Jezebel: casting couch

No Kissing! For Bollywood Producers, Sex Will Do

Sadie — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Although Bollywood films are famously chaste, now one star is coming forward to talk about the realities of the "Casting Couch."

Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, now a Bollywood star, recently wrote on her personal blog about her experiences as a young woman trying to break into the industry. "I remember many years ago, while still in my teens, I had gone to meet a very successful producer regarding a film role at a plush suburban hotel.… They were looking for a new face to launch." He asked her about school and family, the producer instructed the teenager to inform her parents that she'd be spending the night in the hotel with him. When, instead, she left, he said, "I know you are a good girl but if you want to become an actress you have to do it! So and so and so and so (he named some of the top league actresses of that time) … do it. She do it and even she do it! They are my discovery. Everybody has to do it."

Whereas the "hard audition" is a Hollywood cliche, apparently it's always been a somewhat taboo subject in the more conservative confines of Indian cinema. Says Bollywood reporter Rajeev Masand, "I have always known about the casting couch. Every single person who enters the industry doesn't necessarily make it into the industry through the casting couch. However, the casting couch does exist though it is spoken about in whispers." Added India Daily,

It is all there and very common. The policy is do not ask and do not tell! No body forces any one. It is just an understood norm in Bollywood to keep every end happy for smooth sail to the top!

Perhaps as a result, it was considered a major scandal when Shakti Kapoor, a prominent actor, was caught on tape compromising a reporter posing as an aspiring actress.

Krishnamoorthi writes on her blog that the experience "scarred" her. But acknowledging the hierarchy of power and the fact that the system is very much in place is important - as is demonstrating that one can be a success without it.
I Experienced Casting Couch: Suchitra [Times of India]
www.suchitra.com.
Bollywood's Casting Couch [Bollyspice]
There Is No Casting Couch In Bollywood: Shakti Kapoor [Apunktachoice]
The Casting Couch [India Daily]

Picture Of

Sadie — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:20:00 EDT

Here's a first look at the Dorian Gray poster. Didn't you picture him blond, though? No? Okay, then. [ONTD]

Starlet Rosamind Pike To Suffer As Vain Surrogate

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:40:00 EDT

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories.

Along with playing the ubiquitous hooker, victim or doormat character, actresses are often pegged playing "the wife of," or "the mistress of," or even "the best friend of", especially in films that aren't specifically directed at women. Unless they are starring in a rom-com or a movie that is somehow centered around shoe-shopping, actresses in mainstream films are most often seen in some sort of role that supports the main actor. The newest casting announcements out of Hollywood prove that: most were almost entirely supporting roles, and there were even some hookers and doormats in there to keep things spicy! After the jump, Rosamund Pike fears aging and sticks with the surrogate-obsessed pack in a sci-fi thriller, and Camilla Belle fools around with a dreamy (but much older) Vincent Cassel in a new Brazilian coming-of-age film.

• Rosamund Pike, The Surrogates: In this sci-fi police thriller based on the graphic novel of the same name, Pike portrays the wife of a cop (played by Bruce Willis) investigating the corrupt world of life-surrogates that this future society depends on. In the story, Willis' character grows increasingly critical of depending on surrogates while Pike's character sticks to the cultural norm for fear of growing (and looking) older. Verdict: Doormat, while she may be defying her husband, her character represents the follow-the-herd mentality of the future society and the vanity of women.

• Camilla Belle, Adrift: This Brazilian movie set in the 1980s centers around a 14-year-old girl who learns about the infidelities of her father, played by (sigh) Vincent Cassel, as she experiences her own sexual awakening. Belle is slated to play a young woman that is having an affair with Cassel's character. Verdict: while we don't know much about her character, the fact she plays a young woman sleeping with an older, married man has the potential to be either a hooker or doormat.

• Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench, Nine: It's another movie based on a musical based on a movie! This film is based on the musical adaptation of Fellini's classic 8 1/2 and Kidman and Dench are in talks to join a cast that already includes Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, and Sophia Loren. The movie follows a film director as he juggles the demands of different women in his life. Verdict: Since details of their characters have yet to be released, we will have to hold off on judgment.

• Mary Lynn Rajskub, Julie & Julia: This film is based on the "true life" tale of a woman named Julie (played by Amy Adams) who blogged about cooking all of the recipes in Julia Child's famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cuisine, in the space of one calendar year. The film will also focus on Julia Child's personal life, played by Meryl Streep. Rajskub will play Julie's best friend. Verdict: While there is little information on the character, this movie sounds like it will be one big snooze-fest (a film about blogging can only be boring, trust.) And best friend roles are usually wither so secondary they aren't noticeable or they turn into doormats for the lead character's plot line.

"Bruce Willis Starrer 'Surrogates' Adds Cast" [Hollywood Reporter]
"Camilla Belle Is Cast 'Adrift'" [Hollywood Reporter]
"Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench Eye 'Nine'" [The Hollywood Reporter]
"Rajskub Joins 'Julia' Cast" [The Hollywood Reporter]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

We're starting to sense a pattern in the career of Katherine Heigl! Following up her roles in romantic comedies playing an accidentally-impregnated TV producer and an unlucky-in-love personal assistant, Hollywood's "hottest blonde" is set to star as an unlucky-in-love TV producer in the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. According to Variety, Heigl will play a morning show exec who finds herself "reluctantly embroiled... in a series of outrageous tests to prove [a sexist TV correspondent's] theories on relationships". The not so ugly truth? This time around, Heigl's male costar is named Gerard Butler. [Variety]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Julia Roberts, who first made her name playing, well, a hooker, continues to use her box office mojo to secure more assertive parts: The actress/mother will be both starring in and producing the film adaptation of the upcoming novel Hothouse Flowers, playing "a divorced woman who chucks her career at a New York advertising agency and sets out on a new adventure," according to the Hollywood Reporter. (Hopefully, that "new adventure" also involves a guy 2/3 her age.) Another red-headed "Julie" in the Tinseltown trades today? Julianne Moore, who will head up the supernatural horror film Shelter, reports Variety. Although the plot of the film has yet to be released by producers, it it's safe to say Ms. Moore will have to spend at least a few hours in the voiceover studio perfecting her scream. [UPI, Variety]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Marion Cotillard went home without a statuette at the SAG Awards, but the Gallic La Vie en Rose gamine may win a lesser prize: working opposite Johnny Depp. The French actress, 32, is in talks to join Depp and Christian Bale in the Depression-era drama Public Enemies, portraying Billie, the chanteuse and (probably long-suffering) gangster moll to Depp's criminal character, says the Hollywood Reporter. Dear Marion: Welcome to American moviemaking; just don't let them make you take your top off! [Hollywood Reporter]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:45:00 EST

Kirsten Dunst is thisclose to signing onto a starring role in the period (it's set in the '80s!) film All Good Things, playing a "beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks" who falls in love with a rich guy (Ryan Gosling) and then disappears, reports Variety. And one of Dunst's peers in young Hollywood hipsterdom, Selma Blair, has finally gotten a high-profile job: She is partnering with former SNL actress Molly Shannon for the comedy pilot Kath & Kim, based on the hit Australian sitcom of the same name about the wacky relationship between a mother and daughter. Lastly, Penelope Cruz will be voicing the role of Juarez the Guinea Pig in the half-animated/half-live-action film G-Force. Do you think she'll squeak in Spanish? [Variety, Reuters, UPI]

Salma Hayek Gets A Beard; Christian Bale Is A Hot Cop

Anna — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:30:00 EST

Salma Hayek has been keeping a low profile since giving birth to her daughter, Valentina, and now she's ready to get back to work. The actress will star opposite John C. Reilly in the horror film Cirque du Freak, according to the Variety. Hayek, 41, will play a bearded lady, "Madame Truska" opposite Reilly's vampire character in the film, which is based on the 12-book children's series by writer Darren Shan. (Is a bearded lady a victim? Survey says: No.) In other casting news, actress Olivia Wilde (The O.C., House) may have finally gotten her big film break, signing on to star as Jack Black's love interest in the "biblical-era comedy" The One, directed by Harold Ramis.

