The Female Gaze

Eliza Dushku, Ass-Kicking Producer

Tammy Oler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:44:59 -0500

Eliza Dushku has been in a lot of headlines lately thanks to Joss
Whedon's new Fox show Dollhouse. But here's one headline that you may
have missed last week: Dushku is producing a new big screen biopic
about Robert Mapplethorpe.

Dushku is already a producer. Her Boston Diva Productions company is, in fact, co-producing Dollhouse. (For those of you who are unsure about the trajectory of that show, Dushku implores you via an A.V. Club interview posted Friday to just...hang...on... until episode six, at which point she guarantees that the show gets awesome. But I digress.)

Now she's trying her hand at film production. According to Variety, Dushku has lined up Ondi Timoner to direct the Mapplethorpe biopic, currently titled The Perfect Moment. Timoner is an absolutely fantastic documentary filmmaker who has won the Sundance grand jury prize not once, but twice, for her documentary features DiG! and We Live in Public. Timoner will make her feature directorial debut.

Why do I think this is such ass-kicking good news? Because Dushku is a young, motivated actress moving solidly into production who has just created a great opportunity for a young, dynamic woman filmmaker. No doubt, this is an all-indie project, but it's going to be high profile enough to capture the attention of mainstream industry players - and perhaps some mainstream audiences, too.

It's frustratingly easy to point to the many ways in which Hollywood is still an old boy's network (although those boys seem to be getting younger all the time), but when women like Dushku step into the production role and support other women filmmakers, we get a glimpse of what could be. Are we starting to see a new girls network? Maybe. It's long overdue.

Diablo Cody Takes on a Zombie Rom-Com, Makes More Room for Women in Horror?

Tammy Oler — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:26:53 -0500

So Variety has reported that Diablo Cody (Juno, The United States of Tara) is joining forces with Fox Searchlight to develop a film adapation of the upcoming zombie romance novel Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, about a recently undead man who finds love at a support group. Cody won't be writing or directing the film, but she will be producing. (I have to admit that I'm very curious to see if Breathers will fall victim to the gender stereotypes that have overtaken the romantic comedy of late.)

This is the second horror project that Diablo Cody has recently taken on. Jennifer's Body, a dark horror/comedy written and produced by Cody, is slated for release this upcoming September. That film is directed by Karyn Kusama, who made the critically-acclaimed Girlfight. Jennifer's Body has all the makings of a hit: fanboy hottie Megan Fox stars as a teenage girl who becomes possessed by a demon and starts devouring boys all over town, and it's up to Amanda Seyfried (Momma Mia!, Big Love, Veronica Mars) to save the day. I'm not convinced that Jennifer's Body is going to be the next Ginger Snaps (which still serves as my benchmark for true feminist horror), but the film will likely be a big improvement over most of the torture porn and the slick, mean-spirited horror remakes that are so in fashion these days.

I'm not alone in having mixed feelings about Diablo Cody's work (or being concerned about the backlash against her), but I'm pretty excited that she's doing more work in horror. Despite the fact that the female audience for horror continues to grow, the genre continues to be among the most male-dominated in the film industry. Perhaps a success or two from Cody will help studios understand that women can be bloodthirsty, too.

Diablo Cody to produce 'Breathers' [Variety]

Blogging about those Commie, Homo-Loving Sons of Guns at the Oscars

Tammy Oler — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:41:14 -0500

Slumdog Millionaire Takes Down Benjamin Button, Milk and The Reader: This would have seemed astonishing a few months ago, but Slumdog Millionaire picked up so much critical and popular momentum after it swept the Golden Globes. No doubt, David Fincher is wondering what happened... wasn't this supposed to be his year? And The Reader? Between Hugh Jackman's opening song featuring a joke about not seeing The Reader and the comedy sketch with James Franco and Seth Rogen beside themselves with laughter while watching it (yes, Franco actually said that they were excited to see "young boys have sex with Nazis"), The Reader was kind of a big, unexpected joke this year. What a strange Oscar turn of events...

Best Supporting Actress: Enough with all the talk about Marisa Tomei's nudity in The Wrestler. Enough already! I can't believe that the speech Tilda Swinton had to deliver about Marisa Tomei's performance highlighted Tomei's ability to show the "effortless physical expertise of a real working girl" and that she reminded all of us that a "stripper need never take off her dignity when she takes off her clothes." I also could not believe that Tim Gunn asked Amy Adams if she thought it was fair to be competing against Marissa Tomei, because Marisa Tomei got to be naked in The Wrestler while Amy Adams had to wear a habit in Doubt. Really?

