News
Toronto 2012: Women Centric Galas and Special Presentations
Yesterday we listed the women directed galas and special presentations. Here are the women centric films that will premiere in Toronto. GALAS Dangerous Liaisons Hur Jin-ho, China North...
Toronto Trailer Watch: Lore — Directed by Cate Shortland
Australian Director Cate Shortland’s first film Somersault was great and this film looks to be even better. This is one at the top of my list to see in Toronto. Music Box has the US rights but no...
Political Animals Preview: The Woman Problem
This week’s episode is entitled “The Women Problem.” Vanessa Redgrave stars as a gay Supreme Court judge who is a mentor to Elaine Barrish. Have you been watching? Are you...
First Toronto 2012 Lineup News — Women Directors
Unlike the folks at Cannes, Toronto seems to understand that there are many great women directors, making films that can play at the highest level and this year is no different. The first wave of...
Remembering Sally Ride
So sad to hear about the loss of Sally Ride. She made many young girls believe that they too could go to space. Here’s some of the shit she had to go through when she first went to space. This is...
Women Directors Make Up Half of the 27th International Film Critics Week at the Venice Film Festival
The 69th Annual Venice International Film Festival announced the lineup for the 27th International Film Critics Week (SIC), the festival’s independent section. In this year’s selection of films,...
Trailer Watch: Detropia — Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
This doc opens September 7. More info here. Detroit’s story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century — the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim...
Viral Video: US Olympic Women Soccer Players Party in the USA
Olympic fever is here. Getting excited for the festivities starting this weekend. Here’s the US Women’s Soccer team showing us they have a serious sense of humor. Go team!
Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist to Open The Venice Film Festival
Mira Nair’s new film The Reluctant Fundamentalist will open the 69th Venice Film Festival on August 29th. It will screen out of competition. Festival director Alberto Barbera said this about...
Two Women Written Shows Bound for Broadway This Fall
Katie Holmes’ first professional engagement in her post Tom Cruise life will be on the Broadway stage in Theresa Rebeck’s latest play Dead Accounts. The play premiered in January in Cincinnati...
Trailer Watch: Bachelorette — Written and Directed by Leslye Headland
This is based on the play by Leslye Headland and premiered at Sundance in January. The more I see information about this movie, the more I want to see it. I am also excited to see more of Rebel...
Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist to Open The Venice Film Festival
Mira Nair's new film The Reluctant Fundamentalist will open the 69th Venice Film Festival on August 29th. It will screen out of competition. Festival director Alberto Barbera said...
13 Women Included in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film
Yesterday, Filmmaker Magazine released its “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” showcasing new and emerging talent in independent film. Within the 25 selections, 37 individuals are...
Interview with Lauren Greenfield, Director of Queen of Versailles
In some ways this movie’s subtitle is revenge of the 99%. The film gives you a behind the scenes look of an absurdly wealthy couple — David and Jackie Siegel — who are building the...
Cross Post: Women Attend Comic-Con But Don’t Run the Show
This year, 40 percent of the attendees at the just completed annual Comic-Con were women. If only that percentage was reflected in the event’s programming. Instead, the majority of programming...
Approaching Peak Vagina: Lena Dunham and Amy Poehler Score Rare Female Double Emmy Writing Nominations
The Emmy nominations were released yesterday. There is a lot of good news to recognize most especially the fact that two women — Lean Dunham and Amy Poehler — were nominated for their...
A Sad Day for the Movie World
I was mortified to wake up this morning to the news that a young man in his 20s wearing a bullet proof vest and a gas mask made his way into a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and shot 12...
Marlene King Developing Now and Then for ABC Family
Pretty Little Liars show runner and creator, Marlene King, is in the early stages of developing the film Now and Then into a television project for ABC Family. Written by King and directed by Lesli...
Sofia Vergara Named Forbes Highest Paid Television Actress
Sofia Vergara is the top earning actress on television. Forbes estimated between May 2011-May 2012, the Modern Family star made $19 million, an amount stemming from her Modern Family salary,...
TV Fall Preview Trailer: The Mindy Project
Created by Mindy Kaling. I am so watching this show. Will be on Fox this fall. Fall TV Pilot Preview — The Mindy Project (Hollywood Reporter)
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...