A reflection on the place of women in Hollywood through the lens of a breakthrough feminist film.
I used to go in with my fists up. I’d go, ‘I’m tough, I’m tough, I’m tough.’ Eventually I had to learn that that is the worst thing; that is what men really hate.”
.. A collaboration developed, in which Ridley and Callie went page by page through the script for weeks, making sure he understood the rage and that all the emotion was real. He called them “daily lectures.” He was dubious about all the hideous male behavior in the script and asked her if these things ever happened to her. “The point is, it doesn’t matter if it happened to me,” she answered. “These things happen all the time, and it could have been me and it could be any of the women you have ever come into contact with.”
.. He argued for humor throughout, as he felt it was critical to the overall “ride” of the film. “He thought the men in the audience should eat some crow, but he wanted them to enjoy the taste.
.. The movie became almost as famous for the casting of the hitchhiker—Brad Pitt in his first film role.
.. “Nothing in the script indicated that the intimate story needed such an opulent stage,” Ms. Aikman writes. “He brought that to it,” Susan tells her. “We filled in the emotions and the people.” Once she saw the finished film, she understood: “Because Ridley put us in this heroic setting, the film had the impact it did,” but that wasn’t so apparent at the time.
.. It was assumed that if you were interested in the look of the film you couldn’t also care about the scenes. This dichotomy of course is false.
.. How did they even get to that point? The Look vs. The Characters? That is not a boy vs. girl thing. That is a writer vs. director thing. And it’s ironic because what makes the movie so perfect is the blending of the two.
Open relationships are torture
“The Commune” is a grim portrayal of commune life in general and open marriages specifically. Anna and Erik’s commune is festooned with red flags from the very beginning, and I am not talking about their politics. They are not really i dealists (politics is virtually never mentioned, and definitely never practiced, in this movie) and their commune has no higher purpose. What they seek is a life where nobody has to sacrifice.
Anna wants to escape her boredom with her husband: “I need to hear someone else speak,” she exclaims. Erik, uptight and prone to fits of rage, hopes extra people will help pay for the house. But the real cost, of course, proves to be emotional.
.. Where the two films agree is that open relationships are torture. Together’s villain is the promiscuous, predatory Lena, who pressures her long-suffering boyfriend Göran into pretending he’s okay with her infidelity. Out of every misdeed in this movie, only Lena’s are decisively punished. This might seem like a skewed message—domestic violence is forgivable but open relationships aren’t?
Elizabeth Banks: Wrong on Spielberg, Wrong on Diversity
Plenty of his films have been about women, but artists aren’t under any obligation to check the identity-politics boxes.
.. Is Steven Spielberg under some kind of moral or political obligation to make movies about women?
.. “I went to Indiana Jones and Jaws and every movie Steven Spielberg ever made, and by the way, he’s never made a movie with a female lead,” Banks said, bizarrely, adding, “Sorry, Steven. I don’t mean to call your ass out, but it’s true.”
.. The audience isn’t a constituency they need to reflect or to whom they need to appeal in their work. It isn’t their job to represent every group. Art is notable, in fact, for its spectacularly unrepresentative character.
Why ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Soared in China While ‘Lego Batman’ Flopped
A Dog’s Purpose” wasn’t even going to be released in China, where few American dramas without special effects or A-list stars are successful. But Amblin last fall, seeking a Chinese investor to give its movies better play in China, sold a minority stake in the studio to Alibaba. Shortly after, Ms. Wei, of Alibaba Pictures, saw “A Dog’s Purpose” and its potential.
.. Alibaba promoted the movie alongside pet adoption agencies and held special screenings for people and their dogs, Ms. Wei said. It plumbed its online movie-ticket service to target pet owners, families, women and others it believed would like the movie. Alibaba representatives traveled to theaters to persuade exhibitors to allocate screens, bringing the e-commerce data to support their pitch.
.. Alibaba lobbied the state-run distributor to extend the movie’s run to eight weeks, twice as long as most imported films... A combination of Chinese regulations and the unpopularity of state-run television don’t allow the kind of large-scale TV ad campaigns used in U.S. marketing... China requires a few million dollars in digital advertising and a local, hands-on touch as simple as lobby displays... “It really is an enormous market in terms of how much you need to do to reach beyond the biggest cities,” said Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, Warner Bros.’ head of international distribution. “Having a local partnership is really helpful in maximizing the scale and scope of your campaign.”