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December 13, 2009
Women Looking For "Action!"
Manohla takes on the forever topic of why there aren't more women directing studio films.
Interesting.
But I think she suffers the trouble that most writers seem to run into with this discussion. She looks at the end result and not the starting point. To look at directors like Amy Heckerling, Penny Marshall, Susan Seidelman, and Martha Coolidge and to bemoan their careers not being bigger is really to miss the point. Their careers have gone rather well by the standards of both men and women in their positions. They all suffered from multiple failures following great success, just like the men when they get put in "movie jail." And they are all now over 55 in an industry in which age is the ultimate negative bias.
And to use Michael Mann as the example of a guy who is "getting away with it" (my phrase, not hers) also misses the point. The reason Mann continues to work and work big is that he understands how the system works and makes projects that address what drives studios to greenlight expensive film.
Mann did his time in "movie jail" after Thief & The Keep didn't deliver at the box office (even if Thief remains a movie landmark). He rebuilt in television with Miami Vice and then Crime Story. In that period, he also did Manhunter, another classic that didn't do much business. Six years later, he got to make another movie, The Last of The Mohicans. A hit. Heat. Iconic and a minor hit. Now every actor wanted to work with him. He was allowed The Insider , which was a box office disappointment, but a awards-winning point of pride for Disney. And then, Will Smith... Tom Cruise... franchise potential TV conversion... Johnny Depp AND Christian Bale.
Any director, male, female or alien species could get their movies greenlit with the support of those mega-names. It has nothing to do with Mann being a great director or cutting edge or anything at all about any judgment other than studios wanting movie stars to make movies.
If Tom Hanks were to set up a movie with Penny Marshall, she would get a movie made. If John Travolta was asking Amy Heckerling to let him in her next project, she'd be getting studio money. If Susan Seidelman can entice Meryl Streep to sign on, the money will be there. And Martha Coolidge, who keeps the busiest in this group behind the camera, albeit in television, has only one star of continuing studio value on her resume, Valley Girl's Nic Cage.
And the truth is, Manohla paints a rosier picture than is real, as the Sony Pictures Classics titles are all pick-ups. On the other hand, Anne Fontaine, as an example, is quite comfortable that she can fund whatever project interests her, as her budgets are Euro-reasonable and she has a strong audience base outside of Hollywood. Meanwhile, Francois Ozon fights for money for each of his low-budget films.
Thing is, the old boys club is real, even if it doesn't need to be limited to boys. Anne Fletcher has been pushed along by Adam Shankman, whose was hired for his first job as a director by Ruth Vitale for a film that was eventually made by Amy Pascal. Anne's career went from dance, directing the wildly successful Step Up, but still in the "dance person" ghetto, to straight rom-com with 27 Dresses... a movie that was scheduled to be directed by a man, Michael Mayer, until they hired Katherine Heigl and her hiatus conflicted with his live theater committments.
Kathryn Bigelow, who I think will be the only serious competition to Jim Cameron for the Best Director Oscar this year, indeed had the support of a bigger name in Jim Cameron, who was married to her and has continue to be an enthusiastic supported of her career.
Some may think that pointing out these relationships somehow diminishes the careers of these talented women. But that's a load. Virtually every filmmaker has a support system of other filmmakers that have helped them up the ladder. And to my eye, it is sexist to suggest that the gender of either the supporter or the supported is the central issue. Cameron did not make Bigelow a great director. You could see her talent from the beginning. But he certainly has helped her get through the doors and not to be boxed in by either being a woman or being a beautiful woman.
Anyway...
Looking to the festival stars who have never emerged is also a bit off the mark, in my view, as so very many of those filmmakers, male or female, never get out of the small indie ghetto. And when they do, they generally have one shot to have a hit movie before they are sent back to the minors in a hurry.
The reasons why there are not more female directors making studio movies in Hollywood are...
1) Their opportunities are narrowed from the get-go because the only female director who reads "action skilled" is Bigelow, so the biggest profit center for studios is not even in play. (On what planet does a studio exec not get fired by hiring Rob Marshall instead of Kathryn BIgelow for Pirates 4? Seriously. I am still waiting for someone to tell me that it's just a bad joke. Nothing in his career suggests that he can do action or deal with space in anything approaching a skillful way. Oy.)
