News Archive

May 09, 2016

Nia Vardalos, Meg Ryan, Geena Davis Talk Sexism in Hollywood

Meg Ryan, Nia Vardalos and Kimberly Williams-Paisley joined Davis for the spirited event, which took place at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. “One day (on the set of ‘Thelma & Louise’) as we’re walking to lunch, Ridley (Scott) says, ‘Hey, Geena, I’m thinking later in the scene today, what if you were to just sit up in the back of the chair in your car and just take your shirt off?’” Davis told the crowd. “And I run over and find Susan (Sarandon) and I tell her there’s a scene this afternoon and Ridley wants me to take my top off and she says, ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake.’ She throws her silverware down and goes over to Ridley and says, ‘Ridley, Geena’s not taking her top off.’ It was like, oh, wait a minute. Women are actually allowed to say what they think and express what they want.” Read More…

May 07, 2016

Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon to Receive Kering, Cannes Film Festival’s Women in Motion Award

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon will receive the Women in Motion award from Kering and the Cannes Film Festival, it was annouced on Friday. The Academy Award-winning actresses are being honored for their contributions to the movie industry and the women’s cause as part of a program that aims to support female professionals in the film business. The “Thelma & Louise” stars, who are celebrating the cult hit’s 25th anniversary, will be honored at Cannes’ “presidential dinner” on May 15. The Ridley Scott classic screened at the 1991 edition of the fest. Read More…

May 07, 2016

My new appreciation for ‘A League of Their Own’

The movie didn’t seem like a piece of ancient history anymore. Players complained of giant welts on their legs from playing in skirts and teams took pains to make sure the women looked pretty and feminine while out on the field. Over 70 years later, the objectification of female athletes is still a problem. Today’s teams may not be named “Slapsie Maxie’s Curvaceous Cuties” (which was an honest-to-God touring softball team in the 1940s), but the gist of the Legends Football League (formerly known as the Lingerie League) ain’t far off. Read More…

May 05, 2016

Geena Davis’ Advice for Hollywood Influencers to Get More Women in Movies

Actress Geena Davis said it will not take major changes in the movie industry to get more women on the big screen, but it will require action from people in positions of influence. “The advice I have for people in my position or the people who are going to be the star of a movie or have clout, it’s very easy to impact change without offending anybody or anything,” Read More…

May 04, 2016

Geena Davis on Fighting for Female Representation in Hollywood and the Golden Age of Roles for Women

Hollywood legend Bette Davis once famously put an ad in a trade paper declaring, ‘Actress, late 40s, eager to work.’ It was a harsh showbiz reality that Geena Davis thought she might be able to elude. After all, she’d won an Oscar by the age of 33 for The Accidental Tourist and starred in one of the biggest movies of all time, Thelma & Louise, by 35. Nothing but opportunity lay ahead— right? But a decade later, Davis found herself where so many others — including even Meryl Streep, for a time — had: no longer at the top of Hollywood’s Must-Hire List. Read More…

April 30, 2016

Bentonville Film Festival, May 3-8, brings out the stars

Don’t be surprised next week if you bump into Meg Ryan grabbing a cup of coffee or Laurence Fishburne strolling around the Bentonville square. The star power helps draw people to the event, a point Drinkwater said makes the Bentonville Film Festival unique. Most film festivals are pretty exclusive, he said, while the Bentonville event offers many free and low-cost community events. Read More…

April 30, 2016

Celebrity Mom Q&A: Geena Davis—”Media is the one area of gender inequality that can be fixed overnight”

Geena Davis may be best known for her trailblazing characters in A League of Their Own and Commander in Chief, but off screen she’s working equally hard to pave the way for women and girls. From May 3 to 8 she’s in Bentonville, AK, for the second year of her Bentonville Film Festival, which seeks to champion women and diverse voices in film and TV. At other times, she works to promote gender balance in media at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The mom of a daughter, 14, and twin sons, 12, talks about life in the Southeast, life imitating TV, and how to watch with your kids without giving them complexes. Read More…

April 30, 2016

Geena Davis: Hollywood’s gender equality problems ‘not better yet’

Since starring in Thelma & Louise 25 years ago, Geena Davis has made it her business to keep tabs on gender inequality in Hollywood. “The reaction was so eye-opening,” Davis told EW during our Thelma & Louise reunion. “From then on, I chose roles based on, ‘What are the women in the audience going to think of this character?’” Read More…

April 30, 2016

Fast Company Announces 2nd Annual L.A. Creativity Counter-Conference Featuring Geena Davis, John Cena, Russell Simmons, Jeffrey Katzenberg

Fast Company announced today that it will host its second annual Creativity Counter-Conference in Los Angeles, May 24-25, 2016. Over the course of two days, FC/LA will gather some of the most creative minds in business, technology, design, and entertainment for a series of inspiring keynote conversations, hands-on sessions, visits to the workspaces and studios of L.A.’s leading organizations, and opportunities to practice purposeful networking. Read More…

April 30, 2016

Blythe Danner and Geena Davis on What I Told My Daughter

My daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, grew up in a household where there was a constant undercurrent of activism. Of her many accomplishments—as an Oscar winner, as a mother, and as an entrepreneur—I’m most proud that she has carried on the tradition of being engaged with causes that are meaningful to her, and doing good things for others. It is what her father— writer-director-producer Bruce Paltrow—and I hoped to instill in our children. Read More…

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