THE WEEK IN WOMEN news roundup: 25 movies coming soon by female directors, Blake Lively speaks out on equality, Nicole Kidman pulls off career renaissance, Margot Robbie to portray Queen Elizabeth I

Posted by Brandy McDonnell on Apr 26, 2017 | 0 comments

Nicole Kidman stars in Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled.” Focus Features photo

From Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” starring Nicole Kidman, to Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman,” with Gal Gadot playing the titular hero, Little White Lies has compiled an intriguing list of “25 new films by female directors you need to see.” It’s an excellent guide of upcoming movies to keep on your radar, even if you have to search a little farther afield than your local multiplex.

Some of the highlights on the list include Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow’s gritty period piece “Detroit,” starring John Boyega; Haifaa al-Mansour’s literary biopic “Mary Shelley,” with Elle Fanning; Lisa Langseth’s traveling sisters’ tale “Euphoria,” starring Alicia Vikander and Eva Green; and Kitty Green’s unusual documentary “Casting JonBenet.”

Check out the full list here.

Singing the praises of Nicole Kidman’s career renaissance

Speaking of Nicole Kidman, check out Vogue’s feature on the career renaissance the Oscar winner has been pulling off just a few months shy of her 50th birthday, which is about 10 years longer than Hollywood has typically deigned to keep a leading lady around.

Along with scoring her fourth Oscar nomination this year for the drama “Lion,” Kidman, who turns 50 on June 20, has earned significant Emmy buzz for her captivating turn in HBO’s mystery miniseries “Big Little Lies.”

Plus, four of Kidman’s projects will debut at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next month: Sofia Coppola’s aforementioned remake of the 1971 film “The Beguiled,” about a girls boarding school in the Confederate South; the dysfunctional family drama “The Killing of a Sacred Deer;” John Cameron Mitchell’s sci-fi film “How to Talk to Girls at Parties;” and another much-hyped TV project, Jane Campion’s second season of Sundance TV’s “Top of the Lake.”

Read the Vogue feature here.

Margot Robbie appears in “The Legend of Tarzan.” Warner Bros. Pictures photo

Margot Robbie to play Queen Elizabeth I

Margot Robbie (“Suicide Squad,” “The Legend of Tarzan”) has been cast as Queen Elizabeth I opposite Saoirse Ronan’s (“Brooklyn”) Mary Stuart in the period drama “Mary Queen of Scots,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A Working Title and Focus Features project, “Mary Queen of Scots” will take on the historical family rivalry between Elizabeth and Mary, when the latter attempted to overthrow her cousin’s seat on the English throne.

Josie Rourke will direct from a script by Michael Hirst and Penelope Skinner. Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Liza Chasin are set to produce.

Blake Lively on experiencing gender disparity

Film and TV star Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl,” “The Shallows”) told Variety in a recent Q&A that she has experienced gender disparity in Hollywood.

“Yeah, I’ve felt that. It’s hard to complain when there are women who are being sex trafficked, women being treated as objects and product. Yes, it’s important to have that conversation, because equality is equality. I feel fortunate. It’s still too far from what it should be for women in 2017.”

Although half of movie ticket buyers are female, Lively said she isn’t necessarily interested in seeking out roles in tentpole films.

“I don’t look at movies by the budget. I look at movies by the character. What was neat about ‘The Shallows,’ it was really low budget. It was a $17 million movie and we did over $120 million worldwide. It’s cool to do that with a story about a woman. It’s proof people want to see movies about women. It doesn’t all have to be Nicholas Sparks-type films. When you look at a ‘Star Wars’ franchise now versus the ‘Star Wars’ franchise then, there are women at the center.

She told the trade publication she is preparing to do a movie in a couple months where she’ll play a woman who is a fighter but she also would be willing to go back to television if the project was right.

-BAM