December 21, 2007

Frances Marion Awards

Women & Hollywood honors the hard women working of Hollywood in both TV and film who have to endure the tabloids, the sexist culture and the paucity of meaty roles with its first annual Frances Marion** Awards. These awards are for films and TV by and/or about women that show women for who we all are: flawed, fat, thin, messed up, leaders, hot, sexy...real. We're not looking for perfect women, just real ones.

Films
Best of the Year
Away from Her
Julie Christie is majestic in her depiction of a woman's descent into Alzheimer's and how it effects her husband who is left behind with just their memories.

Stephanie Daley
A teenage girl's knowledge of lack there of of her pregnancy is at the heart of this drama with has amazing performances from Tilda Swinton, and Amber Tamblyn. Writer and director Hilary Brougher challenges the audience to think about this very complicated issue. Film still resonates months later.

Juno
Building on the theme of teenage pregnancy, this original, funny script deals with the subject without talking down to girls or the audience. Breakout performance of the year by Ellen Page and the birth of a new female "it" writer in Diablo Cody.

Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi's life in Iran under the Islamic revolution first written as a graphic novel is translated onto screen as an animate graphic novel. Film is incredibly moving and educational. (review next week)

The Best of the Rest
Freedom Writers
Hillary Swank attempts to inspire inner city students.

Offside
The Iranian national soccer team is in a final game to qualify for the world cup. Women are forbidden from attending the game. Several young women desperate to cheer on their team dress as boys to try and get in.

Black Book
The story of a young Jewish woman trying to survive Nazi occupation of Holland in 1944, and what happens when she falls for one of the of the Nazis.

Red Road
A CCTV security guard in Scotland sees a face on her screen one day that sets into motion a series of events.

Waitress
Adrienne's Shelly's touching script a directing elevate this comedy/drama about a pregnant abused waitress who just wants wants to make pies (and not be abused).

Provoked
The true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia who after being sentence to life in prison for killing her abusive husband fought to change the law for all women in England.

Gracie
In the late 70s, Gracie wants play soccer like her brothers but there is no girls team. She wants to try out for the boys team but she is rebuffed. She perseveres and reminds us how happy we are that we have Title IX.

A Mighty Heart
The story of the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and how his wife Marianne aided and kept the focus on the search for him.

La Vie En Rose
Marion Cottilard as Edith Piaf. She is amazing, you can't take your eyes off of her. Too bad the film doesn't live up to her performance.

Broken English
Parker Posey is Nora a 30 something single female New Yorker, depressed, unhappy in her job and unsatisfied with her life. She knows she wants more but can't figure out how to get there. Sound familiar? Directorial debut of Zoe Cassavetes.

Becoming Jane
Jane Austen writes about love like no other novelist. The film build on the rumor that Jane has a great love in her life that helped inform all her work.

Hairspray
Fun musical that hits on many important issues including racism and weight issues.

2 Days in Paris
Julie Delpy wrote, directed, edited, and stars in this funny romance about a mismatched couple.

The Brave One
Jodie Foster become suffers a total breakdown and becomes a vigilante after a brutal attack.

Things We Lost in the Fire
Susanne Bier's character study of two people struggling to survive after facing a devastating loss.

Nina's Heavenly Delights
Fun film about finding love and cooking curry set in the Indian community of Glasgow, Scotland.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
A Harrowing look at the illegal abortion trade in Romania under the Ceausescu regime in Romania (review next week)

Trade
Sex trafficking keeps growing and the girls are getting younger and younger and nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it. Film follows the abduction of a girl and her brother's struggle to get her back.

The Golden Compass
Fantasy adventure about a young girl who turns out to be the key saving her world.

Not About Women but Directed by a Woman and Worth Seeing
Talk to Me- directed by Kasi Lemmons
The Namesake- directed by Mira Nair
The Savages- directed by Tamara Davis

Women Auteur (yes, women can be auteurs)
Julie Taymor - Across the Universe- because you can always tell a Julie Taymor project and she never fails to impress with her creative vision.

