'Celluloid Ceiling' survey results released

The industry news of the day is a far cry from the delights of watching the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler-hosted Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday. The telecast enjoyed its best ratings in seven years, thanks, in large part, to Fey and Poehler. But the realities of working females in Hollywood is nothing to smile about, so say the results of the annual “Celluloid Ceiling” survey released earlier today.

The employment survey focused on the top 250 domestic movies of 2013. According to the analysis, just 16 percent of the year’s 2,938 filmmakers were women, a figure that is down 2% from 2012. One of its unsurprising findings included a breakdown of employment by genre: women were most likely to be found working on drama, comedy and documentary films, and least likely to be found contributing to animation, horror and sci-fi projects.

Two major roles, those of director and writer, saw a decrease in women participants. The number of women directors currently stands at 6 percent, a downturn of 3 percent from 2012, while women make up 10 percent of working writers in Hollywood, down 5 percent.

As disheartening as it is to read a litany of these statistics, the female talent that is currently breaking through the ranks, bumping into that “celluloid ceiling” until it gives, is top-rate. There have been many articles written about the untapped wealth of women filmmakers, and they have inspired us to contribute our own small share of the positivity. The below list names just a few of the successful women working behind-the-scenes today, in roles that are indispensable to their lauded projects.

And for a great, thorough breakdown of female influence in Hollywood, take a read through indiewire’s “A to Z” list of women in film here.

Director: Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
The pack of talented directors whose 2013 films have been raking in award nominations and box-office receipts is undoubtedly one of the strongest in years. Steve McQueen, David O. Russell, Alfonso Cuaron… they have produced important, fun work all. But the acknowledgment of their talent doesn’t make it any less of a shame that an innovative, albeit unshowy director like Nicole Holofcener should get widely overlooked when it comes time to tip our hats to the best films of the year. Enough Said is small, quiet, awkward, funny, sad, awkward-funny, awkward-sad, and pretty darn true to life. We love that star Julia Louis-Dreyfus has received some well-deserved attention, but Holofcener should be running the awards circuit alongside her. We do have confidence, however, that someone with such a resonant voice can’t be marginalized forever, and Hollywood at large will eventually catch up.

Eventually.

 

Writers: Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, Saving Mr. Banks
It seems only natural that one of the best female roles of the year, the difficult and complex Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, should have been written by two women. Saving Mr. Banks is a tough story to tell, as so much of the present action between Travers and Walt Disney is dependent upon an understanding of Travers’ past. Although some, like our critic David Noh, found the Banks script a little thin, Marcel and Smith succeeded in fully fleshing out the most important part of the film, Travers herself. It helped that they had feminist firebrand Emma Thompson to bring their character to life, too. Marcel will next tackle the hyped 50 Shades of Grey script. If that choice gives some female advocates pause, no one can say Marcel hasn’t landed one of the most hotly anticipated, and therefore most competitive, films of 2015.

 

Producer: Megan Ellison, American Hustle
Ellison is a fascinating story, one which may warrant a film in its own right someday. The daughter of the third-richest man in America, software company Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison, 28-year-old Megan’s brief list of producing credits thus far is, frankly, ridiculous. True Grit, The Master, Spring Breakers, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, and, of course, American Hustle (you might have noticed her up on stage with the rest of the cast when Hustle won for Best Musical or Comedy at the Globes Sunday night), to name just a few. As a 2013 story in Vanity Fair recounts, when Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal were seeking financing for Zero Dark Thirty, trying to find backers for their film outside of the major studios, Ellison offered to write a check for the movie’s entire budget herself. Lest you think Ellison is one who simply likes to swing her weight about with the help of Daddy’s hefty checkbook, however, the aforementioned list of projects testifies to the fact that she has a nose for this kind of thing. She’s currently working on the new Terminator reboot series, and the Seth Rogen-penned animated comedy, Sausage Party. Starting off with money helps, of course, but clearly Ellison knows how to make her own.

 

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Wolf of Wall Street
Behind every successful man is a woman, and behind every successful director is an editor. You’ve got both in the person of Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese’s longtime collaborator. The 73-year-old Schoonmaker is the recipient of three Oscars herself, for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed, accolades that only underscore the fact that without her, there would be no heralded Scorsese oeuvre. More recently, there would be no Wolf of Wall Street if Schoonmaker hadn’t worked tirelessly to cut the film down to its current runtime of 179 minutes. In an interview with Variety, Schoonmaker admitted the final stretch of cutting Wolf was “particularly horrendous.” But does she mind not being front-and-center alongside Scorsese, mind never having directed a picture herself? “I think if I was working on disappointing films, well maybe” she would direct, she muses. “But I get this wonderful treasure trove. How many editors can say that?”

