Women & Hollywood

Weekend at the Box Office
Holdovers dominate the films that are by and about women this weekend.

Movies playing:
The Golden Compass
Margot at the Wedding
Atonement
The Savages
August Rush
Juno
Enchanted

Looks like Juno, The Savages and Atonement go wider next week.

Opening next week is P.S. I Love You starring Hillary Swank and Julia Roberts' return in Charlie Wilson's War

Arranged - Opens in NY at the Quad Cinema Today
Arranged tells the story of two young religious women, one Jewish and one Muslim both anticipating their family "arranging" their marriages in modern day Brooklyn, NY. These are educated women, both teachers, who meet at their job and become unlikely friends when they realize they have more in common than they ever expected. Women are clearly submissive in both cultures and both these women have come to terms with how they fit into their own world. The principal at their school tries to get them to break free reminding them there was a woman's movement, yet both Rochel and Nasira (Francis Benhamou) are offended by her prying.

I think that the film would have been better served by a more experienced director. The performances felt quite choppy and the Jewish characters surrounding Rochel were caricatures. But the movie really tries to put forward a theme of tolerance, and I respect it for trying on its very limited budget.

Golden Globe Nominations
The Golden Globes are always more fun than the Oscars because they take themselves less seriously and the organizations that gives them out -the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - is always looked at suspiciously. They also give out awards for drama ans musical/comedies so there are more prizes to go around. But, it's televised and big star show up (although with the writers strike this year who knows what will happen.)

Relevant nominees:
Best Motion Picture - Drama
Atonement

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Jodie Foster – The Brave One
Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley – Atonement

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Across The Universe
Hairspray
Juno

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams – Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky – Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter – Sweeney Todd
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page – Juno

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
Julia Roberts – Charlie Wilson's War
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Foreign Language Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (Romania)
Persepolis (France)

Best Director - NO WOMEN

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Atonement- Written by Christopher Hampton
Juno- Written by Diablo Cody

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Despedida" – Love In The Time Of Cholera
Music By: Shakira and Antonio Pinto
Lyrics By: Shakira

"Grace Is Gone" – Grace Is Gone
Music By: Clint Eastwood
Lyrics By: Carole Bayer Sager

Best Television Series - Drama
Damages (FX NETWORK)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama
Patricia Arquette – Medium
Glenn Close – Damages
Minnie Driver – The Riches
Edie Falco – The Sopranos
Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters
Holly Hunter – Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
30 Rock

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?
America Ferrera – Ugly Betty
Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Anna Friel – Pushing Daisies
Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Bryce Dallas Howard – As You Like It
Queen Latifah – Life Support
Debra Messing – The Starter Wife
Sissy Spacek – Pictures Of Hollis Woods
Ruth Wilson – Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Rose Byrne – Damages
Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters
Katherine Heigl – Grey's Anatomy
Samantha Morton – Longford
Anna Paquin – Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Jaime Pressly – My Name Is Earl (NBC)

Thoughts: So psyched that Damages has the most nominations of any series. Aslo thinkthe strongest category on the list is the best actress, TV drama. All great except I still don't get Medium at all. Very happy that Across the Universe was noticed and surprised that Tamara Jenkins and Laura Linney from The Savages were passed over.

Quotes from the nominees (all from Variety)

"Tim (Burton)'s assistant gave us the news. We're in the hospital because I'm supposed to have a baby tomorrow. It comes at a time when there's a larger event happening, an event almost as large as my stomach right now. (Stephen) Sondheim's a big challenge and learning to sing in three months was difficult but the material was so fantastic and my passion for Sondheim and the part got me through it. The part was so well written, you can't really go wrong, though I knew I had to take it in a different direction than Angela Lansbury. I've been a fan of Sondheim since I came out of the womb myself. At the moment I'm concentrating on one contraction at a time. It's a long journey. I don't know about the ceremony. We haven't really gotten that far. I think we've got a big thing to get through first and then we'll see."

-Helena Bonham Carter, nommed for actress, comedy/musical for "Sweeney Todd"

"It's lovely. I was actually at the Today show when the nominations were announced. I'm so excited and I'm so happy the film got three nominations and Diablo (Cody) got recognized. Her screenplay is one of the best I've ever read. I never thought it would lead to all these awards because that's not why I'm an actor and that's not how I pick roles. It's one of those things where everything clicked. I have a dinner tonight and then I head back to Nova Scotia where I'm sure there'll be a celebration of sorts. [As for the ceremony,] I'm completely supportive of the writers and I hope it's resolved soon in a completely fair way."

