FORBES: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, WOMEN DIRECTORS

Up Close And Personal: Women Directors.
A hugely successful year for women’s movies at the box office doesn’t necessarily translate to Oscar gold for women.

The dearth of female nominees dovetails, somewhat ironically, with a particularly successful year for female films at the box office. Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Melissa Rosenberg and based on Stephenie Meyer’s teen vampire novel, has grossed $360 million worldwide, making it the seventh-highest grossing U.S. film of 2008.

Where Are the Women?

Most mid- to big-budget films are made for a 14- to 25-year-old male audience. Conventional wisdom is that adult women don’t go to the movie theater, says Jane Fleming, president of Women in Film, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes women filmmakers. There’s also a perception–even among female studio heads like DreamWorks’ Stacey Snider and Sony Pictures’ Amy Pascal, as the Los Angeles Times revealed last year–that women do not want to direct big-budget, male-dominated, male-targeted films.
But that may not be true.

Take director Catherine Hardwicke. Last year, she told the Los Angeles Times in the same article that she would love to direct a “superhero” movie.

“Did anyone call me with one?” she asks. “No. I got radio silence.”

Even after the financial success of Twilight, the studios “are still not throwing money at me,” she says.

While Hardwicke is currently up for the job of directing a big action film with a female protagonist, she will not be helming the Twilight sequel, a fact that hasn’t gone over well with women in Hollywood. Hardwicke says the reason for this is that the sequel’s quick turnaround schedule doesn’t mesh with her desire to make a quality film–but that hasn’t stopped constant speculation in the press that Hardwicke was cut from the franchise for being a difficult personality. (In a town that produced James Cameron, Harvey Weinstein and Michael Bay, who knew that could be anything but an advantage?)

Source

Although this article brings up no new information, they make interesting points about women directors. I don’t say that Catherine should have been nominated for an Oscar, but I do think doors should be more open to her now. She did a good job with Twilight and I wish her great success in all her endeavors. I hope the speculation that she’s difficult to work with stops soon and she can move on.

What do you think?