EPIX Announces "The 4%: Film's Gender Problem" Documenary Series

EPIX to Air “THE 4%: FILM’S GENDER PROBLEM” – An Original Series of 6 Short Documentaries with First Person Insights About Gender Inequality in Hollywood Debuts March 8, on International Women’s Day 2016

Produced by Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, Directed by Caroline Suh and Featuring Interviews with Jill Soloway, Paul Feig, Toni Collette, Anjelica Huston, Catherine Hardwicke, Judd Apatow, Amy Heckerling, Julie Delpy, Lake Bell, Mira Nair, Amanda Peet, Patricia Clarkson, Mo’Nique, Anne Sweeney, James Franco, Christine Vachon, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Kristin Wiig and more…

Informed by Research Conducted by USC Annenberg Professor, Dr. Stacy L. Smith

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Premium TV network EPIX® announced today that THE 4%: FILM’S GENDER PROBLEM, a series of 6 original short films designed to explore the issues around the current gender gap in Hollywood, has completed production. The 6 shorts will air on the network and across all EPIX platforms on International Women’s Day – March 8, 2016 – and run throughout the month, coinciding with Women’s History Month. The first short will be presented at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival’s “Women at Sundance Brunch” on January 25, 2016.

Produced by Alex Gibney’s award-winning Jigsaw Productions (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Taxi To the Darkside, Enron: Smartest Men In the Room), the series spotlights directors and creative personalities – both women and men – who share first-person insights, questions and anecdotes about the role of women in Hollywood.

Participants include: Judd Apatow, Joe Arcidiacono, Lake Bell, Amy Berg, Patricia Clarkson, Toni Collette, Jonathan Dayton, Julie Delpy, Valerie Faris, Paul Feig, America Ferrera, James Franco, Donna Gigliotti, Geoffrey Gilmore, Debra Granik, Catherine Hardwicke, Mary Harron, Amy Heckerling, Dawn Hudson, Anjelica Huston, Vicky Jenson, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Rebecca Keegan, Jon Kilik, Ellen Kuras, Mimi Leder, Franklin Leonard, Tina Mabry, Victoria Mahoney, Michael Mann, Lori McCreary, Mo’Nique, Michael Moore, Rachel Morrison, Mira Nair, Amanda Peet, Kimberly Peirce, Keri Putnam, Pamela Romanowsky, Cathy Schulman, A.O. Scott, Melissa Silverstein, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Jill Soloway, Anne Sweeney, Anne Thompson, Rosemarie Troche, Christine Vachon, Mandy Walker and Kristen Wiig.

The series is informed by research conducted by USC Annenberg’s Dr. Stacy L. Smith, a renowned expert in the field, and which was supported by Women in Film Los Angeles and Sundance Institute. The series also has the support of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender In Media and Meryl Streep.

Even though it is widely recognized that female directors are strikingly under-represented in Hollywood, the numbers still manage to surprise. According to a multi-year study led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and conducted by the USC Annenberg Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative, across 1,300 top-grossing films from 2002 to 2014, only 4.1% of all directors were female. This calculates into a gender ratio of 23.3 male directors to every 1 female director.

Each film will focus on a different theme, with segments varying in tone – from thoughtful, to controversial, to funny, sometimes all at once.

Mark S. Greenberg, President and CEO, EPIX, said, “EPIX has supported Stacy’s research for years and these shorts offer a richer, more authentic portrayal about the role of women and girls in media today. Support for this project has also brought together the talented Alex Gibney, and a prestigious list of some of the most gifted artists and creatives from the worlds of entertainment and the arts. Our objective is to help provide a forum for the discussion of ideas and potential solutions, as we collectively work towards closing the gap that exists today.”

Dr. Stacy L. Smith, the Initiative’s Founder and Director and lead researcher on the investigation, said, “The series offers an opportunity for a national audience to hear from the entertainment industry directly about the issues women face both as filmmakers and in other creative roles. My research is clear: females face a very real fiscal cliff as they pursue work at the highest echelons of this industry. I am proud that my research is associated with a team and a network that cares about female filmmakers and creating systemic change.”

