Meera Menon’s Farah Goes Bang. Here’s the synopsis: Farah hits the road with her buddies to stump for John Kerry in the 2004...
Interview with Karen Struck and Amanda Johns – Writers on Monday Mornings
For the last couple of months I have been enjoying the new series Monday Mornings created by David E. Kelley. It’s a hospital drama that focuses on the surgeons and the meeting each week...
Watch This: Ellen Announces Finding Dory
A couple days ago, Ellen announced the long awaited sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo. The sequel, Finding Dory, will focus heavily on Ellen’s character Dory from the first film. As...
Katie Dippold Signs 7-Figure Deal With Chernin Entertainment
Katie Dippold’s writing future just got a little brighter. Her film The Heat, directed by Bridemaids‘ Paul Feig and starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy hasn’t...
Beyonce Is A “Modern-Day Feminist”
Beyonce covers this month’s British Vogue. In between questions about her adorable daughter, Blue Ivy, upcoming tour and husband Jay-Z, the publication asked Beyonce if she considers herself a...
Melissa McCarthy on SNL
Melissa McCarthy hosted SNL for the second time this past weekend. While I don’t think that this show was as strong as her first hosting gig, it was far better than so many of the other...
Watch This: Full Trailer for Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie
After months of teaser trailers, the full trailer for Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie is here. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as the iconic title character, Peirce’s reinvisioning of the film is...
Weekly Update April 5: Women-Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Free Angela and All Political Prisoners – Directed by Shola Lynch (doc) Review from the Toronto Film Festival: Sunday, a bit of history was explored...
Catherine Hardwicke to Direct Age of Miracles
Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct the adaptation of Karen Thompson Walker’s bestseller (and one of my favorite books of last year) Age of Miracles. Age of Miracles follows ten...
Roger Ebert – A Remembrance
I grew up in the era of “At the Movies.” I loved that show. I loved those two guys fighting over what they thought about each movie. I loved that they looked like...
Award Winning Screenwriter and Novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Dies
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, an Oscar winning screenwriter and celebrated novelist, has died at the age of 85 from complications caused from a pulmonary condition. Jhabvala was a prolific writer. She wrote...
Cross Post: Tyler Perry’s Rape Problem
Trigger warnings: rape, sexual assault, acquaintance rape, Tyler Perry A week after rapper Rick Ross found himself in hot water over a lyric that was said to promote date rape, producer and director...
Playwright’s Horizons Stands Up and For Women Playwrights
Playwright’s Horizons, one of the most important institutions that supports new plays and musicals, has announced it’s upcoming season and it is full of women. Five of the six plays...
Cross Post: Women Film Festivals: Do We Need Them?
Recently Ottawa International Animation Festival director and programmer Chris Robinson asked in a private Facebook message to 10 female animators what they felt about gender specific festivals....
Lois Smith and Frances Sternhagen to Receive Obie Lifetime Achievement Award
Lois Smith and Frances Sternhagen are set to share this year’s Obie Lifetime Achievement Award. While it’s an award both certainly deserve, they should each have their own. Smith made...
Jane Nebel Henson – Major Influence on The Muppets – Has Died
Jane Nebel Henson, ex-wife of Jim Henson, passed away after a long struggle with cancer. She was 78. Nebel Henson was described as an “integral creative and business partner” in the...
New Trailer: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones – Written by I. Marlene King and Jessica Postigo
Based on the YA series by Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones follows Clary Fray (Lilly Collins), your typical teenage girl until she finds out she’s not so typical. After...
If She Can See It, She Can Be It – Panel Discussion in NYC on April 11
The NY International Children’s Film Festival PRESENTS IF SHE CAN SEE IT, SHE CAN BE IT! FILM SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION SPONSORED BY THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS &...
Danny Boyle Talks About the Need for Better Female Characters
Recently, Jessica Chastain talked about how she feels that roles for women have taken a step back, and it looks as if Oscar winning director Danny Boyle agrees with her. Boyle, known for his films...
Watch This: Gwyneth Paltrow Saving Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 3
In a new TV spot for the upcoming Iron Man 3, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) does the saving. The clip shows Potts in a full suit of armor swooping in to save her beau Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert...
Emma Watson to Receive MTV’s Trailblazer Award
Emma Watson is set to receive MTV’s second annual Trailblazer award which honors young actors who have created their own unique path in the industry. Last year’s recipient was Emma Stone....
New Trailer Watch: Midnight’s Children – Directed by Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, adapted from Salman Rushdie’s novel, follows two children Saleem and Shiva, who are born just at the moment where India regains its freedom from...
SXSW Review – The Other Shore
Diana Nyad is a warrior. There has never been a woman so aptly named after a Goddess. The Other Shore tells the story of Nyad’s attempts to accomplish the near impossible feat,...
Watch This: Jewel as June Carter Cash in Lifetime’s ‘Ring of Fire’
Singer Jewel will be starring as June Carter Cash in Lifetime’s television movie, Ring of Fire. Directed by the great Allison Anders (director of Gas, Food Lodging), the press materials...
Cross Post: Chastain, “Roles for Women Have Taken a Step Back”
It’s refreshing to read a quote from an actress working today willing to criticize the kinds of roles offered to women now in Hollywood. Sure, it’s easy to get attention if you put on a...
Trailer Watch: Venus and Serena – Directed by Maiken Baird and Michelle Major
Check out the trailer for Venus and Serena, directed by Maiken Baird and Michelle Major. The documentary gives us a look into the lives of bad-ass, iconic tennis powerhouses Venus and Serena Williams...
Thank you Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters may be leaving our television screens next year. The legendary television personality is reportedly retiring in 2014, and leaving her co-created show, The View after co-hosting it for...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: John Legend
John Legend is completely swoon-worthy. He’s an extremely talented and good looking musician. Oh and he’s an outspoken feminist. Legend is involved in the charity, Chime for Change,...
Anne Hathaway and Chloe Grace Moretz Sign onto Lynn Shelton’s Laggies
When Women and Hollywood interviewed Lynn Shelton earlier in the year at Sundance, she mentioned her next project, Laggies, written by Andrea Seigel. Shelton described it about a twentysomething...
Melissa McCarthy to be CinemaCon’s 2013 Female Star of the Year
The very funny Melissa McCarthy will be receiving CinemaCon’s 2013 Female Star of the Year award. Previous winners have included Jennifer Garner, Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, Anne...
Watch This: Amy Poehler Interviews Irma Kalish – Pioneer Comedy Writer
For her super smart web series for girls, Smart Girls at the Party, Amy Poehler interviews Irma Kalish, a pioneer female comedy writer, who wrote for iconic shows such as Good Times, All in the...
Weekly Update March 29: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Movies Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend The Host From Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight Saga) comes “The Host,” a love story set in the future, where earth is occupied by a species...
SXSW Interview with Sini Anderson, Tamra Davis and Kathleen Hanna of The Punk Singer
I can’t write about Sini Anderson’s great documentary The Punk Singer without mentioning that Kathleen Hanna has been one of my life-long heroes. When I was sixteen a friend gave me...
Hall of Shame – The Producers of Dr. Who
Building on the report that the US Writer’s Guild recently released about the lack of momentum in increading women writers on US based TV shows, there has been a bit of a brouhaha over the...
Fay Kanin – Former Academy President, Screenwriter Dies
Fay Kanin, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning screenwriter passed away at the age of 95 of natural causes. Kanin, alongside her husband Michael Kanin, were one of the most popular married...