HollywoodChicago.com: Film interviews from Chicago film critic Adam Fendelman

Monday, October 8, 2007

Hollywood Suicide? Warner Bros. Decrees: ‘No Longer Doing Movies With Women in the Lead’

Looking purely at dollar signs and apparently not thinking logically, Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov has apparently made himself a new favorite executive for people to love to hate.

That’s because, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily, he has decreed that Warner Bros. is “no longer doing movies with women in the lead”.

The bold statement comes on the heels of weak box-office performances from Jodie Foster’s “The Brave One,” Nicole Kidman’s “The Invasion,” Emma Roberts’ “Nancy Drew” and Hilary Swank’s “The Reaping”.

The statement sounds like one of those someone might privately think somewhere but never have the nerve to say aloud let alone actually put into practice. This will not bode well for Warner Bros.

Here’s just one response already from noted women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred. She calls for a Warner Bros. boycott:

“When movies with men as the lead fail, no one says we’ll stop making movies with men in the lead. This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women.

It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions [that] are made by men.

Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment about which scripts to make, directors to hire and budgets to OK, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads.

[They will] exclude talented female actors from top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favor of macho males.

If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads, then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros.”

10:43 a.m. update on 10/10/07: As expected, Warner Bros. has fired back and denied this report.

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2007 HollywoodChicago.com Ratings Snapshot (out of 5.0)
Juno”: 4.5 Once”: 4.5 Gone Baby Gone”: 4.5 The King of Kong”: 4.5 The 11th Hour”: 4 Stardust”: 4 Talk to Me”: 4
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”: 4 Beowulf”: 4 Wristcutters: A Love Story”: 4 Ira & Abby”: 4
Michael Clayton”: 4 The Simpsons Movie”: 4 Harry Potter”: 4 Fracture”: 4 In the Valley of Elah”: 3.5 Ladrón Que Roba a Ladrón”: 3.5
The Mist”: 3.5
The Kingdom”: 3.5 2 Days in Paris”: 3.5 Hot Rod”: 3.5 Arctic Tale”: 3.5 Becoming Jane”: 3.5 The Bourne Ultimatum”: 3.5
Evening”: 3.5 Rescue Dawn”: 3.5 Eagle vs. Shark”: 3.5 Shrek the Third”: 3.5 Spider-Man 3”: 3.5 The Darjeeling Limited”: 3
August Rush”: 3 Rendition”: 3 The Brave One”: 3 3:10 to Yuma”: 3 Shoot ‘Em Up”: 3 Love in the Time of Cholera”: 3 Thax”: 2.5
Southland Tales”: 2.5 Nancy Drew”: 2.5 Hostel: Part II”: 2.528 Weeks Later”: 2.5 Bert”: 2 Mr. Woodcock”: 2
Balls of Fury”: 2 The Brothers Solomon”: 2 The Invasion”: 2 Lust, Caution”: 2 Music Within”: 2
Rush Hour 3”: 2 Lucky You”: 2 The Condemned”: 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks”: 1.5 Illegal Tender”: 1.5 Sydney White”: 1
Resident Evil: Extinction”: 1 Death Sentence”: 1 The Final Season”: 1