According to research from Dr. Stacy L. Smith:

    In the 100 top films of 2014, only 2 women worked as directors.
    Across 700 films and 779 directors from 2007 to 2014, only 3 were Black or African American female directors.
    Women were only 11% of writers and less than 20% of producers across the 100 top-grossing films of 2014.
    Only 30% of all on-screen speaking characters in 700 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2014 were girls or women.
    A total of 21 of the 100 top films of 2014 featured a female lead or roughly equal co-lead.
    Less than a quarter of all speaking characters were female in the top animated films of 2014.
    Only 22% of speaking characters in top action/adventure films of 2014 were female.
    34% of characters in top 2014 comedies were female.

Other data on female directors shows:

    Only four women have been nominated for a Best Director Oscar® in the past 85 years, with only one winner among them.

“THE 4%: FILM’S GENDER PROBLEM points to the fact there is an undeniably gaping disparity in Hollywood. It’s one that many – including those in Hollywood and at the ACLU and EEOC – believe needs to change. What better way to draw attention to the issue than to have some of the business' most recognizable voices come together in support of more diversity in making movies,” notes director Caroline Suh. “I’m very happy that the project found a partner in Jigsaw, a company known for its activism in exploring human rights violations and the abuse of power. Jigsaw is an amazing group of diverse yet like-minded people whom I’ve loved working with. Further pleased to be working with the support of EPIX, led by Mark Greenberg, who has been committed to these issues for a long time. There’s also a great team of executives and production people who have rallied around the cause.”

THE 4%: FILM’S GENDER PROBLEM is a series of EPIX Original short documentary films produced by Jigsaw Productions. Caroline Suh is the director and Erika Frankel is the producer. Executive Producers are Stacey Offman, Laura Michalchyshyn, Lynne Kirby, Caroline Suh, Betsy West and Alex Gibney. Jocelyn Diaz, Ross Bernard and Jill Burkhart are Executive Producers for EPIX.


About USC Annenberg Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative
Dr. Stacy L. Smith is the Founder and Director of the Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Dr. Smith's work examines gender and race on screen and behind the camera in cinematic content as well as barriers and opportunities facing women and people of color in the entertainment industry. She also conducts economic analyses related to diversity and the financial performance of films. Dr. Smith has written more than 100 journal articles, book chapters, and reports on content patterns and effects of the media. In terms of the popular press, Dr. Smith’s research has been written about in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, fivethirtyeight.com, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Slate.com, Salon.com, The Boston Globe, NPR, and USA Today, to name a few. She has a co-edited essay in Maria Shriver’s book, A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything (2009). Dr. Smith’s most recent research reports include a landmark study with Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles, a study of 700 top-grossing films conducted at USC Annenberg, and multiple investigations with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her work is also generously supported by EPIX, The Harnisch Foundation, LUNAFEST, The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation, and other individuals. To learn more, visit http://annenberg.usc.edu/mdsci or follow on Twitter @MDSCInitiative.

Jigsaw Productions is helmed by Oscar® and Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney. Jigsaw has produced some of the most acclaimed documentary films in recent years, including the Academy and Emmy Award-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, the Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Showtime’s Emmy-winning History of the Eagles, the Sundance-premiering We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, and the explosive film about Lance Armstrong’s long fall from grace, The Armstrong Lie. More recent Jigsaw releases include the controversial and three-time Emmy winner Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, one of the most watched documentaries in HBO’s history, the Peabody Award-winning Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, the Emmy-nominated two-part series Sinatra: All or Nothing At All for HBO, and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine for CNN Films, in theaters now. Television projects currently in production include: The New Yorker Presents for Amazon, which adapts the venerable The New Yorker magazine to the screen; Cooked, a four-part food docu-series based on the award-winning Michael Pollan book of the same name for Netflix; and the four-part Parched: The Water Wars for National Geographic.