Lastly, for those Jezebels who appreciate fine-looking fellows, actor Christian Bale is set to star alongside Johnny Depp in director Michael Mann's Depression-era drama Public Enemies. Bale will play a FBI agent in hot pursuit of Depp's gangster. Think of it as Heat, minus 80 years.

Hayek Joins Reilly In Weitz's 'Freak' [Variety]
Olivia Wilde Joins Ramis' 'Year One' [Variety]
It's Bale As Manhunter In 'Enemies' [Hollywood Reporter]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Royal victim! Scarlett Johansson is set to star in the Phillip Noyce-directed Mary Queen of Scots, playing the Scottish queen, who, in 1542, became Scotland's queen (she was only an infant), and was later imprisoned on charges for plotting to murder Elizabeth I and beheaded. In other casting news, the actress who can do no wrong, Kate Winslet, is taking over for pregnant Nicole Kidman in The Reader, a drama helmed by The Hours director Stephen Daldry. [Variety, UPI]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Diablo Cody's ascent in Hollywood continues apace: Her hit film, Juno, made second place in the weekend box office, surpassing the Will Smith starrer I Am Legend, and, in a hat trick for women in Hollywood, the Juno screenwriter's script, Jennifer's Body, has been picked up by Fox Atomic with director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight) set to direct. The film, described as a "quirky comedic thriller", follows a cheerleader (Megan Fox) "whose perfect life goes haywire when she becomes possessed and begins killing the young men in town who lust after her." Looove it. [Variety, Variety]

More great news for women in Hollywood:...

Anna — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:45:00 EST

More great news for women in Hollywood: A poll of motion picture exhibitors conducted by Quigley Publishing has determined the top 10 box office-earners for 2007 and, for the first time in 24 years, there was nary a lady to be found. Johnny Depp came out on top, followed by Will Smith, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Will Ferrell and Tom Hanks. Hey, at least two of them are black! [UPI]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:45:00 EST

Hollywood's most famous reincarnated superstar (and inspiration for this very feature), Shirley MacLaine, is set to star as none other than Coco Chanel, reports Variety. MacLaine, 73, "will play the designer in her later years, as she set out to re-establish her reputation as a fashion trendsetter" in a Lifetime miniseries on the legendary French designer's life that will cover everything from Chanel's upbringing in an orphanage to her re-invention in her 70s. (Shirley is playing the "older" Coco, natch.) "It's a love story, it's a rags to riches story, it has some strong statements about women and about how the world has changed," the film's director, Christian Duguay, says, adding that Chanel head designer Karl Lagerfeld is helping on the production. Which means, invariably, that the finished product will end up being 90% Karl and 10% Coco, just like the Chanel exhibit at the Costume Institute a few years back! [Variety]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats

Anna — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:45:00 EST

Talk about Dreamgirls: Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, box-office behemoth Queen Latifah, singer Alicia Keys and British actress Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) are set to star in the Fox Searchlight drama The Secret Life of Bees, based on Sue Monk Kidd's 2002 novel of the same name. Latifah, Keys and Okonedo will play "an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters" who take in a teenage girl (Dakota Fanning) and her caregiver (Hudson) after the two flee the girl's troubled, mother-less home. Wonder who will get top billing? [Variety]

Hookers, Victims & Doormats*

Anna — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:45:00 EST

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories

• Victim? Perp? Or blatant grab for Glenn Close-like Oscar nom? That's the question we have after reading this morning that actress Mischa Barton has signed onto star in the "indie thriller" Homecoming, in which she'll play the ex-girlfriend of a guy (Matt Long) who develops an "unhealthy obsession" with him and begins stalking him and and his new girlfriend. Here's hoping the film's producers will avoid any mention of boiled pet bunnies. [Variety]

