News Archive
One of the best films at Sundance is a VR experience
The Sundance Film Festival is all about the shared experience of the theater, so imagine the surprise of realizing that one of the most moving films at this year’s fest most moving films is something that can only be seen inside of an Oculus Rift headset. “Dear Angelica ” is a 12-minute illustrated story about memory, movies and grief that premiered at the Festival last Friday. In the film, a girl, voiced by Mae Whitman, lies in bed writing a letter to Angelica (Geena Davis), a famous movie star who we also discover was her mother. We swirl around in her memories of Angelica, shifting between real life and images from movies she’s been in and back again. It’s the first animated experience created entirely in VR. Read More…
Here’s Why Geena Davis Doesn’t Want ‘Thelma & Louise’ Reboot
The industry is in the age of reboots, where it seems nearly every pop culture phenomenon is being developed into a new television series or film. But, if it’s up to Geena Davis, “Thelma & Louise” won’t be joining the growing list of remakes. “I would be against somebody doing, let’s say, ‘Thelma & Louise’ without it being Susan and me,” Davis said, speaking of her co-star Susan Sarandon, on Monday at the Variety Studio at the Sundance Film Festival. “I wouldn’t like it. Maybe they’ll do it someday, but I wouldn’t like it.” Read More…
Inside ‘Dear Angelica’: How Oculus Reinvented VR Animation, With a Little Help From Geena Davis
Geena Davis will never forget the first time she tried virtual reality, because it literally brought her to tears. “I was crying, and so moved by it,” she recently recalled. “I was just a mess by the end.” Davis’ tear-inducing introduction to virtual reality (VR) came when she first watched a draft of “Dear Angelica,” a new 12-minute cinematic virtual experience from Oculus Story Studio that is premiering at Sundance and on the Oculus Rift headset Friday. “I felt bad about it,” Oculus Story Studio Creative Director Saschka Unseld recently told Variety. “We made Geena Davis cry! She completely teared up.” Davis nonetheless signed on to the project and voiced one of the main characters, which is roughly based on her life and career. Read More…
Actress, activist Geena Davis named keynote speaker for Christus LiveWell Women’s Conference
Acclaimed, award-winning actress Geena Davis will keynote the 10th annual CHRISTUS LiveWell Women’s Conference, an all-day event showcasing the latest in health and wellness on Thursday, May 11 at Ford Park in Beaumont. “Geena Davis epitomizes in her roles and in her daily life the grace, beauty, creativity, compassion, and power of a woman,” Becky Howard, CHRISTUS Southeast Texas Health System conference lead, said. “We are honored that she will help us celebrate 10 years of discovering, reviving and shining all of the qualities that make us the women we are.” Read More…
Geena Davis Hopes 2017 Brings Greater Gender Equality In All Media
The air was crisp and wintery in mid-December, its cool breeze adding to the jubilant mood as production professionals walked through the grounds at the William Turner Gallery at Bergamot Station. The holiday party this diverse group of professionals, from writers to producers, actors to agents, was attending at the art complex went beyond the typical networking mixer. It was a special fundraising event for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, held to support the continued research and activities the non-profit is engaged in. In between the cocktail hour and a live music performance, Golden Globe and Oscar winning actress Geena Davis addressed the crowd with her hopes for 2017. “The entertainment industry is the one sector in society with a big imbalance that really can be changed overnight,” said Davis. “When you go back to your studio or the project you are working on, change some male names to female names. Make sure half a crowd scene is composed of women. Make the doctor or the lawyer (in your project) a woman.” Read More…
How Geena Davis is Combating Hollywood Sexism
Actress Geena Davis may be best known for her iconic feminist role in Thelma and Louise, but today she’s working to improve the types of roles actresses across the industry are cast in. Davis says, “[Hollywood] is the one sector in society with a big imbalance that can change overnight.” Watch Video…
2016: The Year That Women in Hollywood Fought Back
Geena Davis is ready to talk. And, more than ever in 2016, she’s not alone. The Oscar winner and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media has spent years advocating for women in Hollywood and improving gender representation in film. In a December 7 piece for The Hollywood Reporter, Davis made a case for women to “create the future” where women are strongly visible, especially now that Donald Trump is president-elect. That future, Davis told Vanity Fair, would be quite different from the industry when Davis was starting out. Read More…
Geena Davis: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me (‘I Can Wiggle My Ears One at a Time!’)
Batter up! Actress, athlete and women’s advocate Geena Davis steps up to the plate to reveal 25 things you may not know about her (she’s fluent in Swedish!) in this week’s issue of Us Weekly. #21: 20. I run a film festival every May in Bentonville, Arkansas, called BFF. It was created to champion women and diverse voices in film and other media. Read More…
‘Thelma & Louise,’ ‘The Princess Bride’ and ‘The Birds’ Enter National Film Registry
A woman did not make it to the White House this year, but two other famous ladies, Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer, have entered another Washington institution — the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Ridley Scott’s feminist manifesto Thelma & Louise (1991), starring Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, is among the 25 motion pictures selected this year to be preserved for future generations, it was announced today. Thelma & Louise became a symbol of feminism and a cultural flashpoint that landed the film’s stars, in character, on the cover of Time magazine. Anchored by career-defining performances from Sarandon and Davis (and a breakout early appearance by Brad Pitt), Scott’s Thelma & Louise skillfully contrasts action-movie themes with a social commentary before building to an unforgettable climax. Read More…
Goldhirsh Foundation Awards $1 Million in Grants to 12 L.A.-Area Organizations
The Goldhirsh Foundation announced winners for its annual My LA2050 Grants Challenge Tuesday, a $1 million grant competition to source creative ideas about shaping the future of Los Angeles. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a research-based organization working with the entertainment industry to improve gender balance in media to empower women and girls, will receive $25,000 to provide scholarships and mentorship opportunities for 50 girls ages 13-18 to participate in their See Jane Salon Series. Read More…
