The Screengrab : warner bros

'Heading for Trouble

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:30:00 GMT

One of the movies I'm most looking forward to this fall is Towelhead, a creepy coming-of-age drama with the twist that the lead character, Jasira Maroun, is an Arab-American girl from a strict traditionalist family. Based on a surprisingly good novel by Alicia Eran (herself of Egyptian descent), Towelhead may be a disappointment or it may be a success, but one thing's for sure: it's already generated a stupid, meaningless controversy, and for a small indie film, that's money in the bank.

As an Arab-American, I've learned to take everything that comes out of CAIR -- the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- with a grain of salt. They do vital, much-needed work in exposing the often insidious amount of racism, prejudice and bigotry that Arabs and Muslims suffer in this country, and since 9/11, their work couldn't be more necessary. They're also particularly adept at pointing out the numerous cultural stereotypes by which Arabs and Muslims are victimized, and they keep up the good work despite the profound hatred they generate from right-wingers, who seem to regard them as quasi-criminals and terror-abbetors who are morally just south of Osama bin-Laden. That's the upside. The downside is that they have the typical thin skin of every advocacy group, and every so often they find themselves on the wrong side of an argument, as is the case now, when they have demanded that Warner Brothers change the name of Towelhead, which they find racist and offensive, to Nothing is Private (the name under which it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival last year).

Of course, the film's writer and director both make the rather obvious point that it's specifically because "towelhead" is a racist word that they chose it as a name. The Hot Blog reports on writer Alicia Erian's comments on the controversy: "I am of course aware that the title of my book is an ethnic slur. Indeed, I selected the title to highlight one of the novel's major themes: racism. Towelhead...is an ugly word. The job of the artist, however, has been, and always will be, to highlight that which is ugly in the hopes of finding something beautiful. This charge, by necessity, will at times put the artist at odds with admirable groups like CAIR. The solution, it seems to me, is not to force the artist to alter his or her work, but instead to use the occasion of that work as an entry point for meaningful debate and discussion."

Towelhead's director, Alan Ball (of American Beauty fame), adds, "As a gay man, I know how it feels to be called hateful names simply because of who I am. Therefore, I felt it was important to retain the title of Alicia Erian's novel, in which she so effectively dramatizes the pain inflicted by such language...I believe one of the unintended consequences of forbidding such words to be spoken is imbuing those words with more power than they ever should have."

Warner is standing by the choice and retaining the name, having issued a boilerplate corporate 'we-apologize-to-anyone-who-is-offended' apology, and CAIR continues to argue for a name change. As someone who has been called a raghead on more than one occasion, what I want to know is this: why couldn't they get an Arab-American actress to play the lead? Summer Bishil looks like she'll do a perfectly fine job in the role of Jasira, but she's of East Indian descent. Is it that hard to find a real Arab in Hollywood?

Warner Brother Tries To Give The Distinguished Competition A Boost

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Despite the fact that The Dark Knight has made roughly eighty-five kerjillion dollars on its way to breaking nearly every box office record since the dawn of motion photography, DC Comics -- and, by extention, their parent company Warner Brothers -- is widely perceived as the big loser in the battle of superhero movies. Much as Marvel Comics did in the early '60s, Marvel Films -- the people responsible for Iron Man, Spider-Man and the X-Men franchise -- has largely trounced what it used to call its "Distinguished Competition". Although both companies have turned their franchise characters into successful movies, Marvel's have generally been seen as more successful, more entertaining, more true to their comic book origins, and most of all, easier to get made. While DC continues to farm its characters out to various studios, Marvel has consolidated its filmmaking power into its studio arm, ensuring a production continuity that provides another curious parallel to the '60s, when the more coherent continuity of Marvel's comics appealed to readers.

This is a situation that Warner Brothers, who's been making movies even longer than DC has been making comics, is eager to change. In an article in the latest Variety, Warner execs and DC bigwigs alike discuss what's being done to avoid the sort of missteps that have led to their being thought of as the second-tier player in superhero films. From greenlighting unprofitable tripe like Catwoman to dragging its feet on potential blockbusters like Wonder Woman and Justice League, DC's film development players have made a number of high-profile mistakes (let's not even speak of the botch-job that was the making and marketing of Superman Returns) that have led them to be seen as failures despite having put out the biggest blockbuster in four decades.