Keener + Holofcener = A Good Day For Women In Hollywood

Anna — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories

Today in Hollywood casting news: Actress Rhona Mitra (Nip/Tuck) is set to star as the wife of a police chief (Jon Hamm) and grieving mother of a missing boy in the independent thriller The Boy In The Box, reports the Hollywood Reporter. And in other ugh-inducing deals, Variety reports that former HBO honcho and alleged domestic abuser Chris Albrecht is set to bring the British show Secret Diary Of A Call Girl to American shores. But no matter! Female actresses, directors and audiences have reason to celebrate following reports that the incomparable, Oscar-nominated Catherine Keener is reteaming with her Walking & Talking director, Nicole Holofcener (with Keener, above left) to star in an untitled film about a group of New York women who live in the same apartment building.

Lest you think the film will be an amalgamation of Sex And The City and Melrose Place, think again: Keener will be playing a woman living next to a cantankerous elderly lady in what is described as a drama that "explores the interactions between Keener's character, who owns the woman's apartment, the woman and her two granddaughters."

Holofcener, Keener Move In With Indie Drama [Hollywood Reporter]
Related: Mitra Thinking Inside The 'Box' [Hollywood Reporter]

The Golden Globe Nominees: No Hookers, But Lots Of Victims

dodai — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST

As you may have heard, Hollywood icon Shirley MacLaine once asserted that the best parts for actresses always fall into the category of hooker, victim or doormat. Sometimes an actress wins an award, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, for playing all three at once! Well, now that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the nominees for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards, we wondered: what kinds of roles are women getting the nod for this year? We break it down, after the jump. (Also, we haven't seen all of these movies or TV shows, so feel free to disagree.)

Film:

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Cate plays the Queen of England, who is not really a victim. But she's in love with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) and she can't have him, because, duh, she's Queen. Verdict: OK!
Julie Christie, Away From Her: Woman with Alzheimer's who "forgets" husband. Verdict: Victim
Jodie Foster, The Brave One: Strong woman who goes on a vigilante killing spree after her fiance is killed. Verdict: Victim
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart: Woman loses husband in Pakistan! Verdict: Victim
Keira Knightley, Atonement: Girl falls in love with housekeeper's son, then tragically loses him. Verdict: Victim
Amy Adams, Enchanted: Cartoon princess in real world falls in love with real boy, fish-out-of-water hijinx ensue. She's basically a damsel in distress! Verdict: Victim
Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray: Campy teenager dances against segregation! Funny! Verdict: OK!
Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd: Helps Sweeney Todd seek bloody revenge. Bloody blood blood blood. Verdict: OK!
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose: Edith Piaf rises from street performer to international star. Verdict: OK!
Ellen Page, Juno: Pregnant teen seeks adoption parents. Verdict: OK!

Television:

Patricia Arquette, Medium: Psychic solves mysteries. Verdict: OK!
Glenn Close, Damages: Ruthless litigator with a bulldog approach. Verdict: OK!
Minnie Driver, The Riches: Modern gypsy grifter slash drug addict. Verdict: Victim-ish
Edie Falco , The Sopranos: Carmela is complicated but often gets stepped on. Verdict: Victim, Doormat
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters: Nora Walker is the matriarch of a complicated family of a adult children. Verdict: OK!
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace: Alcoholic law enforcement lady with a guardian angel. Verdict: Victim
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer: Police chief solves cases with her intuition and ability to read people. Verdict: OK!
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?: A woman suffers from amnesia and is forced to find out who she really is. Verdict: Victim
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty: Plucky yet unfashionable assistant at a fashion magazine works hard and overcomes obstacles. Verdict: OK!
Tina Fey, 30 Rock TV show head writer deals with crazy actors, boss. Verdict: OK!
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies: Chuck, once dead and now brought back to life by her childhood sweetheart, can't touch him or she'll die again. Meanwhile, they solve mysteries together. Verdict: Victim, the dude has all the power!
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds: Suburban mom turns into a pot dealer after her husband dies and she's in financial dire straits. Verdict: OK!

