Women and Hollywood

Cross Post: "Oz the Great and Powerful" Rekindles the Notion That Women Are Wicked

Features

Dorothy Gale--the girl who went to Oz--has been called the first true feminist hero in American children's literature. Indeed, she was condemned by many readers, including children's librarians, for daring to have opinions and act on them.

By Natalie Wilson
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March 20, 2013 1:00 PM
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Guest Post: Take This Waltz and Female-Centric Love Triangles

Features

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 universally acclaimed debut, Away With Her, and stars Michelle Williams as Margot, a married twentysomething copywriter who meets and falls for a man (Luke Kirby) while on vacation... who turns out to be her neighbor. Comedic actors Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman add familiar faces and levity to the cast by playing Margot's cookbook-writing husband, Lou, and Geraldine, Margot's sister-in-law.

By Inkoo Kang
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July 11, 2012 11:26 AM
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Trailer Watch: Take The Waltz - Co-written and Directed by Sarah Polley

Video

This is the sophomore effort from Sarah Polley after the fantabulous Away From Her.

By Melissa Silverstein
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February 20, 2012 10:01 AM
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Lynne Ramsay Scores BAFTA Directing Nomination

Awards

In a year when we will probably not see a female director nominated for any major awards here in the US, the Brits have been smart enough to recognize the Lynne Ramsay did do one of the best directing jobs of the year and nominated her for best director and We Need to Talk About Kevin for Best British Film.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 17, 2012 11:07 AM
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Meryl Streep's Golden Globe Winning Speech

Video

Meryl Streep won best actress in a drama for The Iron Lady. In her speech she acknowledged all her fellow nominees and the other terrific female performances from this year. And how about her shout out to Adepero Oduye.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 16, 2012 10:10 AM
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The Golden Globe Nominations: The Women

I like the Golden Globe show cause it's always goofy. People drink, say funny stuff and you get TV and film people in one place. People who are awards watchers don't take it too seriously because they have two different film categories -- comedy and drama -- which no other awards do. The also kiss a lot of celebrity butt in order to have a star ladened show rather than a serious awards show. So you must not take anything these people do too seriously.

But they do get coverage and they do get talked about so it matters that with 11 films nominated in the two categories there is not a single woman directed film nominated for best drama or best comedy/musical. The Help and Bridesmaids continued their good week and I think that we will have to settle for one (The Help) or hopefully both of these films representing the chicks at the Oscars. So it will be films about women that will represent women, not films by women. But weirdly, the Bridesmaids writers did not get nominated here, nor did any other female film writers (except for Angelina Jolie who got a best foreign language film nomination).

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 16, 2011 9:49 AM
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The Help and Bridesmaids Score Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Brigitte Lacombe

Yesterday, the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced. Both The Help and Bridesmaids scored best ensembles nominations (which is their top award) which could be an indicator of potential Oscar love because the actors (a percentage of the SAG members pick these nominees) are the largest voting branch in the Academy. The Help actually scored the most nominations with four including both Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain in the supporting category.

Maybe being a movie about women won't hurt The Help, and the Bridesmaids nod along with the rising Melissa McCarthy makes me think it could potentially sneak in with a best picture nod because both men and women really love this movie. (As they should.)

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 15, 2011 9:29 AM
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Where are the Women at the Indie Spirit Nominations?

I just got back from a meeting and broke open the list of indie spirit nominees for 2012 and I am utterly dispirited at the lack of female voices throughout the categories.

I am looking back at the list from last year and two female directed films -- Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right -- got multiple nominations.

This year not so much.

A variety of these lists that will be coming at us over the next months and they will be very male centric. If people were under the illusion that this was a good year for female voices, this list is an indicator of how much work needs to be done. This so makes me want to start the female film awards. Who is in?

By Melissa Silverstein
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November 29, 2011 4:41 PM
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My Week With Marilyn

The sad reality that I admitting to here is that I really don't know much about Marilyn Monroe. Here's what I knew before I saw the film. She died of a drug overdose realtively young. She sang happy birthday to JFK in the 60s and supposedly had an affair with him. She seemed really sad. She was a size 16 (in today's movie star world she would be deemed too fat.) And two of her husbands were playwright Arthur Miller and baseball player Joe DiMaggio - two very, very different men.

And she was a huge star. Watching the film you see she was one of the first woman in our culture who just was larger than life. Larger than herself. An icon. Huge. The film shows the toll it takes on the real person living life in the spotlight. It asks the question where does Marilyn the star end and where does Marilyn the woman begin? Are they the same?

By Melissa Silverstein
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November 28, 2011 12:45 PM
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The Hollywood Reporter's Actress Roundtable

Blogs

Here is a look at some of the women we will be talking about for the next several months.

By Melissa Silverstein
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November 10, 2011 9:47 AM
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