DC development executives Jeff Robinov (production vice-president) and Gregory Noveck (senior VP of creative affairs) describe their recent meetings with Warner Brothers head Alan Horn in terms of a visit to the woodshed with an angry dad. Horn doesn't deny it: "If you do it wrong," he says of developing sucessful films from the billion-dollar DC empire, "you're dead, you're out of there." In a line that will bring power-mad smiles to the faces of geeks everywhere, Robinov talks about no wanting to piss off the Comic-Con contingent, and speaks of the difficulty of making a good film while keeping the fanboys happy. "There's a massive interest and knowledge in the comic book industry, and it takes time to understand the characters and the history, where they've intersected with each other and what their worlds are," says Robinov, who probably spent high school going outdoors and dating girls, in the understatement of the year, "That's part of the education that we're going through." It's an education that Horn no doubt hopes won't prove too costly.

Hey, how about that? A whole post about superhero movies, and no mention of Watchmen! I may get out of this year alive after all...

Take Five: HBO

Leonard Pierce — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:45:00 GMT

Sex and the City: The Movie opens everywhere that Cosmopolitans are sold today, and the odds are pretty good that it will make enough money to keep Sarah Jessica Parker in sundresses for the rest of her life. There is little doubt as to whether or not the movie -- based on the inescapable HBO original series -- will be successful; the real question is whether or not it's going to be any good. One thing is for sure: it will at least make more money than the other films that have been made out of HBO's original television programming. They're a pretty dismal set of money-losers and critic-displeasers, ranging from the not good (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny) to the very bad (the Mr. Show movie, Run Ronnie Run) to the completely awful (the Tales from the Crypt spin-off Bordello of Blood). If the long-rumored Deadwood movie ever gets made, or if the Sopranos movie doesn't turn out to be a disappointment, this may change things, but in the meantime, HBO's television shows have yet to produce a movie worth watching. Less known, however, is that HBO has a production arm that has put out a number of worthwhile films, many of which had theatrical releases prior to their run on the pay cable network; some of them, in fact, were released exclusively for theatrical release through HBO Films or their sister company, Picturehouse FIlms. With their overseeing company, New Line Cinema, dead, the future of HBO Films is uncertain, but given the quality of their past releases, they're sure to find a new home somewhere with parent company Time/Warner. Here's five fine films that were released under the HBO Film distribution banner.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR (2003)

The first, and arguably the best, of a rash of terrific film releases by HBO Films in the mid-2000s, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's inventive (and sometimes elusive) documentary about underground comics writer Harvey Pekar stands alongside the remarkable Crumb as a compelling, if sometimes troubling, look at an American original. The comparison is by no means coincidental: legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb is a longtime friend of Pekar's, and the man he first recruited to illustrate his stories of the struggles, victories, humiliations and triumphs of everyday life. If it's a little disengenuous to claim that Pekar is the indestructably normal person he claims to be (and it is -- normal people, after all, do not compulsively and sometimes brilliantly catalog the minutia of their lives in autobiographical comics), there's nothing at all phony about Pekar, his everyday heroism, the skewed attitude and refusal to surrender to the diificultues of an ordinary life, or his irascible and cynical -- if never openly cruel -- sense of humor.

ELEPHANT (2003)

The first of a series of collaborations between HBO Films and director Gus Van Sant, Elephant is the best of the lot -- and may in fact be one of the finest films of the decade. Inspired by the horrific mass murder at Columbine High School, the fragmented, almost dreamlike story of a pair of alienated high school students who go on a shooting rampage is a meditation on violence unlike any other in recent cinematic history. Elephant is a quiet, open, almost meditative film, breaking off to follow one character after another in order to present the day of the shooting as resolutely normal; but its greatest trick is to constantly dangle in front of us tantalizing 'clues' to the motivation of the killers, only to have every one of them lead to an unproductive, uncomfortable dead end. After the final bloodbath, we have an almost tangible need to know the whys and wherefores of the senseless killing, but the movie is wise enough to deny us an easy solution to an impossibly difficult question, and is brave enough to believe in its director's vision and leave us hanging without a quick fi or an easy scapegoat.

