Features
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Keira Knightley (Again)
In the past few months, Keira Knightley has proven herself a thoughtful and engaged actress by using her press tours for Lynn Shelton’s Laggies and the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game to...
Guest Post: Preserving the Excitement of 1990s’ Independent Filmmaking
From 1991–2002, I wrote regularly about American independentand foreign films for Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine. I did interviews with filmmakers when their movies were releasedtheatrically and...
Weekly Update for November 7: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Actress (Docudrama) Brandy Burre had a recurring role on HBO’s The Wire when she gave up her career to start a family. When she decides to reclaim her life as an actor,...
‘The Mindy Project’ Finds Its Footing (By Occasionally Slipping)
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Eva Longoria
The ever-busy Eva Longoria used the stage at a Web Summit conference in Dublin yesterday to speak out against sexism in the media and tech industries. “There is definitely under-representation of...
The Big O: Can Hilary Swank stake a third claim on an Oscar?
You can have your SAGs and Golden Globes. But the ultimate acting prize in the movie biz has been and remains an Oscar for a lead performance. And if owning one is impressive, having two on your...
Guest Post: Finding the Perfect Animal Doc Subject As She’s Being “Arrested” on the Golden Gate Bridge
Ilike to film relationships, especially those between urban people and wildanimals. Pelicans have intrigued me since I was a child — they remind me offlying dinosaurs: so graceful in the air,...
November 2014 Film Preview
The month of November arrives under thesign of the Mockingjay, promising the keenly anticipated return of KatnissEverdeen to our screens in The HungerGames: Mockingjay — Part 1. The hype has...
Weekly Update for October 31: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Before I Go To Sleep A taut thriller based on the worldwide best-selling novel by S.J. Watson, Before I Go To Sleep is the story of a woman (Nicole Kidman) who wakes up...
‘Olive Kitteridge,’ Where Have You Been All My Life?
Guest Post: Advice for Execs, Agency Owners, and Filmmakers Dealing with Agents Who “Don’t Do Women Directors”
So this happened this week: And I was not at all surprised. But I want to offer somesolutions. Because really, what’s the point of complaining about anything ifyou’re not going to try to solve...
The Big O: Stand By Your Man — And Grab That Oscar Nomination
There are a number of films vying for awards attention this year that feature a certain female trope that’s grown increasingly popular since the dawn of the 21st century — one that often...
Weekly Update for October 24: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Laggies — Directed by Lynn Shelton; Written by Andrea Seigel “Suck it up, go with your gut.” That’s the advice Seattle late-twentysomething Megan (Keira...
Guest Post: Doc Director Edet Belzberg: “If You Find a Good Enough Story, It’s Impossible to Quit”
Young women often ask me what my greatest challengeis when making a film. It is hard to choose just one. I’m very instinctual in my work. I followstories and characters that hit me on a gut...
‘The Affair’ Rewrites the Femme Fatale Script
Mild spoilers below for the first two episodes of The Affair. Is Showtime’s The Affair more about her side than his? Co-creator Sarah Treem (with In Treatment colleague Hagai Levi; like the show,...
The Renee Zellweger Hullabaloo: Faces, Bodies, Feminism, and Hollywood
From my latest Forbes post about the the media’s reaction to Renee Zellweger’s new look at Elle Magazine‘s annual event honoring women in Hollywood and what it says about feminism and aging in...
The Big O: Will Keira Knightley’s Image Switch Convince Oscar She’s Worthy?
Take a look at Keira Knightley in her most recent perfume ad for Chanel from earlier this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZAZD3ylG6Y So gorgeous. So come hither-y. So female James Bond in...
Book Excerpt: The Psychology of Fear in Ida Lupino’s ‘The Hitch-Hiker’
Ida Lupino was the first mainstream American female filmmaker to make movies within the Hollywood system since thebeginning of film censorship in the 1930s. She is often cited by feministfilm...
LFF Review: Falling for ‘The Falling,’ Carol Morley’s Swoon-Worthy New Film
There were no less than twelve femalemembers of the cast and crew on stage to introduce The Falling at its world premiere at the London Film Festival, andit made for quite a sight. One of the most...
Learning from ‘Transparent’ and ‘OITNB’: There’s No Single Right Way to Do Diversity
We often talk about the need for diversity in Hollywood, but we rarely talk about how to do it. This leaves us with the clumsy approach in practice today, as writer Beejoli Shah discovered last...
Weekly Update for October 17: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Dear White People Sam White (Tessa Thompson) is a media studies major and student filmmaker determined to tell the world that things are far from where they should be. She...
Guest Post: ‘Last Hijack’ Goes Home with a Somali Pirate
In 2009 there was a swarm of news reports aboutpiracy off the coast of Africa. I got intrigued by the subject because of thethrilling hijack stories, but almost immediately focused on the Somali...
The Big O: Watch Out, Rosamund Pike — Oscar Doesn’t Fall for Amy’s Type
Spoilers for Gone Girl ahead. As the iconic silver-screen siren Mae West once said, “When I’m good, I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better. ” Since Hollywood’s earliest days,...
GamerGate: A War on Women Hiding Behind a Mask of “Ethics”
Being a woman in the gaming community is scary. For pointing out demeaning stereotypes of female characterswithin video games in a series of YouTube videos, feminist cultural critic AnitaSarkeesian...
Guest Post: You Don’t Need Anyone’s Permission to Make a Film But Your Own
Throughout my life as anactor, I have waited for people to give me permission. Waited for someone towrite something, someone to produce it, direct it, and hopefully, eventually, hire me. Until...
