Studios Won’t Cast Women as Leads Because “Women Don’t Go to Movies”
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Posted by Guest Blogger June 9th, 2009 |
By Guest Blogger Nia Vardalos
A little-known fact: some studios recently decided to no longer make female-lead movies.
Lately, I’ve been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because… “women don’t go to movies.”
Really?
When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, he called them “flukes.” He said “don’t quote me on this.” So, I’m telling everybody.
I’m in a new movie, My Life In Ruins, out in theaters now. It’s a small indie, that was picked up for distribution by a studio (thank you Fox Searchlight.) We’re in one-third, maybe less, about one-quarter of the amount of screens of the big movies…yet we made it into the Top Ten.
I’m not too cool to admit this — on the weekend, I snuck into the back of the theaters to hear people laughing. It’s a very good-mood-inspiring sound, better than the sound of potatoes being dipped into a fryer. (Almost.)
The theaters were full of people laughing. Women were there. Sure, men were there, we are a date movie too, but the fact is women were there, some in big girls night groups.
Our movie isn’t “playing everywhere,” yet these audience members found it. We had an advertising budget of about 6 bucks, Canadian. We don’t have billboards, or giant newspaper ads, or skywriting. So I’ve been Twittering (NiaVardalos), producing homemade videos and distributing them online — watch “My Life In Ruins, Really!” below at WIMN’s Voices, or at YouTube — and blabbing to anyone who makes eye contact with me.
It’s called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so. My Life In Ruins is the highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight history so we’ve been given a chance. And, the theater owners said they’ll keep the movie in their theaters if people go.
So, women: can we speak up with our wallets?
Guest Blogger Nia Vardalos is the Academy Award-nominated writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, one of the highest-grossing independent feature films in history. Follow her on Twitter at NiaVardalos.
June 11th, 2009 16:43
I’d like to see the surveys and stats “proving” we don’t go to movies. I go to a diverse array of them, from small art films to Star Wars, and see women all around me (not to mention girls). Say what?!
June 12th, 2009 10:33
it is just crazy for that exec to say women don’t go to the movies. who does he think is going?? this guy has obivously never set foot inside a movie theatre. even the Star Trek audience was pretty evenly split!
isn’t this really the same story we always hear? in the face of overwhelming evidence of gender bias, they still try to tell us it’s actually women’s fault that we don’t rise to the top of the corporate ladder, become reporters, get our movies made….the list goes on. oy.
good luck to you, Nia!
June 12th, 2009 14:01
I am so seeing this damn movie this weekend it ain’t even funny!
Yeah, Jane Birkin, if there’s any truth to the statement, “women don’t go to movies” it’s because most movie execs are like this idiot Vardalos had to deal with, so almost all of the movies are geared toward men. Or the ones made by men for women are so full of stereotypical sexist tripe, no one would want to see them anyway.
What’s depressing is that of the eleven movies playing at the multiplex in my neighborhood, not one of them is directed by a woman.
I’ll be all over The Proposal, Julie & Julia, and Amelia when they hit theaters.
June 12th, 2009 15:27
Wow… bitter that no one has gone out with him lately, isn’t he? What a schmoo… If women don’t go to movies, then I’d like to know why the hell I have 20 Cinemark ticket stubs in my car since April… I wonder if his studio is doing any business… LOL
June 12th, 2009 18:44
I remember hearing a similar reason why movies weren’t made for the tween/teen girl… because they will see boy movies, but boys won’t see girl movies.
Thanks Nia for making great movies. Can’t wait to see this one. With my husband. Because he will certainly like it, too!
June 13th, 2009 20:44
Thanks for your guest post, Nia. And thanks for not keeping quiet.
At Women In Media & News, we have often heard this sort of ridiculous justification for blatantly sexist decisions by studios. It’s always helpful when women in your position actually speak out about it — it adds weight to media activists’ arguments and demands for equity (and accountability) from Hollywood.
The unfortunate truth is that conventional wisdom in Hollywood has never been about the actual numbers, it’s too often about the often-untested, culturally-rooted biased of the suits in charge. Ideas such as:
– women supposedly do not go to movies
– girls will go to any movie their boyfriends tell them to go to, but the reverse supposedly isn’t true
– boys and men supposedly will not voluntarily watch movies with women in major roles other than bimbo, dominatrix, mother/mammy, or crime victim
No matter how many movies prove these biases wrong, “conventional wisdom” comes up with that lamest of responses: “That was just a fluke.”
Just like your studio exec told you.
Keep speaking out, keep writing scripts for strong female leads, and keep standing up for actresses and the audiences (female and male alike) who want to see women shine in all manner of films — comedy, drama, action and documentaries.
October 25th, 2009 13:32
That’s crazy. I’m a woman, and I go to lots of movies. Movies with female leads and movies with male leads. My boyfriend likes the stereotypical male movies, but will let me choose the movies we go to see on dates, because he trusts my taste. Keep standing up for what you believe in! My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of my all time favorite movies and I’ve seen it many, many times. I love you Nia Vardalos!