The bad news: 21 roles, 9 victims. The good news: No hookers!

Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Sandra Bullock Goes From Tomboy To Girly-Girl

Anna — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories

Good news on the casting front today: One of Hollywood's least-victimized leading ladies, Sandra Bullock, is set to star in the Fox vehicle One of the Guys, a comedy about a tomboy who throws her all-guy group of friends "into chaos when she embraces her feminine side", reports Variety.

The trade paper also reports that another strong lead actress, the Oscar-nominated Joan Allen, will appear alongside Richard Gere in Hachiko, A Dog's Story, a remake of a Japanese film about a loyal Akita who waited patiently for almost a decade after its owner died and didn't return home.

Uh, maybe they should call it Hachiko, A Sob Story.
Bullock Loves Guys [Variety]
Joan Allen Fetches A 'Dog's' Tale [Variety]

Michelle Williams: Martin Scorsese's Next Beaten-Down Babe

Anna — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories

Michelle Williams to play another woman as victim? The Oscar-nominated actress (Brokeback Mountain) is in final talks to star alongside Leonardo DiCaprio (yawn) and Mark Ruffalo (yum) in Shutter Island, a drama based on Dennis Lahane's book of the same name and directed by Martin Scorsese. The film follows two U.S. Marshals (DiCaprio, Ruffalo) as they investigate the disappearance of a mental patient; Williams' character — the dead wife of DiCaprio's character — "haunts" him throughout the film, explains the Hollywood Reporter.

In other casting news, Lauren Holly — 'member her? — has signed onto star in the independent film The Least Among You as a professor, widow and "closet drinker" who meets a falsely-arrested African American man after he visits her seminary following the 1965 Watts riots.

Michelle Williams Haunts Scorsese Mystery Drama [Reuters]
Holly, Gossett Cloistered For Indie Feature [Hollywood Reporter]

Starlet Trades In Playing Dumb Blondes For Deep-Throating Brunettes

Anna — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:00:00 EDT

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories.

Poor Anna Faris. Sick of being typecast by male Hollywood executives as the stupid girl who gets regularly assaulted for comedic effect, the 30-year-old actress is developing her own starring role as a sad girl who gets regularly assaulted for dramatic effect. Faris, who will also be seen in the upcoming comedy I Know What Boys Like, playing a former Playboy bunny, is so eager to be taken seriously as an actress that she's planning on starring as former porn star Linda Lovelace in the drama Inferno.

Faris says that playing Lovelace — the star of Deep Throat who later became an anti-pornography crusader and issued allegations of emotional and physical abuse against the film's producers — "would be cool for me to do." This, of course, comes just 10 months after Faris told the NY Times' Sara Corbett that her mother would love for her to take roles that are "less embarrassing." Ugh. Hollywood.
Anna Faris Plans To Get 'Deep' With Porn-Star Biopic [MTV]
Related: The Ditz Ghetto [NY Times]

Ashley Judd: Mental Case Off-Screen And On

Anna — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:50:00 EDT

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories

Two-and-a-half years after checking herself into a rehabilitation facility to treat her chronic ennui (we've been there!) and come to terms with her dysfunctional family (been there too!), actress Ashley Judd is using the experience as film fodder: Variety reports that the 39-year-old actress has signed to star in the drama Helen, which "centers on a music professor and mother who suffers from a deep, debilitating depression." Is it just us or does the name "Helen" often get associated with mentally or sensory-challenged types?

Ashley Judd To Star In 'Helen' [Variety]
Related: Ashley Judd On Rehab: 'I Needed Help [People]