#Actress
The Big O: Between Ellen and Everyone’s Mom, Oscar Night Turned Into Ladies Night
For a year with no female talent represented in the director’s category and only three of the nine best-picture candidates featuring women in lead roles, the Oscar show was a regular femme fest....
Viola Davis to Star in Shonda Rhimes’ Next Show
The return of Scandal tomorrow night after a three-month hiatus isn’t the only good news to come out of Shondaland. Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis (The Help, Prisoners) has signed on to star...
Helen Mirren to Play Nazi-Stolen Art Recoverer in The Woman in Gold
Just last month, we called attention to the erasure of women that George Clooney commits in his historical romp The Monuments Men, which follows (pretty much only) the men who endeavored to recoup...
Helen Mirren Speaks Out Against Rise of Dead Women on TV
I’ve been catching up on Twin Peaks for the past few months, and it’s been fascinating to see how heavily David Lynch’s 1990–1991 series still influences today’s TV landscape. The show’s...
Meryl Streep to Join Carey Mulligan in Suffragette
Meryl Streep, who recently outed herself and her friend Emma Thompson as “rabid, man-hating feminist[s],” has signed on to play British feminist icon Emmeline Pankhurst in the Sarah...
The Big O: In Praise of the 10 Actress Nominees
It is all too easy at this late point in the Oscar season to only focus on the shifting standings in the 24 categories and to ignore the big picture of what this collection of contenders actually...
TV: Prime Suspect Prequel Headed to Bookstores and ITV
Writer Lynda LaPlante has announced she’s bringing back her biggest hit, Prime Suspect, as a prequel. The seven-season crime series made Helen Mirren a household name and a Hollywood movie star...
TV: Octavia Spencer, JoAnna Garcia Swisher to Headline New Shows
Angela Lansbury may have put the kibosh on the Murder, She Wrote reboot, but Octavia Spencer won’t be kept from TV. The Oscar-winning Fruitvale Station co-star has signed up for Fox’s hospital...
Ellen Page Comes Out, Will Play Julianne Moore’s Lesbian Partner in Freeheld
I don’t know what your weekend was like, but in my corner of the universe, there was only two things anyone wanted to talk about: the godawful weather and Ellen Page’s touching coming out at a...
Trailer Watch: Melissa McCarthy in Tammy Teaser
As the first film to boast Melissa McCarthy’s writing credits, Tammy already made our Most Anticipated Films of 2014 list back in January. We’re not entirely cool with the premise that Susan...
Frozen Wins Best Picture at Annie Awards
For the second time since the Annie Awards’ Best Animated Feature prize was established in 1992, a woman-directed film has received the top honor. The Annie Awards are the Oscars of the animation...
I Believe Dylan Farrow
There are a few fundamental beliefs that I hold, and one of them is that I believe women. We live in a world that does everything to protect the powerful, and when the powerless speak up, against...
The Monuments Men Erases Women from History
On Wednesday, the New York Times published a necessary correction to the upcoming movie The Monuments Men, a goofy historical caper about a team of actual art scholars and curators whose Sisyphean...
Sundance Women Directors: Meet Kate Barker-Froyland
Kate Barker-Froyland is the writer and director of Song One, her first feature film. Her short film “Match” screened at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New...
Elizabeth Banks to Direct Pitch Perfect 2
Two weeks ago, we applauded Elizabeth Banks, Lead Comedic Actress. Now we celebrate Elizabeth Banks, Feature Filmmaker. The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that Banks will make her...
The Big O: The Truth Behind Emma Thompson and Oscar Isaac’s Oscar Snubs? Lack of Tragedy
When this year’s Oscar nominations were announced, there were a few surprising omissions on the ballot, especially in the acting categories. You wouldthink, for instance, that the 6,000 or so...
TV: Amy Poehler Signs Three-Year NBC Deal and Hires Natasha Lyonne for Comedy Pilot
Amy Poehler is flexing her producer’s muscles. We announced earlier this year that the Parks and Rec star was producing Broad City, a Comedy Central vehicle for comediennes Ilana Glazer and Abbi...
