Jeff Robinov: "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead"

[Maze]

FOR NO GOOD REASON: JEFF ROBINOV SEZ 'DOWN WITH DAMES!'
10.05.07
By Jeremy Smith
Contributing sources: Deadline Hollywood Daily
To paraphrase Spencer Tracy, there ain't much meat on this story, but what's there is cherce.

Though Nikki Finke pretty much reports everything like it's the Normandy Invasion, the idea of Warner Brothers' President of Production, Jeff Robinov*, literally declaring "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead" in response to the double detonation of The Brave One and The Invasion - which Nikki mis-refers to as The Vanishing; and it is amusing to consider Robinov arbitrarily getting out of the skirt business due to the underperformance of a fourteen-year-old thriller - might actually be worthy of her inflamed rhetoric. It's a pretty startling mandate that, as Finke points out, won't go down with high-profile feminists like Gloria Allred.

And I say it's too bad he didn't see the light soon enough to shut down production on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2: Mo' Hoin'!

In all seriousness, I think Finke might be getting incomplete information (and if I'm wrong, I'll freely admit it). For starters, if Robinov (the little guy on Zack Snyder's arm in the above photo) has truly issued a fatwa outlawing female leads across the board, he'll be rescinding this order come December 21st, when Hilary Swank's P.S. I Love You starts its march to $100 million. While this is far from an inevitability (Swank's top grossing picture as a lead is Freedom Writers at $36 million), all it takes is the right woman in the right romantic comedy on the right release date to launch a $20 million lead. Judging from the trailer, P.S. I Love You contains all of these elements and then some.

On a purely business level, though, if Robinov's declaration is more along the lines of "We are no longer doing action movies with women in the lead"... I'm afraid he's entirely justified. This isn't because a woman can't carry an action movie, but a acknowledgment of the deeply ****ty reality that there isn't a single filmmaker or producer in town who knows how to develop an femme-led action movie that plays to the male quadrant (television is a completely different ballgame).

And it's a failure of imagination, really. In a way, I'd much rather see Jessica Biel as a former Navy SEAL assigned to track down terrorists threatening to blow up the Anheuser-Busch brewery. But no studio would ever greenlight Biel in a role developed for, say, Mark Wahlberg because they'd first call up the respectable grosses Underworld, Kill Bill and the Resident Evil movies, and, then, contrast those numbers with the not-so-good returns for Elektra, Aeon Flux, Domino, Catwoman, Ultraviolet, Point of No Return and, for the hell of it, V.I. Warshawski. And then they'd conclude that the risk is too high for the modest-at-best reward.

The exceptions to this are Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Charlie's Angels, but those films had killer pedigrees.

As does Wonder Woman, which Warner Brothers recently backburnered for the time being in favor of slapping together the superhero stew that might be Justice League of America - recently turned down by Jessica Biel (not to worry; sinewy broads are all the rage now; they'll find their Diana). This was smart. The development of the stand-alone Wonder Woman by Joel Silver and a cadre of writers has been, to put it mildly, disastrous. And the last time it took Warner Brothers several years to piece together a chick-skewing superhero flick, they ended up with Catwoman. So unless Alan Horn and Robinov and all the other muckety-mucks at WB are giddy to blow, say, $80 million, they've absolutely no incentive to fast-track a big screen Wonder Woman movie any time soon.

I do believe there is a market for female action films that appeal to both genders, 'cuz guys do like chicks kicking ass if it's not too cartoonish (all my friends who've seen The Kingdom have singled out Jennifer Garner's big fight scene as their favorite thing in the movie). But these movies will continue to fail so long as they're developed by men and/or the current (and very shallow) pool of... I'll be nice and say "uninspired" female writers making the studio rounds. Clearly, there needs to be an infusion of new talent, but there will be no incentive for this unless we get another Tomb Raider (i.e. a woman-led action film that tops $100 million). Until that day, the status quo of comedies and thrillers will hold.

Except for the He-Man Woman Haters Club that is Warner Brothers. If they ain't doffin' the threads or makin' whoopee, the dames can hit the bricks! And you can tell 'em Robinov said so!

