So I knew the way to move the numbers and to make real significant change was through legal action. I didn't want to try any sports because I was - I call it physically shy. Norwegian GROSS: Geena Davis is featured in and is an executive producer of the new documentary "This Changes Everything," about the campaign for better representation of women in front of and behind the camera in movies and TV. This Changes Everything - amazon.com Klein bases her argument on the scientific consensus that at projected rates of carbon emission we are heading towards an environmental catastrophe . Italian Tom Donahue . And she's been dedicated to equality for women, more roles for women in Hollywood. GROSS: came into play here, too, because there's more of you for Dustin Hoffman to be fazed by when he walks in. DAVIS: Images are so powerful that it will impact real life. Ukrainian. Netflix | Apple TV | Amazon Video | Vudu | FandangoNOW | Kanopy | Hoopla, Directed by: Tom Donahue We can talk about it and everybody is talking about it, you know. This Changes Everything. Its just very elevated because its in the entertainment world. "This Changes Everything" tries to get its arms around a lot, from appalling anecdotes of abhorrent behavior to deep historical context from the silent era to the modern-day repercussions of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. At one point in the powerful and fascinating new documentary This Changes Everything, executive producer and Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis explains the film's title. Willie Nelson Turns 90: Keith Richards Joins Hollywood Bowl Bash, Breaking Down the List: Facts and Figures About THR Critics 50 Best Films of the 21st Century (So Far), This Closeness Review: A Couple and Their Airbnb Host Get Acquainted in an Astute Dramedy of Awkwardness, Parachute Review: Brittany Snows Directing Debut Tackles Addiction, Eating Disorders and Anxiety With an Impressively Light Touch, Toronto: THR's Photo Portfolio With Steve Carell, Matthew McConaughey, Salma Hayek, Melissa McCarthy and More, Wes Anderson Directing Star Wars? Things were looking good for you after film school. And I had gone to Paris to do the collections, and in the meantime, Sydney Pollack saw my audition tape and said, hey, I like her. I'm talking about family-rated films. The cinematographer, Stefano Ferrari, also is a man. And Kim and I are sitting there going like, well, respectfully, I dont think you know what youre talking about. Director of photography: Stefano Ferrari But this struck me very deeply that we're training kids from the beginning, from minute one of absorbing popular culture, that women and girls are not as important as men and boys, and they're not as valuable to our society as men and boys. Oh, we forgot. And then I had to play the best baseball player anyone has ever seen hold a bat. Is that why because no studio heads appeared in this film because theyre so embarrassed? She's best known for her starring roles in "Thelma & Louise," "A League Of Their Own," and "Beetlejuice." This documentary takes a deep look at gender disparity in Hollywood through the eyes of well-known actresses and female filmmakers. So I learned about being a feminist through the activism of a man. MORETZ: The biggest part of the movie is when she gets her period for the first time in the shower. OK. Let me just play a clip from him in the film. Brenda Chapman explains her thinking in conceiving Pixars Brave: I purposely went for a princess so I could throw the princess thing on its head. (But then the movie weirdly fails to follow up with the fact that Chapman was forced to share directing credit with Mark Andrews once Brave came out, rather than serving as the first woman to direct a Pixar feature.) A look at seven communities around the world with the proposition that we can seize the crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better. She is an executive producer of and is featured in the new documentary "This Changes Everything," about how women in Hollywood are pushing for more representation in front of and behind the camera. Didnt seem to happen. I - my daughter was a toddler, and I decided she was old enough to start watching preschool shows. - It didn't change anything. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Bring me my tiny violin. This Changes Everythings choppy, frenetic approach to editing makes for an uneven rhetorical texture. Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF Docs) The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are both featured in the new documentary "This Changes Everything" about discrimination against women in Hollywood. Here it is. After we take a short break, we'll hear from photographer Bruce Talamon, whose photos of soul, funk and R&B stars of the '70s and early '80s are collected in a book. But the documentary This Changes Everything synthesizes all that data along with interviews from a truly mind-boggling array of A-listers both in front of and behind the camera to create a damning portrait of Hollywoods systematic sexism and discrimination. They've dispensed with the alarmist rhetoric surrounding the . And I had spent so much time in a field where you're measured by people's judgment, you know, where, you know, you're approved of by others' opinions rather than factual merit. But the biggest reaction of all was the press saying, like the title of the movie, this is going to change everything. DAVIS: Yes. And I just want an excuse to be able to do that (laughter). Like competing - if you're nervous, your shot's going to be off. JOHN LANDGRAF, HEAD, FX: I had this unconscious bias that we would have to be making sacrifices to hire people with less experience. GROSS: So what did you learn being on set? 0000002423 00000 n
