Does The Female "Buddy" Movie Exist?

A reader pointed us to a blog called xkcd, where the poster asks, "Quick, name a few recent popular movies where the two top-billed stars are female." Does your mind go blank? Hollywood loves a buddy movie, but when it comes to women, they're usually love interests, or looking for love interests. Especially recently. Of course, indie films and horror or sci-fi flicks often get away with having a woman as the lead (and not in love), but indie ≠ Hollywood. And directors get away with having a woman as the hero in a horror or sci-fi movie because it's not real. It's a fantasy when Milla Jovovich kicks zombie ass or Uma Thurman slashes ninjas with a samurai sword. In any case, the guy from xkcd tallied up the male/male pairings, the male/female pairings, the female/male parings and female/female pairings of a few years' worth of movies, using IMDB to pinpoint the 20 biggest titles of each year. Here's what he found: More »

Women In Hollywood Speak Out On Women In Hollywood

Today, Salon has the transcript of a roundtable discussion between a group of the most powerful women in Hollywood. The panel was moderated by producer Lynda Obst (Contact, Sleepless in Seattle). Included in the conversation were (among others) writer/director Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally), writer/producer Laura Ziskin (To Die For, Spider-Man), writer/director Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise), producer Cathy Konrad (Walk the Line), writer/director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), and a female studio head: Universal president of production Donna Langley. (Part of the discussion appears in this month's Elle magazine, but Salon has the extended version.) The group touched on a number of subjects, including whether or not women — other than Julia Roberts, that is! — can "open" films. Some of the highlights, after the jump. More »