BY Women and Hollywood
Cross Post: A Feminist Defense of Louis CK
This week, comedian Louis CK (of Louie fame) appeared on The Daily Show. I was actually watching The Daily Show for a change, and was excited to see Louis CK interviewed — he’s always funny...
Lisa Cholodenko And Kathleen Kennedy Elected to Academy’s Board of Governors
Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected new members to the board of governors. There are two new members, director Lisa Cholodenko and producer Kathleen Kennedy. Kathleen...
The Trolls Are Out of Control
The Dark Knight Rises opens Friday. Reviewers have seen the film, and the reviews are starting to come in. It makes sense to people who process information intellectually that not everyone who sees...
Hollywood Feminists of the Day: Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow Smith
After the KONY 2012 video went viral this past spring and its subsequent fallout, much of the celebrity community has quieted down about human trafficking and modern slavery. But the video inspired,...
Great Piece at the Women’s Media Center: If Women Ran Hollywood
Here’s a piece from Dr. Martha Lauzen — the guru of Hollywood stats — that appeared on the Women’s Media Center site. She pulls a gender reverse on how Hollywood is run. Here are...
Will Catwoman Be a Breakout Feminist Character?
As The Dark Knight Rises hits fever peak I’ve been wondering about Anne Hathaway’s character of Catwoman. Will she be like Michelle Pfeiffer’s in Batman Returns who as I recall was a bit...
Cross-Post: Dear Aaron Sorkin: Someone Please Fix You
I have now been caught in the ninth circle of Hell. When the bad reviews came out about The Newsroom I couldn’t believe how harsh the critics, especially The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, had...
Scarlett Johansson To Be Highest Paid Actress for The Avengers 2
Scarlett Johansson is set to be the highest paid actress in Hollywood. After Johansson’s popular turn as Black Widow in The Avengers, a role she reprised from Iron Man 2, producers for The...
Guest Post: Women, Science and Film
Women and Hollywood readers are well aware of the appallingly low number of female directors working in Hollywood. Well, this disparity exists in the sciences and other industries as well....
Inspirational Video of the Day: Pat Summitt Receiving the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPYs
What an amazing story. P.S. — the narrator is Reese Witherspoon
The 40 Women Who Changed Journalism
And the world over the last forty years. From the good folks at the Columbia Journalism Review. We owe our thanks to these trialblazers. Are there others you would have on this list? Jill...
Best Seller Gone Girl to be Produced by Reese Witherspoon
Gillian Flynn’s wildly popular novel, Gone Girl, which has topped the New York Times Bestseller List for the last two weeks, has been acquired by 20th Century Fox in a seven figure deal. The...
Remembering Nora Ephron: Talking About Women Directors
This is from an interview circa 1988 that Hollywood Reporter journalist Tim Appelo did for Savvy Magazine about the troubles Nora Ephron had in trying to get the film Cookie made. Fox put Susan...
Cartoon of the Day: A Couple Leaves The Movie Theatre…
To see more cartoons by the great Liza Donnelly check out her Forbes site.
Interview with Nancy Savoca — Co-writer and Director of Union Square
Women and Hollywood: This movie was born out of frustration of not being able to get financing for films, and then you made a movie that needed very little financing. Talk a little about the...
Locarno Film Festival Lineup: 2 Women Directed Films In Competition
On Wednesday, the Locarno Film Festival announced its lineup for in-competition films and the Piazza Grande program. Held from August 1–11, Locarno is one of the world’s oldest film festivals,...
15 of 27 Sundance Institute Grants Go To Women
The Sundance Institute recently announced their 27 recipients for development, production and audience engagement grants. Of the 27 grant recipients, 15 of the projects are led by women or include...
Union Square — directed by Nancy Savoca, written by Nancy Savoca and Mary Tobler
A set of sisters in crisis are on display in Nancy Savoca’s long awaited return — Union Square. Mira Sorvino plays Lucy, a hot mess of a woman who seems bizarrely out of control for an...
Lionsgate Announces Release Dates For Next Three Hunger Games Films
Lionsgate announced on Tuesday that they will be releasing the next three Hunger Games films the weekend before Thanksgiving — claiming the Twilight slot — from November 2013...
Political Animals — A Reminder of What Could Have Been
Watching Political Animals with the amazing Sigourney Weaver in her TV series debut you can’t help but think back to the brutal and historic 2008 presidential election. No matter what the creators...
Trailer Watch: The Loneliest Planet — Directed by Julia Loktev
The film opens in the US on October 26.
The Social Network Team to Produce Fifty Shades of Grey
Universal Pictures and Focus Features have picked The Social Network producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti to shepherd E.L. James’ huge bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey to the...
Guest Post: Take This Waltz and Female-Centric Love Triangles
On the heels of Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister comes another indie dramedy about a love triangle, writer-director Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz. Waltz is Polley’s follow-up to her...
Charlotte Rampling to Receive Honor at Locarno Film Festival
Legendary actress Charlotte Rampling will receive the festival’s excellence award at the opening night of this year’s festival on August 1st. Here’s what festival Artistic Director Olivier...
Trailer Watch: Hello I Must Be Going Written by Sarah Koskoff
Looks like this will be Melanie Lynskey’s breakout role. She is always sooo good and now she gets a starring vehicle. Film opens September 7.