DEATH IN GAZA (2004)

One of the least partisan -- and most tragically unbearable -- documentaries about the Israeli-Palestine conflict was the 2004 film Death in Gaza, which concentrated largely on the impact the war had on children in the area. Focusing on a quartet of Palestinian kids, all in their early teens or younger, who take up arms against their occupiers, Death in Gaza neither exculpates the bad behavior of the kids (their anti-Semitism is extremely uncomfortable, especially from children so young) or glosses over why they might be so driven to militancy and violence (we are constantly exposed to the insufferable living conditions into which they are born and raised, and every one of them has a jaw-dropping horror story about the death of a friend or relative). What makes the move especially harrowing is that its 34-year-old British director, James Miller, was himself killed by the Israeli Defense Forces while filming in Gaza at night, a typically stupid, futile, and enraging event that is captured on film and shown matter-of-factly during the course of the documentary. Powerful and sad.

MARIA FULL OF GRACE (2004)

Joshua Marston's feature about a young Colombian teenager who becomes a drug mule in order to raise money for her impoverished family is filmed in such an effective, simple neorealist style -- and manages to so effectively encapsulate one of the most degrading yet banal aspects of the dehumanizing aspects of capitalism -- that it's hard to avoid comparisons to De Sica's The Bicycle Thief. And while it's not even remotely in that film's league, it's still very much a movie worth watching, updating De Sica's themes for a post-socialist age, and it does at least have one advantage over its spiritual forebear: the presense of the heartbreaking, compelling, fascinating lead actress, Catalino Sandino Moreno. The then-17-year-old Moreno turns in one of the most watchable yet tragic performances in recent memory as a headstrong, intelligent girl who has nonetheless begun to move in circles who will shape her into something she cannot control; it's almost impossible to take your eyes off her from the beginning of the movie to the end.

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (2005)

The Notorious Bettie Page, a serviceable if never stunning biography of the legendary 1950s pin-up queen, was brought to us by the writer/director team of Guinevere Turner and Mary Harron. The duo also was responsible for the highly problematic American Psycho, and Harron also directed the truly discomfiting I Shot Andy Warhol. While its problems are different (a lack of depth and a somewhat flat visual style, neither of which were the difficulties with Harron's other movies), it does reflect the curate's egg nature of all three films. Clearly, it wasn't a movie made to do nothing more than titillate, but by the same token, we walk out of the theater knowing precious little more about the notorious Bettie Page than we did when we came in. That said, it shares with the other films a great deal of energy and feeling, and is supported by the sort of tremendous central performance Harron seems to coax so easily out of her stars -- Gretchen Mol is easily the equal of Christian Bale or Lili Taylor, and it's her charm and control in the role that makes this a movie worth watching.

Still Watching the Watchmen -- And The DVD Market, Too

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:30:00 GMT

In our ongoing quest to bring you every single solitary detail of the production of Zack Snyder's upcoming adaptation of The Watchmen until your head falls off, we are pleased to report an interesting development in the filming of the comic book masterpiece -- and one that has repercussions, as amazing as it may seem, to peope other than the hardcore geeks who are even at this moment salivating over the prospect of more Watchmen news.

One of the questions that has long nagged Watchmen fans (other than "will Snyder suddenly become much more talented when he begins work on this film?" and "are they kidding with that cast, or what?") is how the filmmakers can possibly cram the entire story of the comic into a two-hour movie. Alan Moore's Watchmen is one of the most complex comic series in history, full of dense symbolism, intricate reference, and tons of backstory -- much of it vital to the main plot -- told in supplemental materials that appeared in the back pages of the comic. No standard-length feature film could possibly capture all of that intricacy, and without it, many feared that the overall quality of the project would suffer.

Now, in an interesting piece in the New York Times, comes word that Snyder is not making one film, but two, simultaneously: The Watchmen itself, and Tales of the Black Freighter, an animated feature-length adaptation of the metafictional comic-within-a-comic read by a minor character in the Watchmen, which served to both illuminate and amplify some of the themes and symbols of the main story. Tales of the Black Freighter will not be included in the Watchmen movie -- but it will be released, on its own, as a separate DVD, only five days after the film is released in theatres.