TV
Women & Hollywood watches a lot of TV and wants to acknowledge that TV is the medium with the strongest female roles, and appreciates that the people who work in TV business acknowledge that women are a viable market.

Best Women Centric Shows on TV (shout out to the striking writers- please settle, I'm scared that I will have nothing to watch in January and I refuse to be sucked into reality TV)

Women's Murder Club- cause these gals are crime fighters who are not afraid to be women. Angie Harmon- best TV comeback of the year

Cold Case- cause the show is run by mostly women and touches on long undiscussed history like suffrage and Japanese internment camps.

The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard- cause it was damn nice to see that a woman in charge can make mistakes as a leader and move on. Am hoping for the reality TV version in the US next November.

Grey's Anatomy- Shonda Rhimes has changed TV. Nuff said.

Army Wives- Sappiness aside this series shows war from the female perspective and actually has a black female officer in the main cast.

Damages- cause Glenn Close is deliciously good as the deliciously bad Patty Hewes.

The Closer- cause I love to hear Kyra Sedgwick say thank you very much in her Georgia twang. And because she has gotten the respect of her mostly male team with her total competence as a crime solver.

Saving Grace- cause Holly Hunter is out of her mind and I've never seen anything like it or heard this amount of curse words on TV before.

Ugly Betty- cause I love America Ferrara and love to hate Vanessa Williams and for having the funniest gay men on TV.

Men in Trees- cause it's quirky and endearing and that Anne Heche is a total goofball. And especially for Jane falling for Plowguy.

30 Rock- cause finally we have a feminist comedy that's actually funny. The cast is the best on TV.

Battlestar Galactica- cause gender doesn't matter in their world. Women kick ass just as good if not better than the guys!

** In case you're wondering Frances Marion was one of the most prolific screenwriters in her day. At one time she was the highest paid screenwriter -- man or woman. She paved the way for all women working in the business today. Women & Hollywood is proud to honor her work.

Weekend at the Box Office
Big weekend for new releases.
P.S. I Love You starring Hillary Swank is the widest female centric release this weekend. It opens on about 2,500 screens. Haven't seen it yet but I will contribute to its box office tally this weekend.

Other films of interest opening include Charlie Wilson's War. Tom Hanks gives a hysterical performance as the pathetic Congressman Wilson who basically facilitating the US arming the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Communists. Directed by Mike Nichols it illuminates the short sidedness of US foreign policy or lack thereof and the US complicity in the pathetic situation we find ourselves in today. Great script by Aaron Sorkin, amazing performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Still in Theatres
Atonement
The Savages
Juno
The Golden Compass
Enchanted
August Rush
Margot at the Wedding
Across the Universe

Opening December 25
Persepolis- limited

December 20, 2007

The first annual Frances Marion awards will be unveiled tomorrow. I know you're all waiting with baited breath.

Awards
Screen Actors Guild Nominations
MOTION PICTURES
Actress
Cate Blanchett - "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie - "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard - "La Vie en rose"
Angelina Jolie - "A Mighty Heart"
Ellen Page - "Juno"

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - "I’m Not There"
Ruby Dee - "American Gangster"
Catherine Keener - "Into the Wild"
Amy Ryan - "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton - "Michael Clayton"

Ensemble Cast
"Hairspray"

TELEVISION
ACTRESS IN A TELEFILM OR MINISERIES
Ellen Burstyn - "Mitch Albom's For One More Day" (ABC)
Debra Messing - "The Starter Wife" (USA)
Anna Paquin - "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (HBO)
Queen Latifah - "Life Support" (HBO)
Vanessa Redgrave - "The Fever" (HBO)
Gena Rowlands - "What If God Were the Sun?" (Lifetime)

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close - "Damages"
Edie Falco - "The Sopranos"
Sally Field - "Brothers & Sisters"
Holly Hunter - "Saving Grace"
Kyra Sedgwick - "The Closer"

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate - "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera - "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey - "30 Rock"
Mary-Louise Parker - "Weeds"
Vanessa Williams - "Ugly Betty"

