Sally Field Says That Black Men Have Helped Women Advance In Hollywood There has been a lot of talk about diversity , or lack thereof, in Hollywood this year. If you let veteran actress Sally Field tell it, the success that women have enjoyed is, in part, a result of black men (What about the women, Sally?) speaking out against system that often fails to include people of color. Here’s what she told TheGuardian : The two-time Oscar-winning actor Sally Field has claimed the prominence of African American men in the current push for greater diversity in Hollywood is the only reason women are finally getting heard by studios. High-profile stars from Liv Tyler to Daryl Hannah have long complained that opportunities for female actors begin to dry up once they reach their mid-30s. Some, such as Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon, have carved out opportunities for themselves by starting their own production companies. But interviewed for BuzzFeed, Field revealed such options were not open to her in the 1980s. “It was extremely difficult to get really interesting, diverse projects set up,” said Field, who launched Fogwood Films in 1984, alongside the high-profile Hollywood producer Laura Ziskin, but found little success. “We were beating on the doors. But in those days, the Sundance film festival hadn’t happened like it is, independent film wasn’t available … there wasn’t the same kind of drumbeat to find a way to get a film made that’s so unique.” The 69-year-old actress says that the voice of African-American men demanding diversity is helping ALL undermined groups in Hollyweird… “There’s a huge conversation about diversity happening across the boards – which is what it always should have been – that has to do with colour and race and gender preferences and men and women,” she said. “I think perhaps the fact it’s not just women now, that there’s others involved … I have to say, honestly, the fact men are involved. Thank God for African American men. You go, boys! We’re right behind you. “Because the women would still be shut out. It’s sad but true. If it were just Jen Lawrence and Amy Schumer – bless their beautiful, talented hearts – they would be shut out. I know it. It would be, ‘Oh, poor little rich girl.’ You know? So I’m standing right behind Beasts of No Nation. I’m with them. Maybe that’s because of my generation of women, who kind of went, ‘I already feel beat up, so I am accepting it.’ I [didn’t] head right towards them and say, ‘Ef you and the horse you rode in on.’ Which, you know, might not have been a bad idea.” Sally probably could have left the “boys” part out, but we understand her general sentiment. Images via AKM-GSI
It’s the final Netflix column of September, but there’s still plenty of fantastic films left for you to do a little high speed streaming! Hit the jump for more pics and info…
The New York Film Critics Circle Award winners are well underway. Movieline will keep you updated as the honorees are announced. The list begins after the jump: Best Actress: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea Best Foreign Film: Amour Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey , Bernie, Magic Mike Best Supporting Actress : Sally Field , Lincoln Best Non-Fiction Film: The Central Park Five , Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon Best First Film: How to Survive A Plague , director: David France. Best Cinematographer: Greig Fraser, Zero Dark Thirty Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The tumultuous America of Steven Spielberg ‘s Lincoln was undoubtedly a man’s world, but behind the legendary 16th President of the United States — one of the greatest figures in American history — stood a fascinatingly complex, shrewd, and passionate woman: Mary Todd Lincoln. “Without a Mary Todd,” asserts Oscar-winner Sally Field , who portrays the paradoxical First Lady opposite Daniel Day-Lewis , “there would not have been an Abraham Lincoln.” Spielberg’s Lincoln , adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner from Doris Kearns’ biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln , brings the iconic Lincoln to life at the close of the Civil War, just prior to his 1865 assassination. Reenacting Lincoln’s precarious inter-party political dealings and dogged commitment to passing the Thirteenth Amendment, Lincoln depicts a pivotal, history-making period in the President’s career, taking care to highlight the impact made by his most under-acknowledged political partner — wife Mary Todd. And what indelible contributions did the emotionally volatile, smart, and savvy Mary Todd make to her husband’s legacy? Field sat down with Movieline to discuss the fantastically complicated First Lady of Lincoln — wife, mother, society figure, and trusted advisor — and why, as an actress “of age,” roles like these come along far too rarely. They say behind every great man is a great woman, perhaps especially so in Lincoln’s case, but the world in their time wasn’t quite up to speed with that thinking. Did you feel a certain responsibility to represent strong womanhood knowing that you were one of very few female characters in this cast? No. It wasn’t my task to do that. I could not feel that. That would have been absolutely in my way. I was given this great opportunity to portray the amazingly complicated, misjudged, misunderstood, maligned, and underexamined by history and certainly on the screen, Mary Todd Lincoln. Without a Mary Todd, there would not have been an Abraham Lincoln. Not what we saw. She was instrumental in his life, in helping him become who he ultimately became. From your perspective, knowing her this well, where do you feel her sense of moral justness came from and how did that affect Lincoln and his legacy? What she gave him was not in contributing to his moral justness; he got that on his own. That’s what she recognized in him, and he got that probably from his own upbringing and his survival, which was amazing. She saw his genius early on, when he was a bumpkin – he was gawky and everyone thought she was crazy because she was very popular. She was a society girl! She was pretty and popular and in her early 20s, and had her choice of suitors. Many of them later ran for President and lost, against him! The story about Mary Todd being courted by Douglas prior to marrying Lincoln, for example. Yes! She picked him, and she recognized his genius, his qualities. Some of them were what we later see in his great humanity, he’s able to connect with humanity. His speaking ability. She elevated him; she groomed him. She criticized his posture and what he wore and that he told too many jokes. He needed to elevate his language and speak out. She understood politics; she came from a powerful political family in Lexington, Kentucky; at that time Lexington was a very cutting-edge city. Her family, the Todds, really founded the city — she sat at the table with Henry Clay as a child and listened. Henry Clay was called The Great Compromiser; she was the one who brought young Lincoln to meet with Clay, and Clay became one of Mr. Lincoln’s heroes. He learned this world of politicking, and she got it — she got it more than he did, as you see in the film. She always was his coach, his confidante, and it was very difficult for her when he got to the White House, because she was pushed out of the center where she had been before. She was essentially his secretary of state — she ran his campaigns, she was his advisor. And when the cabinet was put into place she was kicked out. They didn’t want her there. They didn’t even want her to come downstairs at the White House! Well, by damned, she wasn’t going to stand for that — so she took it as her task to fix up the White House. It was a pig sty — literally, there were pigs and chickens in it, on the floor of the White House. It was treated with great disrespect and she felt it needed to be elevated because people needed to think of it as this place of power and great importance. She went about to do it and they tried to arrest her and cart her away. Thaddeus Stevens [played by Tommy Lee Jones in the film] tried to indict her several times — so she doesn’t like Thaddeus Stevens, needless to say. No, and that leads to one of the great scenes of Lincoln , in which you take Tommy Lee Jones’s Thaddeus Stevens to task. And that seems like a rare feat, generally speaking, because Tommy Lee Jones is so… Imposing? [Laughs] Yes! Take us into that scene, and what’s at stake for Mary Todd as we see her very publicly dressing down on behalf of her husband? Well, it was an absolutely eloquent and exquisitely-written monologue, and extremely hard to say and wrap your mouth around. We never rehearsed the scene; I think we kind of ran through it once, but Steven [Spielberg] would say, “Let’s just shoot it and see what happens.” That’s basically how Mary and Mr. Lincoln worked together — let’s just shoot it! So Tommy [Lee Jones] and I didn’t work on anything. He’s a wonderful actor as you know and see in the film, he knew his character, he knew their relationship and history, and so we just did it. Tell me more about this no-rehearsal process. Why opt for that, and is that a preference of yours? It was sort of decided, I think by both Steven and Daniel — it just was what it was, and we didn’t have weeks of rehearsal time prior. It just was what it was, and it brought about a different kind of energy. It was very interesting. Am I the only one talking about it? Certainly Daniel won’t, because he doesn’t talk about that kind of stuff. I’m the only blabbermouth!
Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, after Robert Pattinson joked he needed a personal publicist, potential reps went into overdrive. And Mila Kunis and Max Martini eye separate upcoming projects. Natalie Wood’s Death Certificate Amended Thirty years later, authorities have changed Natalie Wood’s death certificate from an “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” The new document also says that the circumstances of how the actress ended up in the ocean off of Catalina Island in California in 1981 was “not clearly established,” A.P. reports . LL Cool J Captures Robber at L.A. Home He plays a special agent on NCIS: Los Angeles , but he took matters into his own hands in real-life Wednesday morning. L.A. police say the rapper nabbed a burglary suspect in his Studio City home and held him downstairs before 1 a.m. while police arrived, A.P. reports . Publicists Go Head to Head to Rep Robert Pattinson Pattinson said during an appearance on The Daily Show that his “biggest problem in life” was not hiring a publicist, setting off a frenzy among the Hollywood publicity machine to rep the actor, THR reports . Mila Kunis Joins Third Person Kunis is joining the cast of Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis’ drama set in Rome, New York and Paris centering on three overlapping love stories. James Franco and Casey Affleck are in negotiations to join the project, set to start in mid-October, The Wrap reports . Max Martini Eyes Breacher Martini is in talks to join Breacher playing Pyro, a member of the DEA team, which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and Terrence Howard and directed by David Ayer, Deadline reports .
A pensive Daniel Day-Lewis turned Abraham Lincoln appears in this black and white poster of DreamWorks’ Lincoln due to hit U.S. theaters in November – actually only days after the 44th POTUS or the 45th POTUS wins the U.S. election. Directed by Steven Spielberg , Lincoln spotlights the 16th President of the United States during his final months in office. On set, Spielberg revealed that he’d refer to Day-Lewis as “Mr. President” along with referring to all the film’s actors by their character names, ML noted via a report by EW when the first color images of Lincoln appeared two weeks ago. If the sneak looks are any indication, an Oscar-nomination for Make Up and even Costume Design cannot be far off the mark. A quick look at Lincoln’s actual beard in an actual photo of the President shows his beard to appear less whiskery in the mid-jaw area. And voila, such is the facial hair as it manifests in the Lincoln version of Lincoln. Though obviously some time before audiences will first see Lincoln , with two-time Academy Award-winner Daniel Day-Lewis as the Civil War leader, more Oscar nominations will likely be in the offing come January. And who knows what Joseph Gordon-Levitt will do as Robert Todd Lincoln (the First Son) and Sally Field as the sometimes maligned wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Dreamworks revealed its official log-line for the feature: Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox film, in association with Participant Media, releases in U.S. theaters exclusive on November 9, 2012, with expansion on November 16, 2012.
While discussing the presidential biopic that he is gearing up to shoot in Richmond this fall, Steven Spielberg described what he does not want Lincoln to be. The 2012 title will “not [be] a battlefield movie. There are battles in it, and being in Virginia, we have access to those historic battlefields.” Additionally, “the movie will be purposely coming out after next year’s election. I didn’t want it to become political fodder.” On the other hand, Lincoln will chronicle “the great work Abraham Lincoln did in the last months of his life.” The drama stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president of the United States alongside Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and John Hawkes. [ Orlando Sentinel ]
Labor Day weekend calls for more than a celebration — it calls for validation of this thing we call work. Before you canter drunkenly into the long holiday, here are five movies that will reaffirm your faith in your own employment. It’ll add extra grace to your three-day break while making your return on Tuesday much easier. Let’s punch in and tune out!
Yesterday, Movieline told you that Glee: The 3D Concert Movie would open in theaters two days early for the biggest fans of Fox’s lucrative music series. Today, the trailer for the pseudo-concert event has arrived, allowing you to decide whether or not it’s worth a $30 sneak peak preview ticket.
I’m still recovering from the still of Andrew Garfield, with his itty-bitty torso and sweet angst , donning the Spider-Man suit. Six months have passed since that memorable day, and now EW — as part of a cover story and spread — has the first photos from the Marc Webb-directed reboot. Get ready for pained Emma Stone, upside-down Spidey, a chilling glimpse of Dr. Conners (a/k/a/ The Lizard), and a bloodied, shirtless Andrew Garfield.