2) There has been a dearth of female stars who are considered box office. And the ones who are out there either don't have to power to select their directors or they are not insistent about having female directors. In a case like Sandra Bullock, for instance, she was no doubt pleased to have Anne Fletcher for The Proposal, which she produced. She didn't produce The Blind Side, which was set up with John Lee Hancock before she came on board.
Two of Meryl Streep's latest, biggest hits - Mamma Mia! and Julie & Julia - as well as the upcoming It's Complicated have been directed by women. Two were both written and directed by the two of the writer/directors with the strongest commercial careers in the last 15 years... of any sex. (And note: Ephron got her movie made in spite of commercial failures in her last two films, Lucky Numbers and Bewitched.) This is her first time working with either woman. And Mamma Mia! was directed by its female stage director, so that was a no brainer (ahem). One has to wonder whether in the cases of Ephron and Meyers whether Streep's recent box office heat inspired the scripts they wrote, since there really is no studio-level actress of her age who could have gotten those films greenlit without a box office-strong male lead.
3. The Old Boys Club - Yes. It is there. Many of the "old boys" are gay men or women, as well as straight white men with cigars. But as I explained before, I don't see it as "let's keep them broads out!"
In the film business, imitation is the sincerest form of trying to keep your high-paying executive job that you just know they are waiting to take away from you. There are plenty of exceptions... like the aforementioned brain fart of even considering Rob Marshall for a franchise film when he has had only one success in his career and it had nothing to do with big film elements. But most often, you can follow the trend line and/or relationships that lead studios to hire the directors they hire.
So... women are allowed to direct romantic comedies with strong female leads. But as seems reasonable, one cannot expect EVERY rom-com to be directed by a woman. I don't know how Ken Kwapis got He's Just Not That Into You, but Robert Luketic is one of the top rom-commers and makes sense for The Ugly Truth, and Marc Webb was a logically quirky choice for the structurally odd (500) Days Of Summer. After that, this year, you have a lot of women carrying the load with The Proposal, It's Complicated, Julie & Juila (if you count it as a rom-com), and I Hate Valentines Day, one of two shots Nia Vardalos had and failed with (the other directed by a guy).
4. People screw up.
Why is a guy directing Twilight sequels? Because as brilliant as Catherine Hardwicke can be, the road to the completion of the first film was uncomfortable for the studio and with two sequels going back-to-back with the intent of releasing 2 and 3 within 8 months of each other, they had to hire at least one new director (or Clint Eastwood), it gave them an escape hatch.
Karyn Kusama made an under-$1 million movie in Girlfight, which was deservedly acclaimed at Sundance, but then disappointed at the box office. Instead of making her next $3 million indie film with strong performances and growing as a filmmaker, she waited four years before making her second film, the $100 million Aeon Flux... which did less than $55 million worldwide. And she got another job... Jennifer's Body. And in spite of huge heat around the film's writer, producer, and stars, it deservedly grossed less than $30 million worldwide, as it was an unwatchable, unskillfully directed mess. No question that Kusama has talent... but she acted as though she had arrived when her journey was just beginning.
5. Choice
Manohla brings up Kelly Reichardt. Well, let's consider her. Terrific young artist. But compare her current career arc to Lynn Shelton or, on the male side, Mark Duplass. Lynn is being wined and dined all over Hollywood, as they look to push her into the studio world. Duplass has directed one film for Searchlight, with an 8-figure budget, and one with his brother, likely with a 6-figure budget... all this year.
Reichardt is making another micro-budget art piece with Kelly Williams. And God bless her for that. But we can't blame Hollywood for not offering her Spider-Man 4 for her mighty skills as a artist.
In conclusion... the problem is hard to overcome. There is no legitimate affirmative action in the movie business. Nor do women need that. But it's not some conspiracy of idiocy. It's a system that doesn't like to try new things until it is forced to do so. And when you start with a small group trying to integrate into a big one, there are usually more extraneous reasons for that group to be made smaller than resistance from the system itself.
This is a "Go and do likewise, gents... go and do likewise," business. There are more female directors and studio execs at the top of the food chain than you would expect and fewer in the middle class of execs and filmmakers. If The Hurt Locker made $70 million, it would be the start of a trend. Instead, it will be mostly well-deserved awards for Ms Bigelow. And if amongst her next films is a $100 million budget movie that grosses $500 million, then it will turn heads in a real industry way. Jut don't take The Avengers or Wonder Woman, KB. It's a trap.
Posted by dpoland at December 13, 2009 10:55 AM
Comments
Bigelow, not Bigalow.