‘Cristela’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’ Vanquish Latina Stereotypes
Weekly Update for October 10: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women OpeningYou’re Not You — Co-Written by Shana Feste Hilary Swank plays a very put together successful woman who seems to have the perfect life. Yet that life quickly...
Guest Post: Finding a Rare POV on a Familiar Global Issue in ‘Waiting for August’
There have been many discussions in the film industry lately about the stubborn imbalance against women’s representation in cinema. Although we have gone a long way in theright direction, there is...
The Big O: Who’s More Overdue for a Win — Amy Adams or Julianne Moore?
Think back to last year’s Best Actress category and what a titanic lineup it was. Sandra Bullock for Gravity, Judi Dench for Philomena, Meryl Streep for August: Osage County, and Cate Blanchett,...
The Mother of all Bad Guys: ‘Homeland’ Returns
[This essay contains some spoilers for the last episode of Homeland Season 3 and the first two episodes of Season 4.] I’ve never watched a character go from complicated to villainous in the public...
Guest Post: Patience is a Virtue — and a Screenwriter’s Best Friend
It’s the spring of 2006. A book arrives by messenger, sent to me by my agent: Addicted by Zane, about “a woman’s sexual obsession.” Compelling title. Provocative cover. I open to a page at...
Weekly Update for October 3: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Gone Girl There hasn’t been a soignée blonde so flat-out hate-able since Gwyneth bitched about the burdens of motherhood. Welcome to the A-list, Gone Girl star Rosamund...
Guest Post: Only 26% of UK Film Crews Are Female — Which is Better than in the US
Earlier this year, I published a report into what percentage of crews on the top-grossing US films of the past 20 years are women. I found that, on average, women made up only 23% of a typical film...
Sunday Night Sex Talks: Turning Weekend Brunch with the Girls into a Monthly Storytelling Experience
Six months into my life in Los Angeles, I realized that I did nothave enough female friends. I was living with two wonderful gay men in West Hollywood, dating a smart and sweet television...
The Big O: If the Girl in ‘Gone Girl’ Provokes Debate, Oscar Noms Might Follow
Much of the suspense over Gone Girl, at least among the film journalists who were the first to witness David Fincher’s latest thriller at the New York Film Festival, has not revolved around any...
‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ Is the Highest-Grossing Women-Directed European Film in the Last Decade
From my latest Forbes post on why there are still major issues with women-centric content in Europe, where there are more women directors than in the US. Sometimes I think that Europe is leading the...
October 2014 Film Preview
October may be the time of ghosts and ghouls, not that you’d know it from the many diverse film offerings made by and starring women this month. But we definitely start with one ghoul: the one in...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: John Cusack
Hollywood has been kind to John Cusack, who steered his teen stardom into over six dozen acting credits. But the Say Anything icon, who appears in the industry-savaging Maps to the Stars (out early...
Weekly Update for September 26: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Bjork: Biophilia Live (doc) In 2011, Icelandic artist Björk released her eighth full-length studio album Biophilia, yet the Biophilia project has continued beyond an album...
Guest Post: What is Queer Film Culture’s Past and Present?
Queer film culture has a longhistory, which directly links queer cinema, with its specific aesthetics andpolitics, with the film festival as a community experience. The oldest LGBT/Q film festival...
‘Key & Peele’s’ Lady Problem (And the Perils of Loving Comedy While Female)
DGA Celebrates Women Directors, But What’s the Next Move?
The DGA hosted an event last Saturday night to celebrate the six women who created the Women’s Steering Committee 35 years ago. The 600-seat theatre was packed, with impassioned cheering and...
The Big O: Lead or Supporting Actress? Depends on Which Category is Likeliest to Hit Gold
As of today, Patricia Arquette stands as the favorite to win a supporting-actress Oscar for her 12-years-in-the-making portrait of devoted motherhood in Boyhood. That is, if you believe the expert...
Guest Post: Pioneering Women DIrectors, Then and Now
This past Saturday night, the Directors Guild of America celebratedthe accomplishments of the Pioneering Women Directors of the DGA. Susan Bay, NellCox, Joelle Dobrow, Dolores Ferraro, Victoria...
Seeking Our Story: Living Comedy with Elaine May’s ‘The Heartbreak Kid’
Elaine May traveled and told stories on the Yiddish theater circuit evenbefore she was born. In 1932, Jack and Ida Berlin welcomed baby Elaine inPhiladelphia, PA. After Jack’s untimely passing in...
The World Doesn’t See Lydia Diamond As a Female Playwright
The dearth of women in the theater world is well documented. While the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama this year were all women, not a single female playwright appeared on the Tony...
Geena Davis Institute New Research Shows That Girls and Women Are Missing Onscreen and Behind the Scenes Worldwide
From my latest Forbes post on the Geena Davis Institute’s new findings on the state of film worldwide: Girls and women are missing. There are 2.24 male characters for every female character. Only...
Weekly Update for September 19: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Tracks Based on a true story, Tracks is the first film (Wild will be the second) to come out this fall about a woman who takes a solitary journey for reflection and...
The Stagnation of Opportunities for Women on TV
From my latest Forbes post on how the progress for women writers and especially directors on the small screen has stalled: Women are stuck, and that is even more clearly illustrated in the data...
Guest Post: Why I Couldn’t Turn Down Starz’s Filmmaking Experiment ‘The Chair’
When I was offered the role of filmmaker/guinea pig on Chris Moore’s The Chair, a filmmaking experiment-turned-docu-series currently airing on Starz, it was a no brainer. The premise of The Chair...
‘Madam Secretary’ is Her Own Woman
When early news of the CBS series Madam Secretary came out, word was the title role was a fictionalized version of Hillary Clinton. (Meanwhile, NBC was said to be developing a Hillary-centric...