Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Studios are reluctant to make films featuring strong female protagonists,with Julie amp; Julia the only hit film this year to break the trend
To earn her two Oscars,Hilary Swank went mano a mano with Clint Eastwood in a boxing ring and sucked face with Chloe Sevigny. But her toughest test is the box office numbers for her most recent work,Amelia. The historical drama,about the pioneering aviatrix Amelia Earhart,represents a major risk in Hollywood where studio executives have been increasingly wary of making movies about strong women.
Strong women,for now anyway,are out. Two years ago,when the Jodie Foster vigilante thriller The Brave One failed at the box office,industry blogger Nikki Finke reported that a Warner Brothers production executive announced to staffers that the studio would no longer produce movies featuring female leads. This past summer,actress and writer Nia Vardalos blogged on the Huffington Post that when she was pitching a project to a studio executive,he asked that she change the female lead to a man. Why? Because women dont go to movies, he told her. When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City,Mamma Mia! and Obsessed,he called them flukes, she wrote.
Consider: its been nine years since Julia Roberts starred in Erin Brockovich,about a nervy legal assistant who wound up taking on corporate America. Nine years before that,Jodie Foster starred in Silence of the Lambs,in which she played a FBI agent. Of the top 10 movies of 2009 so far,only one features a woman in a leading role: the romantic comedy The Proposal,starring Sandra Bullock. Julie amp; Julia,which is close to breaking the 100 million barrier,is the only hit film that features a serious female protagonistJulia Child,played by Meryl Streep.
Dramas are dead, says producer Lynda Obst,Some of the greatest parts for women are often in dramas,and this is the worst time for dramas since Ive been in the business for the last 10,000 years. Obst adds,the movie business is geared toward the young men who go to movies most frequently. And by and large thats a comedy audience and an action audience.
Look at Drew Barrymore,whose career over the past year perfectly crystallises the good-news/bad-news dichotomy. The ensemble romantic comedy she produced and starred in,Hes Just Not That Into You,was a hit. Whip It,the girl-centric action comedy that marked her feature directorial debut,was noteven though it put Barrymore in the company of a remarkable crop of female directors with movies out this year.
I dont think its sexism, says writer-director Rod Lurie,whose films The Contender and Nothing but the Truth,as well as the television series Commander in Chief,all featured strong female leads. Hollywood will do whatever it takes to make money. They are not taking a principled stance against women. They just dont see the audience as going there.
The failure of Duplicity,the Julia Roberts caper comedy,is seen as yet another death knell for toothsome womens roles. Says Paul Dergarabedian,box office analyst for Hollywood.com,Its almost as if in real life,women want to be empowered and in control,but on-screen they seem to like the old-fashioned damsel-in-distress,love-struck female.
One reason why we see fewer strong female leads these days is a changing business model,notes Melissa Silverstein who tracks womens issues in the entertainment industry on her website Women amp; Hollywood. With economic pressures greater than ever,studios are looking for movies that are guaranteed to make 100 million their first weekend out.
Meanwhile,Swank recently wrapped Betty Anne Waters,based on a true story of a woman who put herself through law school to exonerate her wrongfully accused brother. Its a bona fide strong-woman drama,says producer Andrew Sugerman,in the tradition of Erin Brockovich. The film has yet to be picked up.