About EPIX
EPIX is a premium movie and original programming entertainment network delivering the latest movie releases, classic film franchises, original documentaries, comedy and music events on TV, on demand, online and on digital devices. Launched in October 2009, EPIX has pioneered the development and proliferation of “TV Everywhere.” It was the first premium network to provide multi-platform access to its content online at EPIX.com and to launch on Xbox, PlayStation®, Android phones and tablets, and Roku® players. EPIX is also available across Chromecast, Apple® iPhones® and iPads®, Android TV and more and is the only premium service providing all its programming on all platforms, delivering more movies than any other premium network, with thousands of titles available for streaming.

EPIX is a joint venture between Viacom Inc., its Paramount Pictures unit, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM). Through relationships with cable, satellite and telco partners, EPIX is available to over 50 million homes nationwide. For more information about EPIX, go to www.EPIX.com. Follow EPIX on Twitter @EpixHD (http://www.twitter.com/EpixHD) and on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/EPIX), YouTube (http://youtube.com/EPIX), Instagram (http://instagram.com/EPIX), Google+ (http://plus.google.com/+EPIX), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/EPIX) and Vine (https://vine.co/EPIX).

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of September 13th to 19th, 2015 - Update #16

Support Leroy on Patreon.

NEWS:

From YahooTV:  Kevin Spacey kills it with his Jimmy Stewart impression.

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From Vulture:  Stephen King's "The Mist," which was made into a tragi-comic film in 2007 may return as a television series.

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From DigitalSpy:  Kathryn Bigelow, Catherine Hardwicke and Mimi Leder are on a shortlist to direct a "Tomb Raider" film series reboot.

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From TheVerge:  Citizenfour's Laura Poitras moves on to Julian Assange.

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From TheWrap:  David Oyelowo prefers to work with women directors.

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From TheWrap:  FOX will give a simultaneous worldwide release to the second season opener of "Empire" and the debut of "Scream Queens."

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From DenofGeek:  I have lost track of how many times that I have published news about Warner Bros.' long-planned adaptation of the legendary manga, Akira.  The latest is that the adaptation will be a trilogy (rather than the previously announced two-film adaptation) and that Christopher Nolan will be involved... in some capacity.

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From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 9/11 to 9/13/2015 weekend box office is "The Perfect Guy" with an estimated take of $26.7 million.  Of course, "The Visit" is a close second with $25.6 million.  Things may change with the release of the final tally on Monday afternoon.

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From ShadowandAct:  An excellent article about the good and the bad of supporting films specifically because they feature Black actors and/or are made by Black filmmakers.

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From Variety:  Seth Rogen talks about his acting process for "Steve Jobs."


COMICS - Films and Titles:

From THR:  The late comic book writer, Bill Finger, contributed much to the creation of Batman (including creating Robin, The Joker, and Catwoman, and naming Gotham).  Apparently, he will receive some kind of credit for his work on the upcoming season of "Gotham" and on the "Batman Vs. Superman" movie.

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From WeGotThisCovered:  See the "Ant-Man" poster for the film's release in China.

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From DigitalSpy:  Bob Hoskins could have been Wolverine.

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From Empire:  Zoe Saldana is ready to kill giants.


REVIEWS:

From Variety:  Variety's Andrew Barker reviews "Pan."


OBITS:

From TheWrap:  Jackie Collins, the best-selling romance novelist and sister of actress Joan Collins, died today, Sat., September 19, 2015, at the age of 77.