As the Times article makes clear, this is the first step in a new strategy by Warner Brothers of producing value-added DVDs designed, in an era of cable television 'video on demand', to boost DVD sales when they're beginning to falter for the first time in their history. Warner has already had considerable success with this tactic in direct-to-video releases set in the DC Animated universe (such as Superman: Doomsday and Justice League: New Frontier), and the company claims this is about much more than just piling on extra junk for completists: it allows Snyder to tell a more complete story than the time limitations of the Watchmen movie will allow, and it allows the company to essentially profit three times off the the DVD market for the movie: first, with this supplemental release, which they anticipate selling in huge numbers on release; second, with the DVD release, months later, of the actual Watchmen movie; and third, with a deluxe package containing both, as well as other supplemental materials (including, it's rumored, a faux-documentary short film of Hollis Mason's Under the Hood -- another book-within-the-book featured in the Watchmen comic that likewise gave vital background information on the characters and their relationships).

Of course, the proof of this pudding will be in the eating, and if the movie sucks, no one's likely to care if there's more of it. But it's at least heartening to know that Warner Brothers has developed a strategy designed not only to be profitable, but to produce bonus materials that aren't just arbitrary junk designed to fill up disc space -- that are actually meant to enhance the quality of the original product.

Maxed Out

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Via, of all places, Latino Review, comes a review of the latest script from superhero specialist David S. Goyer (Batman Begins): SuperMax.

Although it hasn't locked down a distributor yet, SuperMax is generating tons of buzz in the cape-and-cowl nerdworld of superhero films, and we'd be very surprised if it doesn't land a production company by the end of summer. (Some sites have already assigned Matt Damon to the leading role, but this is the kind of speculation run amok that is endemic to the world of super-flicks.) We recently discussed how Marvel intends to make further inroads against rival DC in the movie business by taking a multiversal approach to its storytelling as they did in their comics of the 1960s; while it's not clear if this move will pressure Warner Brothers to do the same in DC movie adaptations, it's at least clear from the SuperMax script that they'll be dipping deep into fanservice, rewarding geeks with tons of cameos by popular DC supervillains, including the Joker, the Riddler and Lex Luthor.

Essentially, SuperMax tells the story of billionaire playboy Oliver Queen's transformation from self-absorbed layabout to crimefighting liberal crusader the Green Arrow, as well as his subsequent frame-up for murder. After the framejob, he's found guilty and transported to the SuperMax prison, a specially designed high-security penitentiary meant to contain super-powered threats. The movie quickly transforms into a race-against-time thriller, as Green Arrow must prove himself innocent and find out who framed him (and why) before the inhabitants of SuperMax -- many of whom he put there himself -- get their revenge.

Obviously, with SuperMax lacking so much as a distributor, let alone a director, cast, or release date, it's hard to say whether it'll be something to look forward to or not. As big a comic book nerd as I am, I'd have to say that a Green Arrow movie is sorta scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of marketable characters; but then again, a year ago, I'd have said the same thing about Iron Man...

Superlawyer

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

You probably haven't heard of Marc Toberoff. But to the families, heirs and representatives of some of our culture's best-known characters and creations, he's Superman — and to the corporate entities that own those creations, he's Lex Luthor.

Toberoff is an intellectual properties attorney who specializes in representing claims by creators and their heirs against big studios, publishers and other media conglomerates who have made mega-millions off of their creations — often without paying more than a pittance to the people responsible. In his latest case, he's won a federal ruling that gives the family of Superman's co-creator, Jerry Siegel, a financial stake in films made about the Man of Steel. It's a huge victory, and one that's likely to set a precedent that will also benefit the family of Superman's other creator, Joe Shuster. DC Comics, who owns the character, famously paid a pittance for the rights to Superman, and both Siegel and Shuster's families were nearly destitute for decades while DC (and its parent company, Warner Brothers) turned the character into one of the most recognizable — and marketable — icons in the world.

Of course, there's a downside to the pioneering work that Toberoff has done for the Siegels and many other people who found themselves cut out of the financial benefits of characters they helped create: his lawsuits have been so costly that they may delay or even completely scuttle a number of upcoming film and television projects involving Superman. But that's likely a small price to pay if it leads to media companies treating creators fairly from the start to avoid such litigation down the road.