GEENA DAVIS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: Thank you. We're. We should be showing kids that boys and girls share the same bicycle. MARTIN: Have you felt your career jeopardized by your unspokeness about this? A new documentary explores how women in Hollywood are pushing for more representation in front of and behind the camera. You know, God forbid you complain about your salary not being equal or being harassed or mistreated or discriminated against because they'll just get somebody else, you know? Its an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. It is also possible to buy "This Changes Everything" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Vudu as download or rent it on Apple TV . CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Now, whether in politics or science or any other field, one thing is for sure, we need more women now. DAVIS: Oh, no. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Naomi Kleins fourth book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate was published in September 2014 and was an instant New York Times and international bestseller. Watch all you want. So it was all very shocking and great because what it really - well, first of all, I'll tell you how it affected me. They're both featured in the new documentary "This Changes Everything" about discrimination against women in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood. . Well, do they have any photos of her in a bathing suit? Against the backdrop of Greece in crisis, a powerful social movement rises. GROSS: This is the equal opportunity law. Young Queen Charlotte's marriage to King George of England sparks an epic love story and transforms high society in this "Bridgerton" universe prequel. And your role is as the entertainment director of a casino. GROSS: My guests are actor Geena Davis and director Maria Giese. You know, the "Teletubbies" are gender-balanced; I don't know if you can tell. And then maybe five years later, another movie comes out with a female star. With Reese Witherspoon, Mira Nair, Shonda Rhimes, Tracee Ellis Ross. You know, it was, like, an amazing introduction. 0000004824 00000 n
I never got another paying job. Portuguese It really started for me at the end of 2014 with the Sony hack and finding out about the disparity in pay between Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in American Hustle. GIESE: Yes, Title VII, which was written into law in 1964 by President Johnson. GROSS: The one with the feathers and DAVIS: The one with the feathers and rhinestones? Provoking whats surely the docs biggest laugh, Tiffany Haddish relives the thrill of watching Diahann Carroll whaling on Joan Collins in the classic Dynasty catfight, and yet never going to jail for it. GROSS: And doesn't know where to put his eyes. DAVIS: Not at all. Geena Davis on 'This Changes Everything' Doc, State of - Variety 0000010793 00000 n
DAVIS: In "A League Of Their Own," yeah. Female. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Although a large part of this documentary focuses on the fact that female directors do not get work and have trouble getting hired, and the director of this film. PDF THISCHANGESEVERYTHING MARTIN: And they just cant believe that it is what it is. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I called to say we were going to greenlight it, the male executive on the other end of the line literally hung up on me. A mere 15.6 percent of the Directors Guild of America membership is female. And so thats what I did and, in fact, its proven that theyre incredibly grateful and horrified and embarrassed. The main thing that's very different is now it's completely OK to talk about this stuff. But that was my plan. Can you talk about that? Production company: Creative Chaos Ventures Reese Witherspoon: The basis of your thinking is determined by the first images you see; whose values are important and whose stories are important, and that's what we're teaching little girls and little boys. . And I thought, OK, well, I'll just become a model, and then they'll just offer me parts because obviously it's so much easier to become a supermodel (laughter). See The Film | This Changes Everything By the end, it feels like This Changes Everything is just that little bit too much behind the curve of history, despite the boo and hiss-prompting appearances from President Donald Trump and footage of the Womens March. GROSS: So the EEOC has been conducting an investigation into systemic discrimination against women directors. Last year, 92 percent of the directors who made the top 250 domestic movies were male. We also heard from director Maria Giese, who's also featured in the film "This Changes Everything." How did you take up archery? 0000003130 00000 n
