Leading Ladies in Hollywood

Would it help to bring in more female executives, producers, and directors?

Hollywood's employment record is abysmal in this regard, but I wouldn't be sanguine that more female players behind the scenes would produce a dramatic improvement in women's roles. Women in power would probably be so nervous about their positions that they would give the big boys what they think they want--a steady diet of macho fantasies. Gale Anne Hurd has specialized in producing action-adventure pictures, Dawn Steel put herself on the line backing Casualties of War, Penny Marshall directed Big and Awakenings, and Sherry Lansing's last production was Black Rain, which had one ridiculous woman's role played by Kate Capshaw. There's no reason why women shouldn't make male-oriented movies if they want to, but aren't they going over-board in order to be accepted as one of the guys? As Meryl Streep observed, "There are a lot of women screenwriters and a lot of women in development, but I guess because those women want to make it past the glass ceiling, maybe they think they have to say, 'Do Die Hard 2'."

Some of the strongest champions of better women's roles have been men. It was Alan Ladd, Jr., when he was running 20th Century Fox, who effectively put an end to the cycle of male buddy movies when he made Julia, 3 Women, The Turning Point, An Unmarried Woman, Alien, and Norma Rae within a three-year period in the late 70s. And Ladd is also the executive who backed one of the new movies with strong women's roles, Thelma & Louise.

Because they can't always count on other women to find them rewarding roles, several actresses have become producers them-selves. But they have continued to face tremendous resistance. Bette Midler says that Disney, with whom she has a long-term contract, wants her to keep churning out light comedies in the vein of Down and Out in Beverly Hills or Outrageous Fortune. When she tries to veer from that familiar image, her bosses frequently balk. "You want to be trusted after all these years," Midler sighs. "It's not as if I just got off the bus. But it's still a struggle to do any movies in a different style."

One of the movies that Disney rejected was For the Boys, a musical drama about USO performers that Midler managed to set up at Fox. The problem, says Midler's partner in All Girl Productions, Bonnie Bruckheimer, was that musicals, especially those set in the past, are expensive. "Disney did not want to do a musical of this size," Bruckheimer says. "They'll spend a tremendous amount of money on a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis, but not on a musical built around a woman."

Midler and Bruckheimer have pushed harder than most to make movies with strong female characters. Sally Field has also been quite aggressive, even taking the unusual step of producing a movie for a younger actress, Julia Roberts, who stars in Field's production of Dying Young. However, some actresses who have had the clout to develop and produce their own movies haven't always created meaty women's roles. Jane Fonda developed On Golden Pond as a vehicle for her father, and in Old Gringo, another Fonda production, her role as the tremulous observer was far less magnetic than the parts played by Gregory Peck and Jimmy Smits.

One problem may be that actresses who now have power are frightened of playing the kinds of hard-edged roles that Davis, Crawford, and Stanwyck played with relish. "I don't understand actors who don't want to play unsympathetic characters," says Ellen Barkin, who says she loved playing the completely heartless moll in Johnny Handsome. "Villains are often the best roles. I would play an abusive mother because I think people will learn some-thing from it if they see it. Maybe some actors don't want to see themselves that way. Or maybe the studios are afraid they will make $2 million less on that kind of movie."

The best women's roles of the last decade have all had an edge. In Body Heat, Kathleen Turner played a femme fatale far smarter than the man she snares to help her kill her husband, but the character was not exactly a candidate for humanitarian awards. Jodie Foster won well deserved accolades for her performance in The Accused, as a rape victim who was far from completely innocent. Meryl Streep had a wonderful role in A Cry in the Dark, playing a mother who gets herself into grave trouble because she doesn't have the expansive, nurturing nature that mythical mothers are supposed to have. These characters weren't always lovable, but they had intelligence and dignity. Clearly it's not impossible to create marvelous roles for women.

Some feminists may imagine a conspiracy that is stifling women in film, but in fact, the paltry number of vital female roles stems from a multitude of causes, including fear, confusion, hostility, neglect, and benign ineptitude. If there were one simple reason for the problem, it would be easier to correct. But over the last two decades a powerful male-driven engine has taken control of the industry, and it will not be easy to derail. Still, every successful woman's movie chips away at the monolith. Little by little the world on screen will begin to reflect the lives of the forgotten half of the population. The audience is clearly ready, pressing at the doors of every octoplex in the land.

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Stephen Farber wrote "Nothing New Under the Sun" in our June issue.

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