DRAMA ENSEMBLE
"The Closer"
"Grey's Antatomy"

COMEDY ENSEMBLE
"30 Rock"
"Desperate Housewives"
"Ugly Betty"

News
The Secret Lives of Bees based on the Sue Monk Kidd novel will be a full femme fest. Gina Price-Bythwood will direct her script adaptation and signed to star are Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo. Close to deal are Dakota Fanning and Alicia Keys. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Savages, Tamara Jenkins' new film about adult siblings taking care of their father has hit a chord with people across the country because it comes off as so real.
The Savages Captures Emotions of Caring for Aging Parents (USA Today)
Read Women & Hollywood's Interview with Jenkins

Amy Ryan Talks about how her life has changed since all the kudos from Gone Baby Gone. She has been working hard for many years and this recognition is well reserved.
Checking in With Amy Ryan (EW)

August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone is being revived in Baltimore. It contains several strong female roles.
The Women of August Wilson Speak (Broadway World)

An interesting article on the state of indie cinema and what the indie biz might be like in the future
Beyond the Multiplex (Salon)

Patti LuPone is the latest diva to take on the role of Mama Rose on Broadway. The Encores production will open at the St. James Theatre in March.
Gypsy Returns to Broadway (Variety)

December 19, 2007

A Brief Chat with Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies
Had a chance to catch up with Debbie at the NY Women in Film and TV event last week. For the uninitiated, Women Make Movies, started in 1972, distributes films by and about women. More info: Women Make Movies

It's interesting and emblematic of the sorry state for women in film that Debbie started the conversation in talking about TV, about how Grey's Anatomy has roles that are not black or white; how some of the new cable shows are superficially misogynistic (like Rescue Me and Dexter) because they know they are misogynistic; and how cable shows like Weeds are great for women.

One of her most recent acquisitions at WMM is Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go the new film by Kim Longinotto which won the Grand Jury Prize at the recent International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. This is the first film that WMM will be distributing that is not about women.

"We made a big exception because we distribute all of Kim's films. It's about juvenile delinquent boys and their teachers who deal with their problems by holding them instead of disciplining them."

"We've had so much success with this film and I have a feeling that it's because it's not about women. We're getting offers we haven't seen before. And it's really sad to me that women's issues are not seen as universal."

"I'm afraid if we take more films (by and about men) that we would do so well with those that it would dwarf our desire to be committed to women."

Please stick with the women- distribution is so hard for everyone, especially for film by and about women.

Shame on Us Weekly
It was awesome that Katherine Heigl spoke out in Vanity Fair that she thought Knocked Up was sexist. Cause even though you laughed like I did, bottom line is that the film is sexist. Us Weekly ran a poll in its recent issue: "Is She Ungrateful? Katherine Heigl Called Knocked Up sexist (and they put sexist in quotes, which I refuse to do) even though the comedy boosted her career." 60% of those polled said yes. Shame on all of us. No wonder women are afraid to speak out.

Awards
All the awards are getting quite boring and predictable.

African-American Film Critics Association
Best Director: Kasi Lemmons, 'Talk to Me'
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, 'La Vie En Rose'
Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee, 'American Gangster'

Top Ten Films of the Year:
3. Talk To Me
7. Juno
9. Things We Lost in The Fire

San Diego Film Critics
BEST ACTRESS: Julie Christie, "Away From Her" Runner-up: Ellen Page, "Juno"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" Runner-up: Cate Blanchett
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Diablo Cody, "Juno"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Runner-up: "The Orphanage"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Runners-up (tie): "Persepolis"
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Runner-up: Sarah Greenwood, "Atonement"

Austin Film Critics Association
Best Actress: Ellen Page, 'Juno'
Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, Juno (yeah for someone finally noticing how great she was)
Best Foreign Film: Black Book
Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, 'Juno'

News
Palm Springs Int Film Festival will open and close with movies about women. The opener is Helen Hunt's directorial debut Then She Found Me. Closer is Audrey Tautou's Priceless.