 

Cinematographer: Rachel Morrison, Fruitvale Station
Young film student and director Ryan Coogler may be the hot topic of conversation surrounding Fruitvale Station, but, like Schoonmaker, without Morrison’s expertise, there would have been no Fruitvale Station, and no breakout for Coogler. Morrison has been carving out her niche in one of the industry’s most male-dominated roles (which is saying something), cinematography, since 2002. She’s worked on kitschy TV series “Room Raiders” and “The Hills,” and, more recently, on the Alan Cumming indie Any Day Now. But it was her collaboration with Coogler that brought her work to a broader audience, a coup that will hopefully land her more of the same interesting, progressive projects in the future.

 

‘Hobbit’ leads holiday charge, contributes to record b.o.

Five new films may have opened on Christmas day, but it seems audiences preferred to seek out known successes, rather than take a chance on novel fare. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug won the weekend for the third week in a row with its $29.9 million haul, while Disney’s hit Frozen, now in its fifth week, skated past last weekend’s tough competitor American Hustle as well as Anchorman 2 to earn the second highest gross ($28.8 million). Though Smaug continues to track behind last year’s Hobbit prequel, it nonetheless joins Gravity as the only two films this year to have retained their No. 1 standing for three consecutive weekends. As for Frozen, which has surpassed even the most optimistic expectations, it boasted the third highest  fifth-weekend gross ever, just behind the $30 million Titanic earned its fifth weekend in theatres, and Avatar’s $42.8 million.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues chuckled its way to the No. 3 slot with $20.2 million. So far, the comedy has earned $83.7 million domestically. Will Ferrell’s long-gestating sequel should easily surpass the first Anchorman’s $85.7 million cume within the next few days.

In fourth place, David O. Russell’s American Hustle made like stars Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper and danced its way to a cool $19.6 million. The film has so far enjoyed (almost) universal critical acclaim and positive word-of-mouth. More awards nominations seem imminent, which should significantly boost its already impressive $60 million cume. Pundits believe an overall take of $100 million is likely.

The only new release to have landed within the weekend’s Top 5 – and then just barely – was Martin Scorsese’s much hyped The Wolf of Wall Street. The Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer earned $18.5 million, or $34.3 million for the five-day holiday spread. There are those who believe the film’s low Cinemascore rating of a “C” bodes poorly for its continued box office success, predicting a quick flameout within the next week or two. Others, however, think Street’s controversial depiction of stunted adolescence/hubristic debauchery will continue to draw viewers, especially if the rumors prove true and the film earns an Oscar nod or several.

Saving Mr. Banks, which has struggled to find its audience these past few weeks, finally clicked with holiday moviegoers. The true story of how Walt Disney successfully won the film rights to Mary Poppins from persnickety author P.L. Travers earned $14 million, a great uptick of 50%.

Unfortunately, with the exception of The Wolf of Wall Street, the full story of the holiday’s new releases isn’t as uplifting. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty did OK business with its $13 million weekend gross and $25.6 million five-day haul. Those figures are respectable, though they pale in comparison with past Ben Stiller hits Night at the Museum and the Meet the Parents movies. Still, at least Stiller and his collaborators weren’t part of the very, very expensive 47 Ronin, directed by and starring Keanu Reeves, which tanked with $9.9 million ($20.6 million over the five days).  They also had nothing to do with Grudge Match, a flop with $7.3 million ($13.4 million five-day), nor, thankfully, with Justin Bieber’s docu-bomb, Believe ($2 million/$4.3 million). As Mitty himself is well aware, it’s all about perspective.

Even given the aforementioned string of less-than-boffo bows, though, the day’s big news is all about 2013’s box-office success. Final numbers have yet to be tallied, but as of yesterday the domestic box office was just $1.6 million shy of the $10.837 billion record set in 2012. With today and tomorrow still to go, it’s safe to assume 2013 will be another one for the books.

Disney lands Tom Hanks for Mary Poppins film 'Saving Mr. Banks'

Tom Hanks may star as Walt Disney himself in Saving Mr. Banks. The Disney-produced film (of course) would chronicle Disney's fourteen-year effort to acquire the film rights to Mary Poppins from its Australian author, P.L. Travers. Emma Thompson would play Travers, who apparently was so unhappy with the film's animated sequences, she never sold another one of her works to the studio. I'm not sure how Disney will fit that tidbit in.

