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Warner Brothers Denies Comments About Female Leads
October 9, 2007
Source: The Movie Blog
by Alex Billington
The public reaction to yesterday's report about Warner Brothers' president of production Jeff Robinov saying that they're no longer making films with women in the lead has been, should I say, exciting. Not only have a number of other websites picked up the story, but a response from Warner Brothers has been issued - and now the plot really thickens. Of course his statement is appalling, if it is confirmed as true, but Warner Brothers denies that he even said it.
John over at The Movie Blog spent the day trying to get in touch with someone at Warner Brothers who could comment on the situation. Finally after waiting 9 hours, calling 2 different numbers and 3 email addresses, he got in touch with a woman from Corporate Communications. Here is the conversation they had on the phone:
WB Rep - "Mr. Robinov never made that statement, nor is it his policy."
TMB - "So are you saying it is not now, nor will be Warner Bros. policy to stop producing films with female leads?"
WB Rep - "Correct. That is not our policy. A blogger [assumably Nikki Finke] made a statement without giving us the opportunity to first respond."
TMB - "All right, that's all I needed to know. Thank you for calling me."
This is where things really start to boil overboard. Some people are backing Warner Brothers up saying that it was Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood who pulled the quote out of context and made up a story of her own. Most of us who originally reported this story still believe that Jeff Robinov did actually make that statement and Warner Brothers is quickly and quietly trying to cover it up. It's almost impossible to truly find out the factual answers to these kinds of questions, but for now discussion will ensue and Warner Brothers may learn their lesson.
Here is a list of the other websites that have been following this story with their latest reports.
SlashFilm - Warner Bros Denies Comments
The Movie Blog - Warner Bros. Bans Female Lead Movies - UPDATED
IESB - Inside Look: Nikki Finke vs. Jeff Robinov
Film School Rejects - Warner Bros. Denies Inflammatory Comments by Executive
As John Campea said, as long as Warner Brothers doesn't actually instate this policy, then there is not too much to be concerned about. However this situation seems to just get hazier as time goes by. Who's right, who's wrong, who's making stories up? It's my personal belief that he did actually make that statement from a business standpoint (the films were a failure) and that he may be a bit of a moron, but as long as they don't continue to remain completely sexist, this isn't too problematic.
I had another thought on the whole situation with the three Warner Brothers films that failed this year. I've heard stories in general that most major studios somehow stick with the policy that they'll only make films with male lead characters, due to their proven financial success over the recent few decades. However, it could be that Joel Silver is an advocate for these films that he saw could've been hits with female lead characters and is the only producers who has enough power in Warner Brothers to actually make it happen. Either that or that they were bad scripts to begin with and Joel thought stuffing an Oscar-winning female superstar celebrity in the lead might draw some different crowds. Check the facts, all three are Oscar-winning big time superstars.
We'll do our best to keep following this story here at FS.net. Any other major updates or statements we'll be sure to bring up. For now, continue to discuss and continue to direct your anger towards Warner Brothers and Jeff Robinov. Let them know how big of a mistake this is.
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Reader Feedback - 1 Comment »
1
Interesting that a film that has taken a worldwide gross equal to its reported production cost in just 4 weeks is now seen as a failure. The Brave One has done that according to figures on IMDb Pro.
Martyn Clapham on Oct 11, 2007