It takes an incisive look at the history, empirical evidence, and systemic forces that foster gender discrimination and thus reinforce disparity in our culture. It will be on air. Accuracy and availability may vary. Reunited as adults, two childhood friends fall madly in love and won't let anything not even death tear them apart, in this supernatural love story. In the course of this struggle, they help ignite a nationwide movement. And I explained to them why I thought that this was so significant on a global level. And, you know, being harassed and all kinds of things going on, being not listened to, talked down to, all that stuff. I thought, this is incredibly unfair, and I don't want other people deciding that I have to work less, you know, and taking away opportunities. Geena Davis Talks About the Documentary "This Changes Everything" And she founded an institute to study gender discrimination in Hollywood. And I got the part. And for me, it was no big deal to want to take the man until here and try to tell this story. MARIA GIESE: My first feature film directing job out of graduate film school was in England, not in the United States. You know, what we tend to do when we don't succeed is to blame ourselves, and women were so siloed off in this industry we really didn't have any means of communication. Michel Martin sits down with Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis and director Tom Donahue to discuss their new film This Changes Everything, which tackles the need for more female representation in media. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did. Kleinexposes the myths that are clouding the climate debate. And that in turn should give us hope, because it means the fight for a just world is the same as the fight for a livable one., This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate is a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable . DAVIS: Oh, I don't know which one you mean. And, of course, it's all a joke. MARTIN: Talk to me about the Geena Davis Institute which you founded years ago. And I was sure they must be right and waiting for this fabulous future that was coming. The numbers have obviously not improved for decades. I wasnt thinking, this is so unfair. So why does the behind the camera representation matter so much? See production, box office & company info, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch. It's about two women who grab ahold of their fate and refuse to relinquish control no matter how far it takes them, that they remain in charge of their destiny. What happened was when I was in Thelma & Louise, after Thelma & Louise came out, a lot of the press was talking about, this is going to change everything. I'm going to ask you to describe the premise. And they started to reach out to interview many, many women, as many women directors as they could. One of the films main, salient points is that it isnt all that hard to find gifted, visionary women to direct, and that the powers that beagents, studio executives, producers, etc.simply havent bothered to look for far too long. The coming of sound meant they needed big capital investment. This Changes Everything On Netflix Now! And if you're just joining us, my guest is actor Geena Davis and director Maria Giese. Fatal Attraction Works As Entertainment, Fails as Social Commentary, Prime Videos Citadel Traps Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden in Played-Out Spy Game, New York Philharmonic and Steven Spielberg Celebrate the Music of John Williams, A Piece of His Fire: Harry Belafonte (1927-2023). Unions did not allow women because putting women in the unions meant lower pay and lower prestige. MARTIN: I think it was Maya Angelou who said you cant be what you cant see. GROSS: Geena Davis, let me bring you back into the conversation. GROSS: And you also are an archer - like bow and arrow archery. Greek Did you think of it as there not being enough roles for women in their 40s? Oh, no, we can't. MARTIN: Well, you do interview one executive, the head of FX, John Landgraf. We'll be right back. After a break, I'll talk more with Geena Davis about her movie career, and Bruce Talamon will talk about taking photos of soul, funk and R&B stars of the '70s . And I was so shocked when my coach said after just a few months, well, now you've got to start competing. DAVIS: Well, it did in a way. DONAHUE: Sure. Geena Davis talks about what inspired "This Changes Everything," a documentary about women in film.Subscribe: https://bit.ly/2HFUeAKWebsite: https://kellyand. Climate change isnt just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. The movie This Changes Everything, an American documentary film, directed by Tom Donahue, debued in 2018. Like I think a lot of people have become familiar with the whole question of representation on screen. hb```b``1f`e``c`@ 6v@NDl?L0`aeeVeE! And for me, the word feminist was a bad word in my house. There are going to be so many more movies with women starring and everything. But thats what we were worried about. And - but nobody, and least of all him, nobody ever said, you realize you don't have to come every day? Go behind the scenes of Netflix TV shows and movies, see what's coming soon and watch bonus videos on. Japanese DAVIS: Well, it was completely random in some ways. Im an optimist. MARTIN: In fact, theres a clip for that. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. makes a muscular case for global warming as the defining, cross-sectional issue of our era., [A]robust new polemic . This Changes Everything And then after about a year and a half, they told me they were going to pursue it. MARTIN: You make the connection in the film that its not just about, you know, the job, its the conditions at the job, that it is directly connected to these vicious examples of sexual harassment and abuse that women have experienced that have now come to the fore. 0000010674 00000 n