EDIT 2:05 PM PST: Before I get a flood of emails saying "What about James Cameron?" (actually just got one from a certain red-headed webmaster)... he's the exception. But he's yet to do it outside of a sequel for a pre-sold franchise (unless you want to go with Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, but that wasn't exactly her film, was it?).

http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=12059

 

[az824]

thats a little extreme, its not like all movies with a female lead are bad. it has more to do with the writers/directors/crew than the fact that the lead is a female

 

[Apollo]

i think they just need to have a better selection of woman actors, i'm tired of seeing the same people

 

[CConn]

Alien, Terminator, any movie with Zach Braff.

 

[Nightwing1977]

Great. Just great. Now we'll never get the Wonder Woman movie if this is true. I wish they really make the WW movie.

 

[Apollo]

what about The Corpse Bride, Final Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White! All with great female leads!




hmmm somethings wrong with this picture....

 

[Nightwing1977]

what about The Corpse Bride, Final Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White! All with great female leads!




hmmm somethings wrong with this picture....

Nothing wrong with the picture. Those you mention were long time ago. They're talking about right now. Grrrrr!!

 

[Apollo]

Nothing wrong with the picture. Those you mention were long time ago. They're talking about right now. Grrrrr!!

i meant that they were all cartoon female leads t:

 

[Nightwing1977]

i meant that they were all cartoon female leads t:

You miss one spot thought. Corpse Bride was some kind of claymation or whatever the heck it was. Not cartoon, that for sure.

 

[az824]

Little Mermaid too

 

[Apollo]

KIll Bill
Underworld
Tomb Raider, i liked the second one
Pans labyrinth
Million dollar Baby
Monster
Domino
Contact
Carrie
Silence of the Lambs
Titanic
Aliens
Terminator

though some of these aren't action movies....

 

[CConn]

My list was the best.

 

[Hobodeluxe]

Don't forget "The Brave One"
The Evil Dead films
the Fifth Element

 

[Maze]

Halloween (Jamie Lee Curtis)

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Thelma and Louise.

 

[cryptic name]

Don't forget "The Brave One"
The Evil Dead films
the Fifth Element

the Evil Dead films are centered around Bruce Campbell, and Bruce Willis is the main focus of Fifth Element, though Milla's role was quite significant.

 

[The Chris]

The Resident Evil movie do well financially. This is dumb.

 

[Lucid]

http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=12059

This decision is completely ignorant. The films that are cited as failures (Elektra, Aeon Flux, Domino, Catwoman, Ultraviolet) were failures because they were poorly made and are boring movies. It has nothing to do with the gender of the main character, which becomes obvious when seeing that the films that are cited as successes (Tomb Raider, Charlie's Angels) are actually entertaining movies, so that's why they're successful. So all of this has nothing to do with the gender of the lead character, it has the do with the actual quality level of the movie.

What a misogynist society we live in. You'd never see a studio exec announce "No more movies with black people in the lead" because they'd have a giant controversy on their hands, but if it's women then it's okay. We don't view it as anything as grave as racism, which of course it is. Even now I'm sure that members of this board are going to post arguments against me because the discrimination of women is so built in to our culture.

 

[Noir]

...your right, but damn it sure is sweet to watch the female leads in Eketra, aeon flux, and ultraviolet.

 

[Noir]

Lets Hope Whiteout is kick ass and rocks the female lead.

 

[Maze]

This decision is completely ignorant. The films that are cited as failures (Elektra, Aeon Flux, Domino, Catwoman, Ultraviolet) were failures because they were poorly made and are boring movies.

Exactly.

 

[JP]

Hairspray's lead is a plus size unknown female. The movie grossed $118 Million over the summer.

If the directors/story's/writers suck then no one will see the film.

 

[Noir]

Was hairspray an action movie

 

[JP]

It was action packed!

 

[Paradoxium]

I guess we won't see MoS for sure. t:

I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it, the bad joke had to come out sooner or later

 

[Noir]

It was action packed!

Maybe Action packed full of gay.