Nancy Buirski has stepped down as head of Full Frame Documentary Film Festival after 10 years. She will be working on creating a fund to incubate and produce indies and docs.
Full Frame Boss Shifts Focus (Hollywood Reporter)

A more in-depth look at Juno and how it disarms both sides in the culture wars.
Juno and the Culture Wars (Slate)

December 18, 2007

New York Women in Film and TV's Annual Muse Awards
I was able to attend NYWIFT's annual celebration of women in entertainment. 1,000 people packed the ballroom at the Hilton for a looong lunch that honored Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lauren Zalaznick, Julie Taymor, Suzana Peric and Gale Anne Hurd with Muse Awards.

One of the important programs that NYWIFT funds is the Women's Film Preservation Fund which restores films to help keep women's film history alive. The fund has preserved films from early pioneers like Alice Guy Blanche and Lois Weber to Barbara Kopple's Oscar winning documentary Harlan County USA.

Some interesting quotes from the awardees speeches:
Gale Anne Hurd is a kick ass producer and has had a hand in producing some of the biggest action films. No chick flicks for her. She introduced us to Sarah Connor in the Terminator and worked on the kick ass Aliens (that's the second really good one). She received the Loreen Arbus award for those who take action and effect change.

It is disappointing that we still need AFI's directing workshop for women. The number of women directing film and tv remains woefully small in the single digits unchanged since the 1970s. We have witnessed the rise of the woman film and tv exec from Loreen Arbus to Sherry Lansing to Betty Cohen to Amy Pascal. Now let's make the same strides behind the camera. Let's not just talk about it. Let's not just complain about it. There's no longer just the old boy's network to overcome. We have no one to blame but ourselves. So let's take a chance and a woman director, editor or prop master so we can tell our daughters about a time when women weren't equally represented and they will look at us mystified.

Jennifer Jason Leigh who seriously has had one of the most diverse careers of any actress working, spoke of her muses the photographer Nan Goldin, director Jane Campion and especially her mom.

If I am a muse I'd like to think it's for being independent and making risky choices for paying attention to my own voice whether or not it is in the best interest of my career. My mom has always prized love over money, loyalty over money, ethics and honesty over money. My mom doesn't have a lot of money. (This got a big laugh) She taught me from a young age that women and men were equal in all ways.

The question that irks me that I get asked a lot is what is the difference between a male and female director. My answer is - it depends on the person. I can't imagine someone asking me what it's like having a female doctor or lawyer and it speak to the sexism that persists in this business even though there are more and more women directors we are still a novelty.

New Nicole Holofcener Movie
So psyched that Indie Queen writer/director Nicole Holofcener is reteaming with Catherine Keener and returning to NY the site of my favorite Holofcener film Walking and Talking for a new film about a group of neighbors in a NY building. Script was finished before the writers strike so it could go into production early next year.
Holofcener, Kenner Move in with Indie Drama (Hollywood Reporter)

Awards
Alliance of Women Film Journalists
Best Original Screenplay: Juno - Diablo Cody
Best Screenplay Adapted: Away From Her - Sarah Polley
Best Actress: Julie Christie - Away From Her
Best Actress In Supporting Role: Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Best Ensemble Cast: Juno

EDA Female Focus Awards
Best Woman Director: Sarah Polley
Best Woman Screenwriter: Tamara Jenkins - The Savages
Best Breakthrough Performance: Ellen Page - Juno
Best Newcomer: Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Women’s Image Award: Sarah Polley
Hanging in There Award for Persistence: Ruby Dee
Actress Defying Age and Ageism: Julie Christie
Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In 2007: Kathleen Kennedy, Producer, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
Lifetime Achievement Award: Julie Christie
Award For Humanitarian Activism: Angelina Jolie

EDA Special Mention Awards
Hall of Shame Award: Norbit
Actress Most In Need Of A New Agent: Hilary Swank
Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t: Margot At The Wedding
Best Seduction: (tie) Atonement - Keira Knightly and James McAvoy and The Namesake - Tabu and Irfan Khan
Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest: Beowulf - Robin Penn Wright and Anthony Hopkins
Bravest Performance Award: Julie Christie - Away From Her
Best Leap from Actress to Director Award: Sarah Polley
Cultural Crossover Award: Persepolis