Best Supporting Actor: Ah, Heath Ledger. It really was a brilliant performance, and his family payed a lovely tribute.

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black delivered a really moving speech about the personal and historic importance of Harvey Milk as well as (YES!) the future of gay rights. This was, I think, a really authentic and touching moment in a ceremony that is always so full of schmaltzy self-congratulation. I hope that the popularity and acclaim of Milk drives more people to see the wonderful documentary The Times of Harvey Milk for a more rich and complete portrait of the people and issues that are only touched on in Milk.

Romance in 2008: The romance film montage does a great job of reminding us how heteronormative Hollywood still is. I guess there's two clips of Milk in there, but I actually think that Milk gets more airtime during the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy schtick. It was all guys and dolls in 2008.

Action Movies in 2008: A few clips of Cate Blanchett from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the action movie montage but she's no action movie actress. It's all Angelina Jolie! This is one reason why I'm really bummed about the possibility that Jolie will be opting out of acting for the next few years: she's one of the few credible female action stars. What's more, she can actually carry an action movie. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we need more women in action!

The Documentary Categories: Women filmmakers have much, much more representation in the documentary categories. I continue to find that a really interesting and telling trend. (Who let Bill Maher on stage?)

Jerry Lewis Gets the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: I guess the Academy felt like giving him a pass for all those homophobic comments he's made the past few years, right?

Best Actress: Kate Winslet was fiercely unmeltdowny tonight! I am so thrilled that Melissa Leo is now, officially, an Oscar nominated actress. Of course, most of America is asking, "Who is that woman?" And among those who recognized her, many probably wondered, "Wasn't she the actress who got kicked off of Homicide: Life on the Street because she wasn't hot enough?" Shirley MacLaine did deliver quite a personal speech to Anne Hathaway - I know that one made a whole lot of you Bitch readers happy!

Sean Penn Upsets Mickey Rourke: Who would have guessed I would be writing that a few years ago? Sean Penn called the Academy "commie, homo-loving sons of guns." Well, everyone in the Academy except Jerry Lewis, I guess.

Best Picture Nomination Montage: Did the Oscars just compare Milk to Braveheart? Hilarious!

So... what are your thoughts on the closing ceremonies of the 2008 awards season? And do you think the musical is really back?

Pride and Prejudice Finally Gets the Time Travel, Zombie Apocalypse and Sci-Fi Movie Adaptations It So Richly Deserves

Tammy Oler — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:16:11 -0500

I'll start with the highbrow: the critically acclaimed British television series Lost in Austen is getting the Hollywood treatment, with none other than Sam Mendes producing. Lost in Austen has a loose, sci-fi premise: Elizabeth Bennet and a modern day Jane Austen fan swap places via some sort of time-traveling doorway. I haven't seen the whole series (it's in my Netflix queue!) but the many ways it plays with the novel sound delightful. Keep an eye out for the film adaptation, though, because it has both big studio backing and indie cred, via Sam Mendes.

Moving on to the lowbrow...

Zombies! Word has it that Seth Grahame-Smith's upcoming novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has generated enough buzz that Hollywood studios are already quibbling over rights to the book - which won't even be released until April. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is, apparently, exactly what the title states. Grahame-Smith has taken the original novel, which has been long out of copyright, and added the zombie apocalypse. Apparently, much of the source text remains intact, although presumably all of the gore and violence will be new. I'm actually excited about this! Zombie films have always been the resident, self-aware cultural commentary arm of the horror genre and I see a lot of possibilities in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Perhaps it will be a romantic comedy of manners similar to Shaun of the Dead? Or perhaps I'm just a little too excited about the possibility of Elizabeth Bennet being a zombie slayer...

Finally, the latest (and strangest) news: Elton John's Rocket Pictures is developing the film Pride and Predator, about an alien that crash lands in the world of Austen's Pride and Prejudice and starts killing everyone. I predict that this may set a new standard for bodice ripping.

Will Keira Knightley star in any of these films? Probably not. Will they be any good? Who knows? I'm an Austen fan and a sci-fi/horror fangirl, so I think there's a lot of potential for radness here. However, there's also a big possibility that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Pride and Predator could go over-the-top (or perhaps not over-the-top enough) and end up trading on mean-spirited, mysoginistic cliches about Austen and costume dramas. But I'm hopeful instead that this is part of a bigger trend to do interesting, genre-bending work that interests both men and women.

And all of you Austen fans who might be cringing right now, take heart. Austen has survived countless stultifying BBC miniseries adaptations and many, many mediocre films. She can take a few zombies.