Pic of the Day: Emma Thompson Continues Her Campaign Against Heels
It hasn’t been Emma Thompson’s year. Despite being feted by Meryl Streep early this awards season for her performance in Saving Mr. Banks, Thompson was snubbed for an Oscar nomination and has...
Trailer Watch: Walk of Shame
On TV’s 30 Rock, Elizabeth Banks was a revelation as Avery Jessup, a Megyn Kelly-like conservative news anchor. Now the movies are finally giving Banks a chance to prove her comedic chops after...
The Big O: And the Oscars’ Winning (and Losing) Female Nominees Are…
And so it begins. The 86th Academy Award nominations did the hustle big time for American Hustle, with 10 nominations. From our female perspective, it’s terrific that both Amy Adams, with her...
Interview: Callie Khouri on Female Likability and Nashville’s Upcoming Guest Stars
Nashville creator Callie Khouri first came into prominence as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Thelma and Louise. She is also the director of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Mad Money....
Why Amy Poehler and Tina Fey Should Host the Golden Globes Forever
I really like the Golden Globes. I know the Oscar pundits don’t take it seriously as a predictor of what’s to come for the Golden Derby, but the rest of us who don’t think that way could care...
TV: A Preview of Girls’ Third Season from TCA
Lena Dunham’s Girls, which returns to HBO for its third season on Sunday night, can be difficult to see as simply a television show. When it premiered in 2012, the series, which follows the lives...
Why Judd Apatow Directing Amy Schumer in Trainwreck is a Great Thing
It looks like we’ll be able to look forward to at least one mid-budget female-driven comedy every summer. 2011 had Bridesmaids; 2012, Pitch Perfect. After last year’s The Heat, we’ll have...
Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson’s Feminist Love Fest
Holy hell. Last night at the National Board of Review awards ceremony, Meryl Streep outed herself as Emma Thompson’s biggest fan by celebrating her for being “a rabid, man eating feminist, like...
Hunger Games: Catching Fire Will Be Top Grossing Movie of 2013, Frozen Surges to #4
All hail Katniss, Anna, and Elsa. The heroines of Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen, introduced to us all the way back in November, have started off the new year still kicking box-office...
The Big O: Looking at the Women of Oscars Past, Present, and Future
The Oscar derby often offers interesting, if disturbing, insights into how women are treated in the world of film. As the year draws to a close, let’s review what happened the last time Hollywood...
The Big O: Can a Woman Win an Oscar Without Falling in Love?
Ifthere’s a lesson to be learned from likely multiple-Oscar nominee Saving Mr. Banks — other than, grammatically speaking, the climatic Mary Poppins song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” should...
Golden Globe Noms Reflect the Status Quo of Hollywood Sexism
The 2014 Golden Globe Awards have us excited about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s return to hosting duties and… that’s about it. With no women directors (minus Frozen co-helmer Jennifer Lee) or...
THR Releases “2013 Women in Entertainment Power 100” List
The Hollywood Reporter released its annual “Women in Entertainment Power 100” ranking, which the publication described as a reflection of “a TV industry in flux, ongoing volatility at the film...
Awards Roundup: Europe, Boston, LA, NY Online, British Indies, and IDAs
The first major award weekend yielded honors for directors Susanne Bier (Love is All You Need), Haifaa al-Mansour (Wadjda), Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell), Jehane Noujaim (The Square). Results from...
Judy Blume and Lena Dunham on What It’s Like to be Pioneers in Sexual Frankness
Lena Dunham and Judy Blume interviewed each other for a book called Judy Blume and Lena Dunham in Conversation: Two Cultural Icons Discuss Writing, Feminism, Censorship, Sex, and a Sixth-Grade...
Sarah Polley, Wadjda director Haifaa al-Mansour Among National Board of Review’s Best-of-Year Picks
Directors Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell) and Haifaa al-Mansour (Wadjda) and actress Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color) were the only awardees among the National Board of Review’s...
Sarah Polley, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence Are NYFCC Picks
The New York Film Critics Circle released their best-of list yesterday, and director Sarah Polley was the sole female awardee in a non-acting category. Polley’s meta-memoir Stories We Tell was the...