The project makes sense in regards to Disney's overall strategy, which is to focus on projects that can be leveraged across all of its different areas of business. The movie could spur people to revisit Mary Poppins (both the 1964 movie and Disney’s Broadway stage production) and buy a copy of the film for their kids, nieces and nephews, etc. However, it's also eyebrow-raising to see that Disney is turning the camera lens on itself. The company is notoriously protective of its brand. Could an accurate portrayal of the relationship between Travers and Disney be compromised by Disney's need to maintain a positive image? Or will it go the friendly King's Speech route, where the worst we saw of the royal family was a tepid take on the Prince Edward scandal and the stereotypical portrayal of uptight royals and customs?

One thing that concerns me about the project is its navel-gazing. Of course Hollywood people who read the script (and probably the critics that review the eventual film) will love seeing an insider portrayal of Hollywood. But will everyone else care? The Travers character might serve as the anti-Hollywood character, an outsider who takes Disney off his high horse. John Lee Hancock, who helmed The Blind Side, has signed on to direct, and that movie was a huge success with people in areas underserved by Hollywood films. Those two elements may broaden the appeal of the project. The screenwriter herself is something of an outsider. Kelly Marcel has few credits to her name, but she's Australian just like the children's author. I, too, never liked the animated sequences in Mary Poppins, so perhaps this film will deliver more than I would expect.

 

Choose heavenly 'Up,' or 'Drag Me to Hell'

By Sarah Sluis

The must-see movie of this weekend is Pixar's Up (3,700 screens). The opening night selection at Cannes, the PG-rated film will appeal to all ages, and rack up box-office dollars from audiences of every demographic. Pixar usually keeps its plots mysterious--our Executive Editor Kevin Lally points out that "the subject matter...might seem a dubious bet until you see what's been rendered on-screen," so I'll be sparing with the exposition. Ellie and Carl meet each other play-acting adventurers in an old house, reminiscent of the one in It's A Wonderful Life. They fall in love, marry, fix up the house, and, in a touching montage, share life's joys and disappointments, namely their inability to have children or visit Paradise Falls, where they planned on following the footsteps of famous adventurer Charles F. Muntz. Ellie dies (a fact whispered in clarification to a younger sister during the screening I attended), and as you wipe your eyes from under your 3D glasses you realize that the beautiful house they've fixed up is now surrounded by high rises, in an image first drawn in The Little House (a Caldecott winner by famous children's book author Virginia Lee Burton).

While it's taken me a paragraph to explain the moments leading up to Carl's balloon-aided escape from urbanism, Up astounds with its economy: it trusts its (young) audience, and isn't afraid to give them quiet moments. The moments it returns to and repeats, like peeks in the scrapbook Ellie kept of her life, are raps, not hammering reminders. Its creatures (especially the talking dogs) are humorous, and the eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer stowaway, a non-acting child that director Pete Docter said they would tickle or ask to do jumping jacks before reciting his lines, to coax out the best reading, is a charming complement to Carl's stodgy shtick. Up will almost certainly win opening weekend, and make strong showings at the box office weeks after its release.

Sam Raimi, who launched his career with the Evil Dead series and revived it by helming three Spider-Man films, has returned to horror with Drag Me To Hell (2,400 screens), which has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, who tend to recoil from the genre. The "diabolically entertaining" film, according to critic Michael Rechtshaffen, contains an allusion to the mortgage crisis. Alison Lohman plays a bank officer who denies a loan extension to a woman, who in turn places a curse on her. As she tries to avoid being dragged off to hell, she enlists the help of her boyfriend, Justin Long. With "old-school puppetry and prosthetic makeup combined with some judiciously used CGI," Raimi appears to have created a horror film with broad appeal, that will provide counterprogramming to those who'd rather not go Up.

On the specialty side, the film to check out is Departures, the Japanese-language picture that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Our critic Maggie Lee called it a "popular gem�thematically respectable, technically hard to fault, and artfully scripted to entertain and touch audiences." The movie follows an unemployed cellist who signs up to be a "journey assistant," preparing dead bodies for their funerals. Delving into the world of death reminds him of his opposite: "The scene of him wolfing down fried chicken suggests his appetite for life is eventually whetted by confronting mortality daily�a reconnection with nature's cycle."

On Monday, I'll check up on just how high-flying Up was at the box office, and how much money Drag Me to Hell could scare up, so circle back as summer movie season moves into full swing.