Lost in Austen to be Hollywood Film [Guardian UK]

Hollywood Studios Bidding for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies [/Film]

Rocket Launches 'Predator' [Variety]

Women Earn Top Filmmaking Honors at NAACP Image Awards

Tammy Oler — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:35:22 -0500

Big news from the NAACP Image Awards at the end of last week: women took top honors in the film directing and writing categories. Gina Prince-Bythewood won the prize for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture for The Secret Life of Bees, while Jenny Lumet took home honors for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture for Rachel Getting Married. Best Picture honors also went to The Secret Life Bees. What's more, women were represented almost equally in the writing and directing categories, with Prince-Bythewood earning a nomination for writing, and Darnell Martin earning writing and directing nods for Cadillac Records.

This is great news during the awards season homestretch. While the media is busy contemplating Kate Winslet's potential acceptance speech meltdown, it's a welcome sight to see more recognition of women who are MAKING films.

[Full list of winners here: NAACP Image Awards]

Mukhtar Mai's Story Becomes a Film, But She's Still Waiting for Justice

Tammy Oler — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:18:40 -0500

Many of you have heard of Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who was gang raped in 2002 as revenge for an honor crime, an act that was authorized by her village elders. Mukhtar spoke out about the crime and prosecuted her attackers - and won. That is, until an appeals court overturned the convictions. Mukhtar has been waging a legal battle in Pakistan in the years since, and, as a result, her safety has been constantly in jeopardy. Despite that, she started the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization to help support and education Pakistani women and girls, and has been an outspoken advocate for women's rights.

Her story was included in the 2006 documentary Land, Gold and Women. Now her story will be the subject of a feature film, too. However, she still hasn't gotten justice in her legal battle.

Variety reports that Jay Roach (suprisingly enough, the very same Jay Roach who produced Borat, Meet the Parents and Austin Powers) and Jennifer Perini are producing a big screen adaptation of Mukhtar's story. In addition to the really great news that this film is being made, it looks like Katia Lund will be writing and directing it. Katia Lund was the co-director of 2002's City of God (and was snubbed for an Academy Award nomination as co-director that year). This film will likely only show up on a few screens across the country, but it's very exciting news that it's in development (and being covered in Variety).

Yet, we're still waiting for Mukhtar to get the justice she deserves. On Friday, Vital Voices posted an update on Mukhtar, and noted that her case may finally be heard by the Pakistan Supreme Court in the coming days. Mukhtar held a press conference on Friday about the pressure she's receiving from the government to withdraw her charges. Vital Voices has a call to action about this, and is looking for folks to write the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States in support of a fair trial.

We will soon have an opportunity to support a woman writer and filmmaker with a very important film, but right now we can support Mukhtar Mai.

Sex and the City Gets a Sequel

Tammy Oler — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:46:02 -0500

At the end of last week, New Line Cinema made it official: a sequel to Sex and the City is on the way. Although no script has been developed yet, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis have all signed on for the film, and Michael Patrick King is back to write and direct.

The sequel is further confirmation that studios are really starting to bank on the box office power of women audiences, yet I know many people have mixed feelings about the success of the first film. Ready yourself now for a fairly endless amount of speculation and would-be spoilers as the film moves closer to shooting, but in the meantime, I'd like to hear your take on it...

Feminist response to the first Sex and the City film ranged from escapist pleasure to guilty enjoyment to searing hatred. I have a hard time thinking of any film that inspired the same range of response and emotions among women over the past few years. So now that Sex and the City 2 is a done deal, let's talk about it.

What are your hopes for the sequel? And what impact do you think it will have on films made for and about women?

Wonder Woman Animated Movie Premieres at New York Comic Con... And It's Actually Pretty Wonderrific

Tammy Oler — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:04:27 -0500

Wonder Woman tells the story of Hippolyta's war with Ares, the God of War, the creation of the Amazon island Themyscira, and Wonder Woman's origins and her blossoming romance with human Steve Trevor as she fights to save the world from war and destruction. The story is deftly managed to appeal to longtime fans and newcomers alike, which is great for viewers who might be interested in the icon but who may have never picked up an actual Wonder Woman comic. Gail Simone, the amazing writer behind the current incarnation of the comic, developed the first draft of the story, and Michael Jelenic finalized the story and script. Lauren Montgomery, who has co-directed other entries in the film series, has a great solo directing debut here. And the voice talent is awesome: Keri Russell is a surprisingly good Wonder Woman, while Nathan Fillion unsurprisingly threatens to steal the show as Steve Trevor, and the supporting cast of Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, and Virginia Madsen are great. The animation looks stellar and the action is seamless - and there's a lot of action, too. The film definitely earns its PG-13 rating, and it has a fairly high bodycount.