The Satellite Awards
FILM
ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA- Marion Cotillard, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL- Ellen Page, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE- Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax Films)
MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL- "Juno"(Fox Searchlight)
SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL- Diablo Cody, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
ORIGINAL SONG- "Grace Is Gone" Clint Eastwood & Carole Bayer Sager, "Grace Is Gone" (The Weinstein Company)
SOUND (EDITING & MIXING)- Karen Baker Landers, Kirk Francis, Per Hallberg, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
COSTUME DESIGN- Alexandra Byrne, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal Pictures)
MARY PICKFORD AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY- Kathy Bates

TELEVISION
TELEVISION MINISERIES- "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (BBC/Kudos Productions)
ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION- Samantha Morton, "Longford" (HBO/Channel 4)
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION- Vanessa Williams, "Ugly Betty" (ABC)
ACTRESS IN A SERIES, DRAMA- Ellen Pompeo, "Grey’s Anatomy" (ABC)
ACTRESS IN A SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL- America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty" (ABC)

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
ACTRESS
Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Runners-up:
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Ellen Page, "Juno"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"
Runners-up:
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Cate Blanchett, "I’M Not There"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Margot at the Wedding"

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Runners-up
"La Vie En Rose"
"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"Black Book"

December 17, 2007

Weekend Box Office
Juno expanded to 40 theatres and took in $1.44 million with each theatre grossing $36,018 - the most per theatre of any film this weekend including the Will Smith drama (which grossed 76 million and took in $21,000 per theatre.) Atonement expanded to 117 locations and took in $1.85 million. The Golden Compass was third at the US box office but remained first overseas for the second weekend in a row.

Film Femmes Marginalized by Testosterone
Its awards time, and the end of the year, and Variety has an article that takes a look at the paucity of roles for women onscreen. I just wish that it didn't take the Oscars or other awards for people to start talking about this problem which only seems to be getting worse. Will writing about it make any difference? Does Hollywood care that women are virtually invisible in films? Some interesting points:

Women seem to have been reduced to property, prizes and pregnancy, with Jesse James' mute wife a symbol of what's become of the women in mainstream movies.

It's surprising, given how late in the year it is, but coming up with five prospective best actress nominees is something of a struggle.

Most years are a struggle.

The actors are crowding the field, while the women have been sidelined.

When the women have made it to the screen this year, their characters have been shrill, vapid or outright grotesque.

This is what Hollywood thinks about women - silent or shrill. Do they see their daughters and wives this way?

It's been a season in which audiences seem to be avoiding "serious" stories in favor of a "Game Plan" or "Bee Movie" or "Enchanted," which, coincidentally, has one of the more prominent female roles of this holiday menu -- a princess. Which proves that some things never change, including the idealization of females and the good times to be had when boys are allowed to be boys, and men are allowed to be mugs.

I did like Enchanted but I agree wholeheartedly that this is a regression for women onscreen. Enchanted will be the top grossing film that stars a woman and she is what none of us can be - an animated princess.

There seems to be little doubt that the most fun had during "Knocked Up" or "Superbad" was when the lads were cutting loose. It's like real life: When a woman walks into a room full of men, behavior changes; when a woman walks into a movie full of men, the movie changes. It gets more serious. And since audiences are avoiding serious, they're also avoiding women. And the movies are avoiding them, too.

Why is it that people perceive that a woman in a room or in a movie makes everything more serious? WTF? Is this the male view of women? That we take all the fun out of their lives - force them to get jobs, stop smoking pot and looking at porn on the internet? This is such crap. Get over yourselves.

This line sums up life for women in Hollywood

The women-friendly films -- which, in this climate, means that women are actually in the cast, and speak -- prove to be exceptions to the rule.

Hollywood should be ashamed of itself.

Film Femmes Marginalized by Testosterone (Variety)

Jennifer Love Hewitt Stands Up for Size 2 Actresses
Didn't give the Ghost Whisperer her props when earlier this month after she stood up to the tabloids for calling her fat. She fought back on her blog saying:

I've sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women's bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image.