Comic to Screen: Bone

John Constantine — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:36:00 GMT

The day is fast approaching when every film studio in existence, Hollywood and indie alike, will realize that every single comic book property from the past seventy-five years has been optioned. There will be no cape, no humorous anthropomorphized critter, no hard-boiled detective left to assign some attractive actor or actress to portray on screen. I don’t know what they’ll do when that day comes, but in the meantime, they keep snapping up some appealing properties. Warner Bros, the first name in comic adaptations, has just picked up the rights to Bone. Bone is a whimsical fantasy story about three bones from Boneville (look it up), written and drawn by Jeff Smith for over a decade. There’s still some question about whether or not the film will be animated, live action, or a mix of the two. Word to the wise, WB: animate this one.

What Have We Learned in the 21st Century? Hollywood Hates Women

John Constantine — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:30:00 GMT

There's no doubt that sexism is alive and well in the movie industry. Just look at Jeff Robinov's comments from last fall.

On that very subject, Amy Monaghan has an excellent list up over at Radar examining the most misogynistic movies of the past eight years. Her write-ups are suitably scathing, smart, and very worth your time. I question the inclusion of a couple entries on the list, such as Hustle and Flow, where misogyny is very much the point of the narrative. It’s true that there's a thin line between misogyny and misogyny being the point of any media but Monaghan marks that line herself in her introduction. If “intentionally offensive movies and any grindhouse film where coeds ended up in a woodchipper, etc.” were excluded, why did Hostel 2 make the cut?

Cool Motorcycles and Dudes With Metal Arms: Akira Goes Live Action

John Constantine — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:05:00 GMT

Hollywood Reporter dropped word yesterday that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Warner Bros are teaming up to make a live action version of Fisher-Price My First Anime, Akira. On top of that, AICN’s got the scoop that Joseph Gordon Levitt will be playing Tetsuo and have also heard that Leo Di himself will be playing Kaneda. Fans of the original manga and groundbreaking 1989 animated feature might balk at the Westernization of the property but we here at the Screengrab think Levitt and DiCaprio might be more than entertaining screaming their characters’ names at each other. Newcomer Ruairi Robinson is set to direct with Gary Whitta penning the screenplay.

Format Wars: The Final Countdown

John Constantine — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:47:00 GMT

This is it, ‘Grabbers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony’s Blu-ray high definition format is on the top rope and preparing to deliver a life ending body slam to Toshiba’s HD-DVD. After Warner Bros’ announcement back in January that they would be going Blu-ray exclusive at the start of the 2008 fiscal year, numerous retailers have been dropping their HD-DVD support. There are also telltale sales numbers to look at, with 81% of all high definition home movie sales going to Blu-ray the week ending February 10th. The veep of marketing over at Toshiba America, Jodi Sally, says they’re sticking to their guns but her comments show that Toshiba might be ready to abandon ship: "Given the market developments in the past month, Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

Translation? If this keeps up, we’ll start making Blu-ray players. While the Screengrab usually likes to throw a Michael Bay joke at the end of these format war pieces, we’re going to abstain. This picture does it for us.

Watchmen Watch: Rorschach's First Lawsuit

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Well, at least somebody thinks the upcoming Watchmen movie is going to be a big hit: Fox apparently thinks enough of the project to go ahead and sue Warner Brothers, claiming that they hold exclusive rights to develop, produce and distrubute a theoretical movie based on the groundbreaking graphic novel.

Of course, Fox's attorneys (all loyal Screengrab readers, we have no doubt) must already have known that WB was developing just such a property for some time now; we hear there's even been some talk about the movie on the internet. So the fact that they're going ahead with the lawsuit at this late stage is indicative of, if nothing else, the fact that they think the movie will make enough money to justify the legal proceedings.

The lawsuit itself is a horribly boring and complex affair involving quitclaims, exclusive rights, long-defunct production companies, turnaround agreements, and all that other stuff that big corporations use to generate income out of thin air. It seeks "unspecified damages" and will no doubt be settled out of court; its chances of actually stopping or even delaying the release of the much-anticipated adaptation are practically nil. But in today's Hollywood, a movie can barely be said to have arrived if it doesn't have at least a couple of good lawsuits whirling around it; the Fox suit is probably the best sign yet for fans that a Watchmen movie is really going to happen.