The reason Wonder Woman works is because it takes its characters seriously, while understanding the icon's enduring camp appeal. Princess Diana is smart, sure, and very funny: she kicks off her high heels before taking on a bad guy (although she later discovers that a high heel can, indeed, be a good weapon), she drinks Steve under the table, and she's baffled by gender stereotypes. In fact, all of the Amazons in Wonder Woman are great, especially Dawson's Artemis. What passess as feminist discourse in Wonder Woman is clunky and sometimes cheezy, but it's oddly exhilerating, too. In one scene, Diana teaches a little girl who has been left out of a game by a bunch of boys how to swordfight. It should feel irritating and pandering, but it's played with enough humor and good grace that it inspired cheers from the thousands of people who assembed at Comic Con to watch the film. It's also interesting to note that the film offers a bit of political commentary, too: when the President of the USA launches a preemptive strike against the Amazon island, it fuels Ares's power instead of quelling it. A nice touch.

All that being said, there are some frustrating and bothersome aspects to Wonder Woman. Non-Amazon women come off badly in this film, even despite Diana's observations about the "advanced brainwashing" of women in human society. Overall, I was unimpressed by the way that the film too often equated the human world with "man's world." In addition, the film plays a bit with Wonder Woman's sexuality and the results are hit-and-miss, swinging from savvy and sophisticated to downright adolescent. There's also an utterly unconvincing scene in which Wonder Woman is endangered solely to service the romantic comedy that develops between Diana and Steve. And I was also slightly uncomfortable with Oliver Platt's Hades, a character that come close to being part of that offensive film tradition of making villians effeminate as a way to demonstrate their monstrosity.

On balance, however, Wonder Woman is very good. I'd go so far to say that it's a fairly remarkable product for an industry that seems to be completely unable to make great female comic book characters into credible film stars. I'll definitely be purchasing a copy next month.

Of course, the bad news in all of this is that Wonder Woman's success isn't likely to impact prospects for a live action film. If it doesn't succeed with consumers, it validates the belief that people aren't interested in superheroines. If it does succeed, DC will likely feel that their work of appeasing Wonder Woman fans is done. That's a pretty sorry state of affairs. Yet, I am at least glad that there's a worthwhile Wonder Woman coming soon to my small screen at home.

[The creative team behind Wonder Woman also participated in a pretty good panel discussion with fans after the premiere. Check out Sarah Jaffe's recap of the event over at Newsarama.]

[Wonder Woman Official Site]

Push Gets a Distributor and Support from Oprah

Tammy Oler — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:35:58 -0500

Quick update: Sundance winner Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire has landed a distributor! News broke yesterday that Lionsgate has acquired North American rights to the film. What's more, both Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are also backing Push, which means that director Lee Daniels may actually be able to get this film in front of commercial audiences after all. Whew!

Previous: Push Gets a Big Win at Sundance, Still Trying to Find a Distributor

Marketing He's Just Not That Into You as a Film that Men Can Get Into

Tammy Oler — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:43:53 -0500

A week prior to the film's release, the marketing team for He's Just Not That Into You has released a video of three of film's male stars - Justin Long, Bradley Cooper, and Kevin Connolly - trying to persuade men to see the film. The reason they think men might actually like the film? Because, they claim, He's Just Not That Into You avoids the top 10 cliches of chick flicks.

This video boosts the film's prior promotional attempts to be seen as a different kind of romantic comedy (or chick flick, as this video cares to reiterate). Yet, it's also an interesting marketing tactic: taking a type of film that is traditionally developed and promoted for women and marketing it assertively to men. Is this an attempt increase the crossover appeal of romantic comedies? After all, women have increasingly become a mainstay of action, thriller and horror film audiences - despite the fact that those films don't even market specifically to them.

As for this video, it has some charm. Certainly, they've captured a whole list of cheezy filmmaking shortcuts that are regularly used in romantic comedies. But are these really the cliches that we should hope aren't found in He's Just Not That Into You? Hardly. But I've already hashed out a number of these elsewhere on this blog. In addition, while I think it's amusing to see these actors poke fun at men who are horrified by the prospect of going to see a romantic comedy, I'm not all that impressed that this video equates crappy filmmaking with "chick flicks." It's irksome to see the film marketed to men at the expense of the many women who would also like to see their romantic comedies get smarter and less cliched.