Review: "Red Riding Hood" is Contrived and Not Scary

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 70 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Red Riding Hood (2011)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and creature terror, and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: Catherine Hardwicke
WRITER: David Leslie Johnson
PRODUCERS: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Alex Mace, and Julie Yorn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mandy Walker (D.o.P)
EDITORS: Nancy Richardson and Julia Wong
COMPOSERS: Alex Heffes and Brian Reitzell

FANTASY/HORROR/ROMANCE/MYSTERY

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie, Adrian Holmes, and Archie Rice (voice)

Red Riding Hood is a 2011 film that belongs to several genres: Gothic horror, romance, and mystery. Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, turned down directing the sequel (Twilight Saga: New Moon), and went on to direct Red Riding Hood, which is obviously meant to appeal to Twilight fans. This movie isn’t anywhere in the same league as Twilight.

Taking place some indeterminate centuries in the past, Red Riding Hood is set in the small village of Daggerhorn, which is situated on the edge of a haunted black forest. The story focuses on the lovely young Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), who as a child developed an affinity for hunting, sneaking out, and doing things boys do. Valerie also fell in love with Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), a young hunter, and wishes to marry him. Valerie’s mother, Suzette (Virginia Madsen), and father, Cesaire (Billy Burke), want her to marry Henry Lazar (Max Irons), a young blacksmith from a wealthy family.

For years, a werewolf has plagued Daggerhorn and, as the story begins, the beast murders Valerie’s older sister, Lucie (Alexandria Maillot). The village has summoned Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), a priest experienced in hunting werewolves. Shortly after Solomon arrives, the werewolf attacks again, so Solomon and his guards use the disaster as pretense to take control of the village. Solomon points his accusing finger at Valerie, who seems connected to werewolf, but as the death toll rises, perhaps, only the accused can save Daggerhorn.

When I first heard about Red Riding Hood going into production, I figured that Warner Bros. Pictures was trying to capitalize on the success Walt Disney Pictures had with its 2010 worldwide monster hit, Alice in Wonderland (directed by Tim Burton), by doing their own fairy tale thing. When I heard that Catherine Hardwicke was directing this film, I thought, “Throw in the Twilight demographic.”

As I wrote earlier, Red Riding Hood is no Twilight, and it is even more preposterous than Alice in Wonderland. Actually, here and there, this film has a few brilliant ideas – visually, at least (having Black men as some of Solomon’s guards, Valerie’s startling red robe, among them). For the most part, however, the rest of the film feels contrived, overdone, phony, etc. It seems like a pretentious project put together by a high school creative writing class. The score and soundtrack are fantastic and practically saves any sense of drama, mystery, and horror that Red Riding Hood has.

4 of 10
C

Friday, August 12, 2011

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Review: Performances Carry "Thirteen"

TRASH IN MY EYE NO. 174 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thirteen (2003)
Running time – 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for drug use, self destructive violence, language and sexuality – all involving young teens
DIRECTOR: Catherine Hardwicke
WRITERS: Nikki Reed and Catherine Hardwicke
PRODUCERS: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Michael London
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Elliot Davis
EDITOR: Nancy Richardson
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Jeremy Sisto, Brady Corbet, and Deborah Kara Unger

Thirteen is the story of Melanie Freeland (Evan Rachel Wood), a 13 year-old girl living with her single mother, Tracy Louise Freeland (Holly Hunter), and her brother, Mason (Brady Corbet). Melanie is an A-student but the pressures of being an L.A. teen surround her and eventually break her down via promiscuous bad girl Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed). Before long Melanie is into sex and drugs, and she becomes so materialistic that she begins to steal people’s purses and such for money. Things rapidly go from bad to worse when Evie invites herself to live with the Freelands, and Melanie falls headlong into reckless teenage abandon and rebellion. When will she hit bottom?

Thirteen is a nice drama about out of control and depressed teens, like Larry Clark’s Kids, but much less graphic and shocking. Still, the film’s portrayal of the hedonistic lives of the youngest teenagers is unsettling. Catherine Hardwicke does a good job keeping her film from being an “ABC After School Special” or some kind of movie of the week melodrama. The script by cast member Nikki Reed (who based the screenplay upon her actual experiences) and Hardwicke focuses more on delineating teenage rebellious atrocities, dangerous youth lifestyles, and other reckless behavior than on plot.

