News
Happy Weekend: Rebel Wilson and Ellen Rap Salt-N-Pepa
Rebel Wilson is one of our favorite funny women. Pairing her up with Ellen to rap Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop,” (a classic song) will make your weekend. Go see Rebel sing in Pitch Perfect which is...
The Ugly Intricacies of Desire in Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights
Tackling a beloved and classic piece of literature to interpret into film is not an easy task and one that director Andrea Arnold typically doesn’t like to do. But after the idea to direct an...
Lena Dunham at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit and New Book Proposal
Lena Dunham is on a roll that looks like it cannot be stopped. Despite getting shut out of the Emmys, Dunham has been busy with season 2 of Girls (airing in January), publishing essays in The New...
The Best Quotes from Tina Fey’s Entertainment Weekly Interview
I believe that we have all come to a group consensus that Tina Fey is the best. As we reported last week, NBC feels the same about Fey. And so does Entertainment Weekly! In the current issue, Fey...
Trailer Watch: Stoker — Starring Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska
Stoker follows India (Mia Wasikowska) after her father’s death when her mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) moves in with her and her emotionally unstable mother (Nicole Kidman). India begins...
Meryl Streep in Talks for Into the Woods; Mommy and Me with Tina Fey No Longer Option
Meryl Streep is in talks of joining Rob Marshall’s adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Into the Woods is a musical that takes different aspects and characters of classic fairy tales...
Fill the Void Written and Directed by Rama Burshtein Gets Picked Up by Sony Pictures Classics
The team at Sony PIctures Classics has been very busy since Toronto and they added another women directed film Fill the Void written and directed by Rama Burshtein to their list of acquisitions. The...
PBS To Air 6 Women Focused Documentaries for Women and Girls Lead Campaign
The second part of Half the Sky aired last night on PBS — which marked the start of the Women and Girls Lead Campaign. This campaign focuses on programming that brings attention to the issues...
Guest Post: We Came! We Saw! We Threw Bananas! WE WERE THEATRE!
Since 2001 Guerrilla Girls On Tour! have staged an annual protest around the time of the Tony Awards to highlight sexism in theatre. We chose the Tony Awards because we wanted people to think about...
First Look: The Guilt Trip — Directed by Anne Fletcher
Barbra Streisand co-stars in Anne Fletcher’s The Guilt Trip as the mother of Andy (Seth Rogen) who agrees to go on a cross-country road trip with her son. Let’s hope that the film is not one...
Kathryn Bigelow’s Movie Gets New Poster
I have to tell you all up front that you will probably get sick of me talking about this film but you need to be prepared because she is probably going to be the only woman in the Oscar conversation...
Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect and Body Acceptance
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rebel Wilson discusses the difficulty she had in getting cast for roles when she was starting out in Hollywood. Despite her talent, Wilson wasn’t...
Trailer Watch: Wadjda — Directed and Written by Haifaa Al-Mansour
As we previously reported, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda (the first woman from Saudi Arabia to direct a feature) was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Wadjda follows a 10 year old girl, who...
Must Watch — Half the Sky — Turning Oppression Into Opportunity
Forty plus years into the modern women’s movement there are still undeniable atrocities happening to girls and women throughout the world. For centuries these atrocities have gone on as part of...
Trailer Watch: Winnie — Starring Jennifer Hudson
Winnie focuses on Nelson Mandela’s (Terrence Howard) second wife Winnie Mandela (Jennifer Hudson) as she goes through her husband’s imprisonment, her own solitary confinement and continuing...
Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, America Ferrera and Gabrielle Union Join The Respect Challenge
Some of our favorite actresses have joined The Respect Challenge, a campaign created by the non-profit Futures Without Violence. The campaign is designed to celebrate everyday heroes — someone...
Men Directed 85% of TV Shows Last Season
Here’s a sucky statistic brought to you by the Director’s Guild of America: men directed 85% of all TV episodes last season. These stats include all network and cable scripted TV...
26 of 84 Films in the Hamptons International Film Festival Are Directed by Women
Last week the 20th edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival announced their line-up. The festival will run from October 4–8. With a slate of 84 films announced thus far, 26 are directed...
TV Pilot News: Malin Akerman to be ‘Trophy Wife’; Ilene Chaiken to CBS
Malin Akerman will be starring in Trophy Wife written and executive produced by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins. As Deadline had reported, Trophy Wife received a cast-contingent pilot order earlier...
Trailer Watch: Identity Thief — Starring Melissa McCarthy
Diana (the hilarious and amazing Melissa McCarthy) steals the identity of Sandy (Jason Bateman) and uses his money to live the good life in Miami. A week before his life (and credit) falls apart,...
Trailer Watch: Midnight’s Children — Directed by Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta’s latest film is an adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s beloved novel Midnight’s Children. Two children are born at midnight at the exact moment India regains their independence from...
Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal Court Controversy With Won’t Back Down
When was the last time there was a movie that focused on two women (or more) both over 30 that opened on 2,500 screens? I count three in the last two years. Earlier this year there was Joyful Noise...
Dame Helen Mirren to Receive European Achievement in World Cinema 2012
The European Film Academy is awarding Dame Helen Mirren with their prestigious Achievement in World Cinema 2012 award. It’s no surprise that Mirren would be honored, with her impressive body of...
Tina Fey Covers EW and Signs a Four Year Deal with Universal TV
As the sun sets on her series 30 Rock starting next week with a slew of special guests including Amy Sedaris and Catherine O’Hara, Tina Fey takes a look back at the show and her movie career in an...
Talking to Penny Marshall
A new memoir by actress and director Penny Marshall hit bookstore last week. Marshall was a big star in the 70s and 80s appearing on multiple TV shows and hanging out with the rest of Hollywood TV...
