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.

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.