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Summer of the Actionless Female

Christopher Campbell
By Christopher Campbell posted 1 year ago
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Discussion of this summer’s heroine lack is in full throttle. Last friday, New York’s Vulture blog asked, “Where are the Roles for Superwomen?; Stu at Defamer jumped off from there, ultimately suggesting an X-Men spin-off for Ellen Page; John at The Movie Blog listed reasons “Why Most Female Lead Action Films Don’t Succeed” (shocker: men can’t identify with or believe in strong — and strong — female characters). Now, adding to the conversation in the least noble way possible, USA Weekend presents the appropriately titled “Girls Want to Have Fun, Too”, a cover story (with the least flattering photos I’ve ever seen) from its summer movie preview that spotlights Gwyneth Paltrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Liv Tyler as the “leading ladies” of the season’s three big comic book adaptations.

Of course, each of these three actresses are only secondary figures to their superhero counterparts (in Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk, respectively). But that’s not the worst of it: the women are asked what kind of super powers they would like to have in real life (how about in movie life, as in what superheroine they’d like to play?), and when questioned on the subject of women’s roles in superhero movies, each suggests that we’ve seen great progress:

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Women at Warners: Finke Responds to Robinov’s Response

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 2 years ago
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golf.pngNikki Finke has issued a response to Jeff Robinov’s response to her claim that three producers told her that Robinov is no longer putting films starring women into production. After meticulously detailing a couple of days worth of phone tag between her and Robinov, Finke writes:

Sources inside Warner’s tell me that, 1) Robinov doesn’t believe there’s an actress who can carry a movie worldwide since Julia Roberts, 2) Robinov has now gone so far as admitting to his studio colleagues that the decree I reported was made when he was “in the room”, 2) Robinov is acknowledging that the studio is reassessing the strategy of making action pictures starring women, 3) Robinov was inundated with calls on Monday and Tuesday from media and Hollywood types asking him about my posting, 4) Robinov has three pics currently in production and six in pre-production and not one stars a women as the main lead of the film, and 5) he’s nixed Wonder Woman as a stand-alone film, downgrading her to just one of four superhero characters in the proposed Justice League. Again, I stand by my story.

So, in other words, more of the same. Much more interesting, I think, is an excerpt from Lisa Chase’s interview with Finke in the latest issue of Elle, in which Finke explains why women in Hollywood “can’t get ahead.” More after the jump.

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Die Hard Director Goes To Prison: Trade Roughage, 09/25/07

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 2 years ago
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  • jessicabielbra.pngJohn McTiernan, director of Die Hard and Predator, is going to prison for lying to the FBI about employing eavesdropping detective Anthony Pellicano. A judge sentenced the filmmaker to four months in federal prison yesterday, despite his lawyer’s claims that he’s too “depressed” for lockup. “He (McTiernan) will certainly not be the only depressed man in custody,” U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer said yesterday. “He has shown no remorse, just excuses.”
  • Warner Brothers has applied for permits to shoot portions of Batman sequel The Dark Knight in Hong Kong. According to Variety, “the caped crusader will leave Gotham for the first time in the history of the film franchise to fight evil in another city — or cities — although it’s unclear whether Hong Kong will be called Hong Kong or a fictional metropolis.”
  • Jessica Biel may be the next Wonder Woman. The Seventh Heaven veteran is allegedly about to be the first actor cast in George Miller’s Justice League movie.