TIFF: Interview with Cate Shortland — Director and Co-Writer of Lore
Lore is Cate Shortland’s second film after the exciting Somersault. It is a bold look at a young girl who lived her whole life in the belly of the Nazi beast and had no perspective on anything...
Women Do Rule the Documentary World
Last week was Independent Film Week here in NYC. There are a wide variety of events, panels and of course parties. I was able to attend the Chicken and Egg Pictures event (which was beyond packed)...
The Male Dominated Emmy Awards
Last week we posted a piece about the research that showed that women created 26% of the TV shows during the 2011–2012 season. But, based on the lack of women visible onstage at last night’s...
TIFF: Interview with Shola Lynch — Director of Free Angela & All Political Prisoners
On the day of the premiere of her documentary at the Toronto Film Festival, director Shola Lynch answered some questions about the film. Here is a look at the importance of the film — Black...
Interview with Lisa Immordino Vreeland — Director of Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel
Lisa Immordino Vreeland loved Diana Vreeland before she married her grandson. Even though they never met she paints a glorious portrait of a unique woman who was a driving force in the fashion and...
Guest Post: 2012–2013 Fall TV Created by Women
Fall TV season has arrived. As we excitedly dive into a fresh season, what is the state of female participation in creative content? I gathered a list of new shows and looked at their creative...
Trailer Watch: Beautiful Creatures — Starring Alice Englert and Viola Davis
Beautiful Creatures, based on the bestselling YA novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, follows Lena Duchannes (Ginger and Rosa’s Alice Englert), a mysterious girl with supernatural...
Early Look at Finale of ‘Georgia’ Written and Directed by Marta Kauffman
Have you been following the great online videos being posted on the new WIGS You tube channel? If not, you have been missing out. Women and Hollywood is happy to preview the finale of...
Trailer Watch: The Patience Stone
The Patience Stone was the movie in Toronto that two separate women told me I needed to see. And boy was it worth it. It is basically a monologue performed brilliantly by Iranian actress Golshifteh...
Interview with Delphine and Muriel Coulin — Co-Directors/Writers of 17 Girls
17 Girls, directed and written by sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, was inspired by the Massachusetts story about a group of teenage girls who all make a pact to get pregnant and raise their...
Interview with Delphine and Muriel Coulin – Co-Directors/Writers of 17 Girls
17 Girls, directed and written by sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, was inspired by the Massachusetts story about a group of teenage girls who all make a pact to get pregnant and raise their...
TIFF: Interview with Susanne Bier — Director of Love Is All You Need
At the Toronto Film Festival you see a lot of heavy movies really early in the morning. Love is All You Need was a most welcome respite from the intensity that was around at the festival. Academy...
Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg Direct Knuckleball
Who says women can’t direct sports movies? Stern and Sundberg who directed the amazing documentary on Joan Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work have set their sights now on the world of baseball...
Link Round Up: Multiple New Women-Created, Focused TV Projects in Development
Over the past couple days multiple networks (and Netflix) have been reporting about a slew of women-created and women-focused TV projects that are currently in development. As we reported today,...
More Women-Directed Films Nab Deals Out of TIFF
While the whirlwind of the Toronto International Film Festival is now behind us, the deals from TIFF are continuing. Over the weekend, many women-created, women-focused films were picked up by major...
Women Created 26 Percent of the Television Shows in the 2011–2012 Season
As we get ready to launch the new television season the statistics are out for how women fared last season behind the scenes in the TV business. According to the Center for Study of Women in...
TIFF: Interview with Deepa Mehta — Director of Midnight’s Children
Midnight’s Children is literally an epic movie. It tells about the birth and development of India through the eyes of children born the moment the country declared its independence. Deepa Mehta...
TIFF Review: The Stories We Tell — Sarah Polley’s Effective New Documentary
Toronto loves Sarah Polley. The display of that love was evident last week at the premiere of her first documentary Stories We Tell which held its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film...
What We’re Watching: Switched at Birth
The second season of ABC Family’s Switched at Birth returned recently and this is my pleading with you to watch it. Created by Lizzy Weiss and with a majority female writing staff, Switched at...
James Cameron on Women and Action Roles in Films
The Guardian headed over to Ireland to meet with James Cameron at the new Titanic Belfast museum and among the things he discussed was how Hollywood gets its action women wrong. We know that...
Link Roundup: TIFF Edition
Here are some stories out of TIFF that we didn’t get the chance to report on or things we liked from there. We are going to have a lot more content from Toronto over the the next couple weeks...
Patricia Riggen Directing Chilean Miners Film, The 33
It was announced that Patricia Riggen will be directing The 33, the story of the 33 Chilean Miners who were trapped in the San Jose Mine. The film will cover the events leading up to the collapse of...
DVD and On Demand Round Up- September 13
This week there is an overwhelming amount of women-centric and created films released on DVD and On Demand. Here’s a round-up of your options to check out over the weekend. DVD Releases: Lola...
Renee Zellweger to Make Directorial and Stage Debuts
Renée Zellweger is going to be one busy lady. Zellweger has just signed on to make her feature directorial debut with 4 ½ Minutes. The film, which is loosely based on the experiences of stand-up...
Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil’s Being Mary Jane Will Open Urbanworld Film Festival and Air on BET
Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil’s, Being Mary Jane, is opening the 16th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Being Mary Jane, written by Brock Akil, stars Gabrielle...
TIFF: Interview with Sally Potter — Writer and Director of Ginger and Rosa
After the dust settles, Ginger and Rosa is going to turn out to be one of my the highlights of the festival. Sally Potter, the brilliant director of Orlando has written and directed a truly...