Super Follow Up: Justice League Temporarily Shitcanned

John Constantine — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:57:00 GMT

Turns out that those reports of Warner Bros making a quick decision whether or not to move forward with George Miller’s Justice League movie were quite true. Survey says: it ain’t happening. For now at least. Warner is still aiming to get the film going later this year and is planning on retaining the actors already cast despite the fact that their options have slipped. Whether or not George Miller will get that script rewrite he’s been hankering for is unknown at this point but if anything could use a little bit more time in the oven, it’s this movie.

Many thanks to Cinematical for the spot.

Funny Book Funny Business

John Constantine — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:55:00 GMT

The Screengrab’s very own Leonard Pierce wasn’t joking in his post earlier today. We are going to drown you in comic book movie related news and you are going to like it! It’s true that nigh on every superhero that’s seen print in the past seventy years has been optioned by a studio. While the solo heroes are all tied up though, Hollywood has been slow to approach the legal quagmire of producing adaptations of one of comics’ most celebrated traditions: the team-up. No, X-Men and Fantastic Four don’t count. They’re individual properties in their own right.

In the past six months, it’s been looking like Warner Bros. was set to make the first big budget superhero team-up with a George Miller (Babe, Happy Feet, Mad Max) helmed Justice League adaptation. But, according to Entertainment Weekly via AICN, today is the day that determines whether or not the flick happens. An anonymous source indicated that January 15th is the greenlight deadline for Miller’s Justice League and while the WB is pushing to have it in theaters within eighteen months, Miller is still pushing for a re-write. It’s not clear whether or not Warner Bros will bring in another director or if they’ll allow Miller to pursue a non-WGA approved rewrite.

I’m right there with Mr. Pierce in the belief that the most promising comic book material for screen adaptation waits in indie comics. That said though, if the popcorn superhero movie is going to continue to be profitable and entertaining, it has to evolve beyond the origin story-good sequel-bad sequel franchise mold that’s been established in the past decade. Team-ups are a smart way to do this provided they are, unlike most comic book movies (*cough* Ghost Rider), well made. Get someone like Steven Soderbergh, who’s proven just how successful and entertaining an ensemble of colorful characters can be, to make an Avengers movie and then we’ll be getting somewhere.

Format Wars: It’s Over! No Wait, Not Yet

John Constantine — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:36:00 GMT

The ‘Grab brought you word just last night that Sony’s Blu-ray high definition format was about to crush HD-DVD from existence come May. Fuel was added to the fire this morning when the Financial Times announced that Paramount, one of HD-DVDs strongest exclusive supporters, was moving to drop the format to join Warner Bros. in going with the stronger performing Blu-Ray from here on out. Paramount quashed the rumor almost immediately by releasing a statement to Bloomberg stating that they will continue supporting HD-DVD for the time being. Michael Bay has yet to comment on the news. The Screengrab will continue bringing you full coverage of the Format Wars, no matter how irrelevant.

Format Wars: One Step Closer to the End

John Constantine — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:25:00 GMT

Movie nerds and videophiles rejoice! The world is one step closer to having a single high definition home video format. Warner Bros. delivered a crushing blow to Microsoft and Toshiba’s HD-DVD on Friday by announcing that they would release their movies exclusively on Sony’s Blu-ray format as of May 2008. Michael Bay, probably the only person on the planet who cares about such things, is reportedly uber-psyched about all those Harry Potter flicks showing up on his chosen format.

Warner Bros. Before Warner Hos

Peter Smith — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood columns are the movie biz equivalent of the Drudge Report: juicy bits of unsubstantiated (and unattributed) inside baseball that are wrong a lot more often than they’re right, but are generally so spicy that you just can’t help shoveling them down like jalapeno poppers. The latest, though, is shocking even by sexist Hollywood standards: Finke reports that, due to the underperformance of a handful of recent films, Warner Brothers production boss Jeff Robinoff has decreed that his studio will no longer be making films with women in the lead role. If this is legit, and not just rumor-mongering, Finke speaks for us in quoting Gloria Allred: "It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions which are made by men." — Leonard Pierce