Thus, it’s the performances that really carry this film. Holly Hunter earned an Oscar® nomination for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” for her performance as the mom Tracy, who does a remarkable job holding things together considering the state of her life. Ms. Hunter does have a habit of wearing her characters’ angst on her sleeve, but here, her Tracy is authentic, and the character centers everyone else’s dysfunctions into a workable system.

Evan Rachel Wood smolders as Melanie, but she clearly isn’t ready to show too much beneath the surface, though she has her gallant moments. It’s the same case with Nikki Reed; her face tells that there is so much more beneath the pouting, the sad eyes, the crassness and the trickery, but she’s not ready to go where the big girl actresses go when they create unforgettable performances.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Holly Hunter)

2004 BAFTA Awards: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Holly Hunter)

2004 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Evan Rachel Wood) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Holly Hunter)

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It Ain't Bragging if it's True, Eh, Warner Bros.?

Warner Bros. Pictures Group Earns Triple Crown for 2010

The Studio Takes This Year’s Top Spots in Domestic Market Share with $1.884 Billion; International Market Share with $2.930 Billion; and Worldwide Market Share for the Second Consecutive Year with $4.814 Billion

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Warner Bros. Pictures Group broke the all-time industry worldwide box office record with a 2010 gross of $4.814 billion, which surpasses the prior record of $4.010 billion (set by Warner Bros. in 2009). The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

Setting new benchmarks for both the international and global box office grosses in 2010 and retaining the domestic box office number one ranking (after achieving a record gross in 2009), the Studio now holds the industry record in all three categories. Additionally, Warner Bros. surpassed its own worldwide gross from the previous year by $800 million to earn the number one position in worldwide market share for the second consecutive year and for the sixth time in the past 10 years, also an industry record.

“We are so proud of these incredible accomplishments, which were made possible through the global efforts of an exceptional group of people who collaborated to create, produce, market, and distribute more than two dozen films this past year,” said Robinov. “We have a terrific leadership team behind these efforts, including Sue Kroll, Dan Fellman and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, and, along with Barry Meyer and Alan Horn, I applaud everyone who contributed to this year’s record-breaking success.”

Warner Bros. Pictures’ domestic gross is estimated at $1.884 billion, making it number one in domestic market share for 2010. This is the third year in a row the Studio has held that crown and is the only studio to exceed the $1 billion threshold domestically for 10 consecutive years. Warner Bros. has been ranked either one or two domestically for seven of the last 10 years. The Studio had five films gross over $100 million domestically in 2010 – “Inception,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” “Clash of the Titans,” “Valentine’s Day,” and “Due Date.”

“Our tentpole strategy combined with a remarkably diverse overall slate has once again proved enormously profitable at the box office,” said Dan Fellman, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. “We could not be more proud of the Studio’s achievements this year.”

Warner Bros. Pictures International set a new industry record in overseas box office with an estimated $2.930 billion year-end gross, breaking the previous industry record of $2.450 billion in 2009. This is the tenth consecutive year the Studio has exceeded $1 billion and third time it has surpassed $2 billion in international box office receipts. The Studio has had seven films gross more than $100 million internationally in 2010 – “Sherlock Holmes” ($264 million, for a total of $315 million, including 2009’s take); “Valentine’s Day” ($106 million); “Clash of the Titans” ($330 million); “Sex and the City 2” ($193 million); “Inception” ($531 million); “Due Date” ($100 million); and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” ($611 million, and still in release).

“We’re elated to reach these incredible numbers internationally,” said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International. “This achievement is a testament to the company’s strategy to make event films with global appeal, and it would not have been possible without the hard work and innovative thinking from our outstanding marketing and distribution teams around the world.”