A size two is not fat! Nor will it ever be. And being a size zero doesn't make you beautiful.

What I should be doing is celebrating some of the best days of my life and my engagement to the man of my dreams, instead of having to deal with photographers taking invasive pictures from bad angles. I know what I look like, and so do my friends and family. And like all women out there should, I love my body.

To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini -- put it on and stay strong.

Why is Liberal Hollywood so Afraid of Abortion? (Maybe because they hate women)
Since this summer's Knocked Up and the recent Juno, several articles have discussed Hollywood's lack of reality when dealing with pregnancy. Jennie Yabroff in Newsweek makes some great points.

Hollywood is generally assumed to be a bastion of political liberalism, but when movie characters find themselves unintentionally pregnant, one of two things happens: they keep the baby, or they conveniently miscarry.

Conservative bloggers and film critics are applauding what they interpret as the film's pro-life message, which raises a question: in our politically polarized world, can a film in which a girl decides against abortion manage to be viewed as anything other than an anti-abortion film?

Films like "Waitress" and "Juno" might not seem so politically potent if there were even a handful of counterexamples, but you have to go all the way back to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) to find one that shows a woman choosing to end an unplanned pregnancy in a sensitive, realistic fashion.

But if a majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose, why the on-screen taboo? One answer might be that while Hollywood likes to flaunt its political liberalism, it is fiscally very conservative—no studio wants to limit the size of its potential audience.

The message is that a female protagonist can't terminate a pregnancy and remain sympathetic.

A Special Delivery (Newsweek)

Jodie's Gay- So What?
The annual Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment breakfast which celebrates the most powerful women in Hollywood passed by without so much of a blip except for the news that Jodie Foster who received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award that morning, finally, publicly, acknowledged her big non-secret that she is gay and has been in a long term relationship for over a decade. Several stories have mentioned her comments but the best story on what this means or doesn't mean for Jodie, women and gay people in Hollywood comes out of Belfast of all places.

What was striking was not the acknowledgment itself. (Websites that breathlessly proclaimed Foster had 'come out' were surely overstating their case.) Rather, it was the sadness of everything that had gone before and the peculiar agony of being anything other than a straight up-and-down heterosexual in a town as supposedly progressive and forward-thinking as Los Angeles.

Here was one of the world's most successful women, with an enviable and growing body of work to brag about, and she couldn't - except in the most roundabout way and after 14 years - feel comfortable acknowledging her life partner in public.

People in Hollywood are, famously, only as big as their last film, and the knives are perpetually out to have the mighty fall and the talented go astray - but it is doubly, triply, quadruply difficult for a woman over 40 whose sexuality is, at least surreptitiously, seen as a strike against her and whose best work is often seen as being quite some distance in the past.

In the past few years, Foster hasn't been called upon to play those sorts of parts - a function of another Hollywood prejudice, this time against women too old to play romantic leads and too young to play grandmothers. In her past few performances (Flight Plan, The Brave One, Inside Man) she's essentially been a cog in the wheel of thriller-type plots that didn't require unusual amounts of soul-baring.

The Day Jodie Came Out Belfast Telegraph (thanks to AfterEllen)

Awards
AFI Named its Top Films and TV Shows of the Year
FILM
"Juno"
"The Savages"

TV
"Tell Me You Love Me"
"30 Rock"
"Ugly Betty"


Chicago Film Critics Awards:
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM - "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
ACTRESS- Ellen Page - "Juno"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Cate Blanchett - "I’m Not There"
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Diablo Cody - "Juno"

News
The Society of Stage directors and Choreographers (the stage version of the DGA) has named Karen Azenberg its new president.

A Walk Into the Sea directed by Esther Robinson a behind the scenes and personal look at the Warhol Factory is currently playing in NY.
Interview with Esther Robinson

Lauren Bacall is still acting up a storm at 83. She currently appears in The Walker
At 83, Bacall is Still Bold and Beautiful (Washington Post via Miami Herald)