Posted by: gradystiles ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 13, 2009 02:21 PM
Yes... aware... will fix asap... and thrilled, as usual, that all you got out the entry was a dumb spelling mistake. Your contribution to the conversation is... well...
Posted by: David Poland at December 13, 2009 03:28 PM
"thrilled, as usual, that all you got out the entry was a dumb spelling mistake."
Maybe it's just that this site's long-standing contempt for proofreading comes off negatively?
Posted by: jeffmcm at December 13, 2009 04:05 PM
JENNIFER'S BODY actuallly grossed more than $30 million worldwide; it grossed $16.5 million in overseas.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i27f167feba4ef287aef501d1105d74db?pn=2
There is another female director worth to be mentioned is Nicole Holofcener, who has directed two profitable small-budget movies - LOVELY & AMAZING (2001) and FRIENDS WITH MONEY (2006). But she still doesn't has a new film to be released until 2010 (with PLEASE GIVE).
Posted by: marychan at December 13, 2009 04:21 PM
There's another factor, which I thought you were going to address from the get go with the "She looks at the end result and not the starting point" comment: more boys want to make movies. Not sure how you could quantify this, but just how many women vs men attempt to storm the gates of Hollywood (and make no mistake, they are carefully guarded gates to outsiders with no connections)?
All the elements of filmmaking, all that mechanical tinkering with camera and tripods and lights and what-have-you, appeals very much to what boys' find fascinating.
There is also the reaction to films themselves that I think also dictate what boys and girls do differently. Either from hardwiring or societal influence, girls want to go home and duplicate the emotional high points of a film. Boys want to redo the SFX. The former is easy enough to play act with friends. The latter requires research into how these things work.
But I think the biggest reason is your No 1: the biggest market is for the under 35 male and the easiest way to ensure you get those butts in the seats is hire from within that target audience. Films work because the director knows how to push certain emotional buttons and a male director obviously knows those buttons intimately.
Posted by: Deathtongue_Groupie at December 13, 2009 06:18 PM
"And she got another job... Jennifer's Body. And in spite of huge heat around the film's writer, producer, and stars, it deservedly grossed less than $30 million worldwide, as it was an unwatchable, unskillfully directed mess."
In the words of another regular....NOPE NOPE. FOX POWER. SEYFRIED POWER. BOW.
Perhaps a little unskilled, but FAR from unwatchable.
Posted by: LYT at December 14, 2009 12:59 AM
Not to beat a dead horse, but I was intrigued that Dargis made a connection between Sandra Bullock's "Blind Side" character and Sarah Palin in her piece. Now that one of America's "smartest" critics pointed it out in the Times, I don't feel like such a pariah anymore, lol.
I really miss Nancy Savoca. "True Love," "Dogfight" and "Household Saints" were all fantastic movies.
Posted by: movieman at December 14, 2009 03:51 AM
this speaks volumes:
Posted by: leahnz at December 15, 2009 01:33 AM
speaki8ng of awesome trailers
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/deathatafuneral/
Death at a Black Funeral.
If you've seen the original, this might be the funniest shit you've seen in ages.
Posted by: anghus at December 17, 2009 05:45 AM
I've seen the original and this looks dreadful. How many more times do we have to watch Martin Lawrence look at a hot woman and go "DAY-YUMM!"
Posted by: Cadavra at December 17, 2009 10:28 PM
Joining you all late--another way into directing is through writing a great script. Callie Khouri did, and she made a feature debut with Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which certainly didn't excite anyone. Yes, it was a very popular book, but I don't think a big ensemble cast is a great idea for a 1st time director. Still, she got another deal and made Mad Money, which sucked. (And had 4 credited writers, which might have tipped her off to the problems.)
And there's other female directors--Dennie Gordon, Mimi Leherer--who came out of TV, made a movie or two--and went back to TV. TV's far easier on family life, and plenty of women still care about that.
Posted by: KateCoe at December 26, 2009 06:22 PM
Oh, and
"All the elements of filmmaking, all that mechanical tinkering with camera and tripods and lights and what-have-you, appeals very much to what boys' find fascinating."
If you think all directors are remotely interested in what the clapper-loader is doing, you're sadly mistaken. There are dozens of working directors that have no clue as to what those guys with walkie-talkies are doing back there with those funny metal things.
Posted by: KateCoe at December 26, 2009 06:28 PM
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