Among the Studio’s 2011 releases are “Red Riding Hood,” directed by Catherine Hardwicke; the Zack Snyder-directed action fantasy “Sucker Punch”; “The Hangover Part II,” the sequel to the 2009 breakout hit; “Green Lantern,” the highly anticipated adaptation of the popular DC Comics title, starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively; the conclusion of the most successful film franchise of all time, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”; “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling; Steven Soderbergh’s thriller “Contagion,” with an ensemble cast led by Matt Damon; “Happy Feet 2,” the sequel to the 2006 Academy Award®-winning animated musical hit; New Line Cinema’s “New Year’s Eve,” an all-star ensemble romantic comedy from director Garry Marshall; and “Sherlock Holmes II,” Guy Ritchie’s follow up to the 2009 hit, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

Review: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson Rock "Twilight"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Twilight (2008)
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality
DIRECTOR: Catherine Hardwicke
WRITER: Melissa Rosenberg (based upon the novel by Stephenie Meyer)
PRODUCERS: Wyck Godfrey, Greg Mooradian, Mark Morgan, and Karen Rosenfelt
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Elliot Davis
EDITOR: Nancy Richardson

DRAMA/ROMANCE/HORROR

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Cam Gigandet, Ashley Greene, Christian Serratos, Anna Kendrick, Nikki Reed, Taylor Lautner, Kellan Lutz, Jack Rathbone, Michael Welch, Gil Birmingham, Justin Chon, José Zuniga, and Edi Gathegi

The 2008 box office smash, Twilight, is based on the 2005 novel of the same name written by author Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is the story of an outsider girl who falls for a chivalrous vampire.

Isabella (prefers “Bella”) Swan has always been a little bit different and has never cared about fitting in with the trendy girls. When her mother and her new husband move to sunny Florida, Bella returns to the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Police Chief Charlie Swan (Billy Burke). Surprisingly, Bella does make a few friends at the local high school, but she finds life dull. Then, Bella spots the school’s strangest students, the Cullens, but she is most captivated by the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she’s ever met.

After he saves her life, Edward is forced to reveal to Bella that he is a vampire, but he doesn’t have fangs. His family is unique in that they choose not to drink human blood. The intelligent, sly, and witty, Edward sees straight into Bella’s soul. Her mere presence drives him crazy, and their passionate romance is as thrilling as it is unorthodox. They’re soul mates. However, the arrival of a small pack of vicious vampires threatens the peacefulness of Forks, the Cullens’ way of life, and Bella and Edward’s happiness.

I think the secret of Twilight’s success as a film adaptation of a (wildly) popular book is that it captures the essence of The Twilight Saga (which is composed of four books – for those not in the know). Twilight may have vampires, but it is unequivocally a romance. The birth of Bella and Edwards’ love and its continual growth is so powerful that it permeates Twilight and spills over into the readers’ imaginations. These are captivating characters. Bella is an independent girl, who keeps her own counsel. Edward is chivalrous and is something of a Byronic hero.

The success of Twilight as a movie, separate from the Twilight Saga, depended on how the film depicted the intense romance of Bella and Edward. First, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg did a fantastic job adapting Twilight for the screen. Rosenberg is near-perfect at trimming the novel, creating new scenes that are true to the original text, and keeping pretty much everything from the novel that really encapsulates this story. Director Catherine Hardwicke has this deft touch at getting to the heart of what makes this story work, and she is especially good at capturing the magic of Bella and Edward as a couple. The best example of Rosenberg and Hardwicke’s storytelling is a magical sequence in which Edward puts Bella on his back and takes her on a journey through the lush forests surrounding Forks via the tree tops.

However, the biggest reasons for Twilight’s success are actors Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward. Stewart, who seems to have the makings of an exceptional actress, embodies the moodiness and independent streak of Bella that define the character. Kristen makes Bella seem like a real person even in the midst of Twilight’s fantastic scenario. Pattinson is simply a beautiful man, and he channels his acting through a passion for his craft; maybe, that’s why Edwards is so fierce and intense. Here, Pattinson is pitch perfect at playing the sly, tormented bad boy.

Stewart and Pattinson are so good that they are this movie. Simply put, Twilight is a winner.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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