Gotham Shows Brie Larson Some Love for ‘Short Term 12’
Brie Larson won the IFP Gotham Awards’ Best Actress Prize for her luminous performance in the social-work drama Short Term 12, beating out seeming front-runner Cate Blanchett as a modern-day...
Women and Hollywood December 2013 Film Preview
With the exception of big showcases for Oscar favorites like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), December looks to be an anemic...
Teen Heroines Kick Box-Office Ass During Holiday Weekend
Move along, Black Friday. Thanksgiving weekend belonged to Katniss Everdeen and Frozen’s Anna, who helped propel female heroines to the top of the box office. Not only did The Hunger Games:...
Emma Thompson Calls Out Hollywood Sexism in Ten Different Ways at THR Actress Roundtable
One of the great things about this awards season is he re-emergence of Emma Thompson. We have got to say that she has been missed. We need to see her more because she is a rare, unfiltered, delight....
Hunger Games Producer Nina Jacobson on Creating a Female-Centric Blockbuster
This weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire became the highest-grossing November release ever with a box-office take of $161 million — $30 million over its production budget. Though star...
TV Trailer Watch: Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ Season 3: “I’m Someone Who Can’t Keep My Mouth Shut”
“Everything that’s been so terrible and so painful in the last few months is leading me to this point. It’s amazing to realize I hold the keys to the prison that is my mind,” says Hannah...
Latest Forbes Piece: A Female Revolution at the Box Office
When you spend your time writing about women and Hollywood there are many, many days when things seem bleak and downright depressing. But not this week. This week I am filled with hope, and that...
Latest Forbes Post: Year End Roundtables and Best of Lists Highlight the Lack of Gender Diversity in Films
Here’s my latest Forbes Post: The awards season is another time of the year where you can literally feel the gender disparity of behind the scenes personnel in the film business. While the summer...
The Big O: When it Comes to Oscar Dames, Dench Rules
According toRodgers and Hammerstein, there is nothing like a dame. According toOscar, few dames are grander than Judi Dench. Of the 14 Academy Award-nominated actresses who have held the lofty...
Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling Talk Feminism, Role Models, and Being the Boss
Yesterday, RollingStone.com published a revealing excerpt from Rookie: Yearbook Two, the second book from Tavi Gevinson’s teen site, in which Lena Dunham (HBO’s Girls) interviewed Mindy Kaling...
Nancy Meyers and Reese Witherspoon to Team Up for Workplace Comedy
Actress Reese Witherspoon is in talks to star in writer-director Nancy Meyers’ next project, a workplace comedy currently titled The Intern. (The name will probably be changed so as to avoid...
The Big O: Natalie Portman Swings the Hammer When it Comes to Her Post-Oscar Career
NataliePortman is in the midst of a very important performance, one that could decideher future in the movie industry. And, no, it isn’t her return to the bigscreen after a two-year break as Jane...
Two Woman Directors Eligible for Next Year’s Animation Oscar
Among the 19 animated features submitted for the Oscar consideration yesterday, two were directed or co-directed by women. Both Nancy Savard, who helmed the Canadian production The Legend of...
Final Trailer for Hunger Games Catching Fire
The tracking for this film is huge. Predictions have it opening at $150 million. The first film in the series opened in March and grossed $152 million on its opening weekend. It is the largest...
The Big O: Oscar Could be Swayed by Leto’s Feminine Mystique
Ifsomeone said a year ago that Jared Leto is expected to be a likely Oscarnominee for his next film, most people who recognize his name would have saidone of three things: Youmean that cute guy...
Octavia Spencer to Murder She Wrote Reboot, Melissa McCarthy to Produce Sitcom and Other TV News
In the most exciting TV news of the week, NBC has given a put pilot commitment to a Murder She Wrote reboot starring Oscar winner, Octavia Spencer. Alexandra Cunningham will write and executive...
Pathe Picks Up Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette
We recently reported about Sarah Gavron’s latest, Suffragette, previously titled The Fury, when Carey Mulligan was in early talks to star. The film has since been retitled, Mulligan is signed,...