News
Sarah Jessica Parker Unplugged
Here’s SJP talking with Bravo’s Andy Cohen at an NBCU “Power of the Purse” breakfast. https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href Sarah Jessica Parker Talks Modern...
New International Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trailer
Looks like this is from Australia. It’s 2 minutes, longer than the teaser and shorter than the 4 minute version. There is less Lisbeth in this one.
Greetings from Bucharest
Hey folks. I’m here in Bucharest, Romania on the jury of the Romania International Film Festival. I am part of a jury of two competitions — one is films from the Black Sea Region, and one is...
Great Movie Title: The Kicking Queen
The NY Times has a great story about high school senior Brianna Amat from Pinckney Community High School in Michigan. This would be a great movie (probably a TV movie like on Lifetime) because it has...
Trailer Watch: The Lady
The Lady, a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the films I liked in Toronto even though it was too long. It’s going to get a US release and there is now a full trailer available. Even if you...
On the Road
I am heading to Bucharest, Romania to be on the jury of the Romania International Film Festival. Will check in with reports from there.
Guest Post: 10 Things I Have Learned Having Our Film CONNECTED In Theaters by Tiffany Shlain
1. CUTTING YOUR OWN TRAILERDon’t try this. Very dangerous. When you are running at full speed to complete your film on your way to your premiere, don’t fool yourself that you have the perspective...
A Snow White Who Kicks Ass
Here is a cool shot of Kristen Stewart from Snow White and the Huntsman. She looks like she is ready to kick some serious butt. New ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ pics: Kristen Stewart’s on a...
The Bridesmaids Effect
Can one successful film about women really change Hollywood’s mind about women? Could it be that Bridesmaids is really the movie to usher in a new era of change where the films that came before...
Interview with Agnieszka Holland — Director of In Darkness
I was able to interview the Academy Award winning director (Europa Europa) Agnieszka Holland in Toronto at the debut of her new film about the Holocaust, In Darkness. In Darkness is Poland’s entry...
Check out a Scene from Butter
Film will be released on October 21 https://medium.com/media/e0e72930738a8cfa77aa1f7d385ff052/href
Book Excerpt: Where Have All the Girl Bands Gone by Courtney E. Smith
In junior high I joined the school band because I wanted to play the drums. I had several years of piano lessons under my belt, which made me qualified to play instruments like the marimba or...
Trailer Watch: Joyful Noise
Film Will Open in January https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href
First Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Magazine Cover
Here’s David Fincher’s take on Lisbeth: There were discussions early on where people were like, She’s a superhero!’ And you go, ‘No, she’s not. Superheroes live in a world of good and...
Trailer Watch: One for the Money
Opens next January. She gave up Grey’s Anatomy for this.
Moneyball Producer Rachael Horovitz: A Lesson in Perseverance
In 2009, after years of work and days before production was scheduled to begin, the plug was pulled on Moneyball which at that time was supposed to be directed by Steven Soderbergh and to star Brad...
Patty Jenkins in Talk to Direct Thor 2
Even if this doesn’t come to pass, the fact that a woman, a director like Patty Jenkins who is best known for directing the shit out of Charlize Theron in Monster and for directing the pilot of The...
Women, War and Peace Debuts on PBS October 11
This week in NY was the annual opening of the UN General Assembly where heads of states make their speeches. Seeing all these dudes stand up at the podium while the world is a total mess one thing is...
New Poster for The Iron Lady Debuts
Things are getting interesting. Check out this poster that launched on Yahoo yesterday.
Good News: Many Films Directed by Women are Being Submitted for Academy Awards for Foreign Films
Something good is going on this year and I’ve been watching it for the last couple of weeks. The news is that many countries have submitted films directed by women for Academy Award consideration...
Hot Trailer: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Now this is more like what I was expecting. Mara actually looks and sounds quite good as Lisbeth. Thoughts?
Toronto Review: Hysteria
One of the most vivid memories I have of my college learning experience is a class I took on Women in American History. I remember reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Kate...
Where Do We Go Now? Wins Audience Award at Toronto Festival
Where Do We Go Now? written and directed by Nadine Labaki was the first film I saw in Toronto. As I wrote last week, it’s a strong symbol of women sick and tired of the men fighting over nothing...
Emmy Winners
Thought that Jane Lynch did great. She’s so funny. Other exciting moments: When Melissa McCarthy won best actress in a comedy — the woman has had a great year and it is so spectacular to...
New Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Poster?
I saw this on the site Female First. Could this be the new poster?
Trailer Watch: Breaking Dawn — Part 1
Sisters in Crisis: Your Sister’s Sister and Union Square
My time in Toronto was spent trying to seek out as many women directed films as I could. Two of my favorites from the past week are films about sisters. First up was Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s...
