Warner Bros. Denies Nikki Finke’s ‘No Women in the Lead’ Report

Of course, there’s no way any respectable movie house would let a report go unanswered about it not wanting women to take the lead in its films. As expected, Warner Bros. has fired back and says it is still committed to women.

On Oct. 5, Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily reported that Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov said the company is “no longer doing movies with women in the lead”. On Oct. 9, Variety reported:

Warner production prexy Jeff Robinov insists he is moving forward with several movies with women in the lead. Indeed, he is offended by rumors of his cinematic misogyny.

[While] action features starring women remain a hard sell for many moviegoers, Robinov [says] he is still willing to put a femme star into an action role.

“Like any other movie, it has to be the right movie with the right actor and the right filmmaker at the right time,” he said.

The optimistic read from Karina Longworth of Spout.com is that “Warner Bros. is taking a conscious step away from producing movies like ‘The Invasion’ and ‘The Reaping’ that bleed money, misuse high-caliber talent, embarrass just about everyone and please almost no one.” While Finke hasn’t yet responded, you know she will.

10:08 p.m. update: Alas, here is that expected response. It’s a good read of what happened behind the scenes.