Oliver Stone Talks Strong Women Characters
In a recent interview with the Associated Press to promote his new film Savages, Oliver Stone was asked to pick his favorite 5 films featuring strong women. For a man, who primarily focuses on hyper...
Welcome to Kerensa Cadenas
I just wanted to throw out the big welcome mat to Kerensa Cadenas, the new intern at Women and Hollywood. Kerensa has hit the ground running and you will see a post from her today. She’s a pop...
Quote of the Day: If a Man Writes About a Family, It’s Like, Oh, He’s Really Writing About America. If a Woman Writes About a Family, It’s Just Assumed That She’s Writing About Herself.
So says Jennifer Weiner who is now on her book tour for her 10th book The Next Best Thing. All of Weiner’s previous nine novels have been incredibly popular and best sellers. She’s sold 11...
Cross Post: In Mainstream Films, Dead Moms Don’t Count…
I had originally planned to do a spoiler-filled discussion of the various things that vexed me about The Amazing Spider-Man, but frankly my heart just isn’t in it. The film is obviously a victim...
Trailer Watch: Sister — Directed by Ursula Meier
This film won the Silver Bear at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. The film opens in the US on October 5. More info including an interview with Meier from the LAFF from Thompson on Hollywood.
Quote of the Day: If a Man Writes About a Family, It’s Like, Oh, He’s Really Writing About America. If a Woman Writes About a Family, It’s Just Assumed That She’s Writing About Herself.
So says Jennifer Weiner who is now on her book tour for her 10th book The Next Best Thing. All of Weiner's previous nine novels have been incredibly popular and best sellers. ...
Guest Post: Pondering Nora Ephron, You’ve Got Mail: The Film That Made Me Love Film
“When I was a boy, I saw the first Star Wars in theaters and it changed my life,” our film professor told us. “I sat there in the dark theater and the sounds and images consumed me; it was the...
Trailer Watch: Compliance
Film opens August 17th.
Gone Fishing
See you next week
NBC Throws Ann Curry Under the Bus
In the days since Ann Curry departed as co-host of the Today show after a year in that position I have become more and more disgusted at her treatment in the press by the people who run NBC. Steve...
Julie Taymor Talks About Why She Took on The Lion King
Here she is talking to former Disney chief Michael Eisner at the Aspen Ideas Festival https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href
Trouble Brewing on the London Stage: Women Demanding More Roles
A groundswell is brewing in London over the lack of roles for women on the London stage. It started due to the fact that a bunch of plays recently produced at the Hampstead Theatre, the Globe, the...
TV Trailer Watch: Steel Magnolias
A full cast of African American women in this version of Steel Magnolias. Queen Latifah takes on the Sally Field lead role. Also stars Alfre Woodard, Jill Scott, Phylicia and Condola Rashad and...
Helen Mirren Calls for More Women Directors
Helen Mirren received the lifetime achievement award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this past weekend. She used the opportunity to call for more female directors in the...
Academy Names 176 New Members
In an attempt to diversify its membership, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 176 people to become members. There are just under 6,000 members of the full Academy. Keep in...
Cross-Post: Oscar Flashback — Nora Ephron
“It is true that you are wiser when you are older. That is true. The wisdom arrives at the same moment your mind is a blank. It’s a very ironic confluence of things. It’s kind of...
Media Alert: Op-ed in Washington Post
In case you haven’t seen my tweets and Facebook posts from the weekend, I had an op-ed piece in the Washington Post yesterday. Please check it out if you haven’t: Memo to Hollywood: Women go to...
Indiewire Alert
Hey folks. Indiewire was effected by the storm outage in Virginia this past weekend. Looks like things are back up to normal. Thanks for your patience.
Julia and Jennifer Cover New Magazines in Anticipated March Movies
Julia Roberts gets ready to hit the big screen in a big way as the evil Queen in Mirror, Mirror on March 30 and Jennifer Lawrence will take her bow and arrow to the masses as Katniss Everdeen in the...
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Beasts of the Southern Wild is the perfect example of how to make a movie in this new post recession world. Take a great script, make it for a price and then let the movie stand on its merits. And...
Interview with Amy Ziering — Producer of The Invisible War
The Invisible War continues its roll out this weekend. It should be on your must see list. Producer Amy Ziering who made this film with director Kirby Dick talked about the film with Women and...
What’s Up With Magic Mike?
Magic Mike opens tomorrow. I didn’t get an invite to a screening (maybe someone at WB thought I wouldn’t be interested but I am) so I can’t say anything about the content but I have to take...
The Princess Archetype in the Movies
What kind of “princess” is better off in the woods than at home? A princess who is more like the archetype of Artemis than of Aphrodite. In three recent films, we’ve seen a shift in the...
Sexism Watch: Another Movie List Leaves Off Women
So tired of reading these lists that don’t include any women. This time it is AMC’s film site which offers up a list of the 50 top directors of all time. There is not one single woman who could...
Personal Reflections on Nora Ephron
When I heard that Nora Ephron passed away I sent an email out to a bunch of people in the business asking them to send me their thoughts. Some knew her, most didn’t, but still loved her. Here...
Cross-Post: A Heroine’s Journey
The world has moved on but I’m still obsessing about why, for the second time in three years was there no films directed by a woman in the main competition at Cannes this year. I mean I know...