Lithuanian And this is according to the Center for the Study of Women and Television and Film in San Diego State University. Croatian With "This Changes Everything," a documentary by Lewis and a book by Klein, the duo has reshaped the narrative of climate change. GROSS: Prevent that kind of behavior. So I think that's a big change that's happened. JOIN NOW. DAVIS: I think partly, back when I started, I wasnt thinking about that, even. First Look: This Changes Everything, the Documentary. GIESE: I first went to the EEOC in 2013. You hear so many women speaking up when they encounter injustice and openly talking about it. The two opposing viewpoints can be seen in two western society examples, the first concerning the Alberta oil sands, and the second fossil fuel energy production and transportation in what is traditional Montana farmland. And this is a buddy movie that's a women's movie. She's featured in the movie and as an executive producer of the film. So I knew that we could invoke that law to be able to change things in a very significant way. KIMBERLY PIERCE, DIRECTOR, CARRIE: I was being talked to and treated and questioned constantly and indifferently. But I said, at some point, you got to get me into a showgirl costume because it's kind of a fantasy of mine to wear one of those things, you know, with a giant headdress and all that. 0000006173 00000 n
Better yet, it also explains how folks are now pushing back and using the law, media pressure and other forms of recourse to change the numbers. Why dont things change? Not rated. DAVIS: Absolutely, which is fantastic. So and it wasnt really until after Me Too and all that happened that we all realized, this is different now. What if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we'll ever get to build a better world? Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. GROSS: Well, what was wrong with that plan? As defeated as one feels when you dont see a change happening, I really do think that it can and that it will. Finally, inevitably, there will be viewers who may feel understandably perplexed as to why, even though an end credit points out that 75 percent of the crew that worked on this film was female, its still a man getting the directors credit here, and a man (Stefano Ferrari) taking the director of photography credit, especially when there are so many outstanding female cinematographers emerging now. MARTIN: Geena Davis, Tom Donahue, thank you so much for talking to us. It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. We havent made significant progress, Klein argues, because weve been expecting solutions from the very same institutions that created the problem in the first place . We've been talking with actor Geena Davis and director Maria Giese about the campaign for more representation of women behind and in front of the camera in movies and TV. Produced by: Ilan Arboleda, Kerianne Flynn, Tom Donahue JENNIFER LAWRENCE: Its our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal . What happened after that? He could hardly have timed it . This Changes Everything encompasses a massive subject from a variety of angles in a brief amount of time, and the results can feel a bit choppy. She starts her own organization, the Geena Davis Institute, on gender in media to keep track of the imbalance. And the ending's kind of similar, where, you know, they kind of ride off a cliff, and you drive off a cliff. And I also expected it to be not true anymore by the time I would get to that age. Recorded by CBC Ideasafter the historic December 2015 Paris Climate meeting, in this lecture, Naomi analyzed the failures of that Agreement and discussed ways to move forward from it. Its not going to benefit you. Certainly, this facet is germane to telling the full story, but its dry and not as visually or emotionally arresting as the rest of the film. DONAHUE: Well, because they even if its unconscious, theyre still embarrassed and I think their legal departments also said, dont go on the record about this. . You say in almost 100 years, only one woman has won an academy award for best director. This Changes Everything educates and inspires. DAVIS: Right. DAVIS: Yeah, it's very centering and focusing. The documentary This Changes Everything gives audiences a look at how the tropes of "the girlfriend," the "useless chick," and the beauty who needs to "be saved" are still alive and well. Now they were saying, oh, I have to tell you what I thought about this movie, and this is how many times I saw it. DONAHUE: There hasnt been a lot of change. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Catalan Moxy and her colorful friends leave Uglyville on a quest to find a kid to love. Why hasnt it changed before now? So Geena, I think some people might hear that and go, Oh, thats too bad but why? This Changes Everything has been translated into 27 languages: Arabic DAVIS: Oh, so - gosh. 1h 37min. GROSS: Geena Davis, Maria Giese, thank you both so much for talking with us. DAVIS: Well, I definitely see a big shift happening in Hollywood in the past couple of years since #MeToo and Time's Up. The title of the doc actually refers to the many false dawns of hope, for example after the surprise success of Thelma & Louise (1991), which observers at the time took to augur impending change. 0000023356 00000 n
But on the other hand, I sort of felt like, well, this is what was supposed to happen. An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry. Maria Giese is a director who felt shut out for being a woman. Watch This Changes Everything: Men Don't See Us Women Equal. Since then it has been shown 1000s of times in community screenings around the world. She's interesting. Along with many others who spoke to Everythings director Tom Donahue (who also made the docs Casting By andThank You for Your Service), like Natalie Portman and Chloe Grace Moretz, Davis talks without self-pity about feeling objectified by the filmmaking process. Where's her bathing suit stuff? There are problem areas in terms of style as well as content. This Changes Everything: Directed by Tom Donahue. And why does that matter? We were made to feel very dispensable. Actress Geena Davis rallies Meryl Streep, Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon and others in this powerful documentary. Emerging economies in the developing world have tried to follow the western model for economic prosperity, with arguably the most marked example of the negative consequences being in China where many cities are continually shrouded in smog, some children in those cities who have never seen a blue sky. By what name was This Changes Everything (2018) officially released in India in English? Heart and mind go hand in hand in this magisterial response to a present crisis., We lack the collective spaces in which to confront the raw terror of ecocide, is how Klein encapsulates the problem. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: Educational, Inspirational, AndPuzzling Can we play that? GROSS: But you were with Sydney Pollack. DAVIS: I think I noticed it because Ive been in like A League of Their Own and I became very aware of how few inspirational female characters there are in regular adult fare. Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. DAVIS: Well, I was astounded that it happened. 2019 | Maturity Rating: 13+ | 1h 35m | Documentary Films. The catastrophic effects of climate change are viewed through the lens of those in the US northeast coast who suffered through Hurricane Sandy. Some positive developments are shown in China and Germany specifically. 'This Changes Everything' Review - The Hollywood Reporter But were not hearing womens voices or seeing the stories told through the female gaze when there are so few female directors. Prior to the worldwide publication of This Changes Everything, Naomi filmed a one and a half minute book trailer that highlighted the main themes of the book. AMANPOUR: Let me just give some of the statistics that you cite in the film. No, I didn't think, oh, it's me, at all. DAVIS: Thanks so much, Terry. MARTIN: Do you think its because your initial focus was on kids television? You go out to the parking lot with him, and he starts to rape you. MARTIN: Really? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Feud is so, so good. 0000049399 00000 n
And I saw the director was a white male. Anyone who then told me or told any other journalist in the future, its too hard, no, its not. MARTIN: But there are a number of women who are interviewed in this film whose careers have been damaged by speaking out. 0000043976 00000 n
Runtime. Representation matters. . And the whole thing wraps up in rushed fashion with the Trump era ushering in a wave of womens marches and reigniting a spark of activism. PDF Based on input from Naomi's team on their expected outcomes - ConText DAVIS: Well, so my character - they told me from the beginning - was a former showgirl who, when she was getting too old to do that, went into management and was able to create a successful career for herself that way. And this guy on the show named Alan Alda, who I was learning everything about. Chinese Complex Watch all you want. $2.99 HD . GROSS: And, you know, you're dressed in your underwear so it's even more, like, imposing and, for him, kind of embarrassing because he's a man who is finding it all very arousing, and he shouldn't be there because he's posing as a woman. Look at what FX did. Korean This is FRESH AIR. Sales: Creative Chaos vmg, Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. GROSS: So what was your strategy to try to open the door to more women directors? Michael Mann tells Christiane Amanpour why we need to rethink what we eat and how we produce it. MARTIN: about women in Hollywood and the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood? So thats why when it says 75 percent of women made this film, people actually clap at that line at the end. 0000001994 00000 n
You know, they just determined to do it, and they're very creative and they make it happen. In 2004, she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to get the actual data comparing the number and types of male and female roles and to use that data to convince the industry of the need for change. So there's no way for us to really know where the investigation is, even though it's now, oh - what? This Changes Everything. And when we looked at - when we first looked at TV shows, kids - the ratio of male to female characters on kids programs, specifically made for them, had the worst ratio of male to female characters. Since then it has been shown 1000s of times in . 2019 | Maturity Rating: TV-MA | 1h 35m | Documentaries. And we started to have meetings with them. Chinese Simple DAVIS: Well, no, no. That was the first time where I was ever like, I guess, men dont see us women equal in this industry. We have also been told that humanity is too greedy and selfish to rise to this challenge. Based on Naomi Klein's book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, a look at how people in various communities around the world play a role in the ongoing climate change debate and how they're affecting change in trying to prevent the environmental destruction of our planet. Overview. They're both featured in the new documentary about that campaign called "This Changes Everything.". Great doc until the credits rolled Late Night with Seth Meyers: Milo Ventimiglia/Geena Davis/Ex Hex/Julian Dorio. MARTIN: You know one of the things that really fascinated me about the film is that you point out it wasnt always this way. In 2018, 92 percent of the directors of the top 250 domestic releases were men. MARTIN: But Geena, this has to have happened to you throughout your career? Drawing on an impressive volume of research, Ms. Klein savages the idea that we will be saved by new technologies or by an incremental shift away from fossil fuels: Both approaches, she argues, are forms of denial .