- Ellen Page, nommed for actress, comedy/musical for "Juno"

“Both films are so different from one another but each are memoirs told in an original voice. Marjane (Satrapi) has such a great voice and sense of humor. She makes the material so accessible.

“For ‘Diving Bell,’ I’m feeling great that it’s building momentum. It’s complicated in that it’s in French and there’s a certain amount of confusion in that it was nominated for foreign films in Golden Globes but not eligible for Oscar as a foreign film.”

- Kathleen Kennedy, producer on “Persepolis” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

“Feels fantastic not only the show but Ted (Danson) and Rose (Byrne) too. I took it on the strength of one script.”

“I take great pride in the fact that I did TV in the beginning when people thought it would ruin my film career. I’ve always had a great respect for television, and I particularly like it now, as it has some of the best writing around. I love the pace of TV and the mental challenge. You have to learn lines a lot faster.

“I would never cross a picket line.”

- Glenn Close, nominated for TV drama actress, “Damages” (Variety)

“I’m thrilled. (Edith) Piaf went right into people’s hearts and she showed so much emotion. Most of the people in France know Piaf’s songs, but they don’t know much about her life.”

“It was difficult because we had to find the right balance of makeup and light, and it was a hard job to make a 30-year-old look that old. For me, after the tech problems were resolved, it was so much fun.”

- Marion Cotillard, actress comedy/musical, “La Vie en Rose”

“I was in my hotel room in Toronto where I'm rehearsing for a concert. Ironically, this is where the movie was made and a year and a half later, here I am nominated for a Golden Globe. I'm totally shocked and I'm dying inside. This whole experience has just been life-changing. It's just been fabulous and wonderful.”

- Nikki Blonsky, nommed for actress in a comedy/musical for “Hairspray”

"I'm in New York and I haven't slept all night. Everybody was yelling and I was so tired because I took a red-eye from San Francisco. I mean, I'm also happy, I just don't have the energy to yell myself. Animation is not a genre, it's a medium, so it fits me very well. We always felt that "Persepolis" was a universal movie that anyone could relate to and understand, so I think this nomination confirms that. You never know why something works but when it does, it's delightful."

- Marjane Satrapi, nommed for foreign-language film “Persepolis”

"It’s tremendous as we weren’t on the pundits lists and didn’t have big ads. I feel in a way that we were the engine that could. People vote from their heart and I feel very gratified"

“People come in with a prejudice about messing with the sacred Beatles, but they all loved the movie. We got tremendous support from that community. When so many movies are telling about the reality of war, I’m very proud to be putting out a movie with relatively unknown actors that kind of spark part of our lives.”

- Julie Taymor, nominated for best comedy/musical, “Across the Universe”

London Critics Circle List of Nominations

ATTENBOROUGH AWARD FOR BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
"Atonement"

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR- NO WOMEN

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR- NO WOMEN

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Laura Linney -- "The Savages"
Marion Cotillard -- "La Vie en rose"
Maggie Gyllenhaal -- "Sherry Baby"
Angelina Jolie -- "A Mighty Heart"
Anamaria Marinca -- "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days"

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Samantha Morton -- "Control"
Julie Christie -- "Away From Her"
Keira Knightley -- "Atonement"
Helena Bonham Carter -- "Sweeney Todd"
Sienna Miller -- "Interview"

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Saoirse Ronan -- "Atonement"
Imelda Staunton -- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
Tilda Swinton -- "Michael Clayton"
Kelly Macdonald -- "No Country for Old Men"
Vanessa Redgrave -- "Atonement"

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR- NO WOMEN

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH -- ACTING
Saoirse Ronan -- "Atonement"
Dakota Blue Richards -- "The Golden Compass"

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH -- FILMMAKING
Sarah Gavron, director -- "Brick Lane"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
"4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days"

Sundance Screenwriters Lab
13 writers will participate in the lab with established filmmakers. Women picked include:
"Hammer and Anvil," by Alicia Erian (U.S.); "Hannah M.," by Hadar Friedlich (Israel); "Meadowlandz," by Moon Molson (U.S.); "Quotas," by Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa and Karen Sztajnberg (U.S./Brazil); "Return," by Liza Johnson (U.S.).