Warner chief gives thumbs-down to female leads

According to a report on DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY, Warner production prez Jeff Robinov is sending female movie stars to the back of the bus.
In her "Deadline Hollywood" column, writer NIKKI FINKE reports that Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree: "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead."

While Finke could not quote Robinov directly, his statement was corroborated by "three different [unnamed] producers."

In the wake of the lackluster box office performances of Jodie Foster's The Brave One and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion, Robinov's alleged "official policy" is that a male must be in the lead of every picture.

"I'm told he doesn't even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position," Finke fumed.

"This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women," women's rights attorney Gloria Allred responded. "Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads and to exclude talented female actors from the top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favor of macho males."

ROB M. WORLEY at Comics2film.com said that "such a mandate would spell doom for the long-in-development Wonder Woman movie."

"No doubt industry pundits can point to poor performing superhero flicks like Elektra and Catwoman and shout, 'ah-HA!'" he continued. "But it would be wet-brained to conclude that the movies failed because they had a female lead, as opposed to pointing to their weak storytelling and sub-par filmmaking."

"If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads," concluded Allred, "then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros."
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PAnthony
10/9/2007
Deadline Hollywood Daily