Laugh Out Loud Bridesmaids Blooper Reel
I loved seeing Jill Clayburgh h/t Jezebel
Interview with Nadine Labaki — Director of Where Do We Go Now?
Women and Hollywood: Congratulations. I read your film is going to represent Lebanon in the Oscars. How does that feel? Nadine Labaki: It feels great. I don’t know what will happen afterwards, but...
TIFF: Wuthering Heights Directed by Andrea Arnold and In Darkness Directed by Agnieszka Holland
There is no denying that Andrea Arnold is one of the most interesting and provocative directors working today. If you haven’t seen her first two films Red Road and Fish Tank you have missed two...
TIFF- Albert Nobbs
It was so great to see Glenn Close back on the big screen in Albert Nobbs. It’s been too long. She, like many other actresses of her generation, have found TV to be the place where she can play...
Images from Day 2
I’m going to try and take some pictures to help supplement my writings. Picture 1 The lines of folks waiting to get in at the Lightbox Picture 2 Nadine Labaki — writer and director of Where...
Toronto Film Festival — Day 1
It didn’t look like I was going to make it this morning because the day started with a monsoon and my flight out of NY was cancelled which of course I wasn’t notified about until I was at the...
A Film That Is Making a Difference — The Whistleblower
A couple of months ago I participated in a Q&A with Amy Kaufman one of the producers of The Whistleblower. I asked her if the people at the UN had seen the film and her reply was that she...
Heading to the Toronto Film Fest.
I’m on my way to the Toronto Film Festival. I will be filing posts from there over the next week. Following my tweets @melsil to keep up with all the fun at the festival.
Winners of the 2011 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award
This is the 17th year that the Rona Jaffe Foundation has given awards to women writers at the early stage of their career. “This unique program offers grants to writers of fiction, creative...
Trailer Watch: Janie Jones
Film opens October 28 in select cities, as well nationally on cable VOD, iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly and Vudu.
Four Years and Counting
This week is the 4th birthday of Women and Hollywood. It’s been an amazingly great year for me and for the blog. But none of my success would be possible without all the people who take the time to...
The Testosterone Driven Oscars
When I first read the Brett Ratner was going to produce the Oscars I let out a big sigh. Brett is not known for his gender sensitivity. He’s best known for the Rush Hour movies and I remember him...
Jennifer Yuh Nelson Becomes The Top Grossing Female Director
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the director of Kung Fu Panda 2 has become the highest grossing female director. These are worldwide numbers and they are big. The tally now is at $645 million. She wins the...
Sarah Jessica Parker Talks to Katie Couric on Nightline
Katie Couric made her ABC debut last night with an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker about her upcoming film, I Don’t Know How She Does It which will open on September...
Sexism Watch: NY Times Piece on Toronto Docs Includes No Women Directed Films
It’s so fascinating how a genre supposedly equally divided between males and females can be made to seem so completely dominated by men. For those people who don’t know much about documentaries...
Women Win at the Box Office This Summer
While the big budget films dominated the cash at the box office, two movies with measly budgets in comparison that nobody expected to do well, soared beyond expectations. Bridesmaids started the...
While I Was Away — Some Cool Story Links
Here are some stories that I found interesting over the last week: In Movies by Iranians, a Feminist Streak (The Atlantic) Telluride: Glenn Close Talks Gender Bender Albert Nobbs (Thompson on...
Trailer Watch: Margaret
This long on the shelf film will finally see the light of day on September 30
Gender Watch: Vanity Fair’s New Establishment List
Another list is published and the there are not too many women on the list. The highest woman on Vanity Fair’s 17th annual New Establishment list is Lady Gaga at 9. Here’s what qualifies to get...
Taking a Break
Will be back after Labor Day.
Interview with Circumstance Writer and Director Maryam Keshavarz
Here’s a piece I wrote for this summer’s Human Right Campaign Magazine Equality on the film. You can tell from the piece how impressive a film it is. It is a change making film because it tells...
Zoe Saldana Kicks Ass in Colombiana
Here’s the thing about Columbiana the new film that stars Zoe Saldana that opens tomorrow, the only thing that makes it different from any other action film is that the killer is a woman. That’s...
The World’s Most Powerful Women According to Forbes
Forbes loves its lists. Its most recent list is the world’s most powerful women and it is of course dominated by female politicians with Angela Merkel topping the list. But there are many Hollywood...
The Women of The Debt
Love this photo. The Debt tells the story behind the search for one of the Holocaust’s deadliest butchers and the secrets behind that search. Helen Mirren plays a Mossad agent and Jessica Chastain...