Tuesday Update: More photos = less trust required!
See these great pix posted on Highheel Confidential!
You’ll just have to trust me on this, my friends: that “flash of red” you saw when the SLUMDOG team ran up on the stage last night to collect the Oscar for Best Picture? That was Loveleen Tandan! I’m not a “what if” kinda gal. Once something is in the past there’s no way to “go back,” so why bother?
We will never know how SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE would have fared (either critically or commercially) without Loveleen Tandan in the “co-director” role. Similarly we will never know if she would have been at the Oscar ceremony last night if I hadn’t been sitting here in Chicago these last few months making such a fuss with “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha.”
For all of you who still doubt my motives, accusing me of risking damage to her career for the sake of my own causes (or worse, simple self-aggrandizement), all I can say is this: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE will forever be known now as an Oscar-winning Best Picture, & Loveleen Tandan was part of the team that flew to Hollywood to help claim the prize. More people know her name now than knew it a few months ago, & more people are aware of Hollywood’s abysmal stats re female filmmakers than ever before. So I’m ready to “Declare Victory & Move On.”
I have a screening of SUNSHINE CLEANING in 2 hours (directed by Christine Jeffs, written by Megan Holley, & starring Amy Adams, Alan Arkin & Emily Blunt), so I live in hope! Bye now J
23.Feb.09 
Rants: Oscars & Other Awards 
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Huge congratulations to Melissa Leo, winner of the 2009 Independent Spirit Award for “Best Lead Actress.” Click HERE to read my review of FROZEN RIVER as well as excerpts from my interview with Melissa when she came to Chicago last year for a Press Day.
So, funny story: Richard & I watched the Spirit Awards with our IFP/Chgo buddies @ a trendy spot on North Halsted. I came in thinking it would be a big night for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, so when Melissa Leo won Best Lead Actress, I jumped up & started screaming. Funny Eden Essex, sitting in our booth, said quite spontaneously: “She’s her sister!” So people kept coming up to me afterwards to congratulate ME.
No, no, I said, but then I took my chance to explain both who Melissa Leo was & why her win was so important. Per my FROZEN RIVER review, Melissa Leo has done great work on TV & in films for years now, & she really, really, really deserved this. HOORAY!!!
22.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Last week, I responded to Kim Voynar’s critique of “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” by invoking “the Zeitgeist,” exemplified for me by a magazine cover photo of Michelle Obama captioned: “Alongside every great man…”
Yesterday I got my new NEWSWEEK which includes a full page article on the Obamas called “Our Model Marriage” concluding as follows: “Barack’s unguarded moments once led Slate’s Melinda Henneberger to ask ‘whether a husband who not only bows to his wife but admits it conforms to our notion of … strength.’ For millennials inspired by the first couple’s modern marriage—a group that sees greater strength in celebrating domestic equality than concealing it—the answer is apparently yes.”
Some people have rejected my requests for support because I couldn’t prove to them that Loveleen Tandan did “at least 50%” of the directorial work on SLUMDOG. Frankly, this makes no sense to me, because I simply don’t believe that creative contributions can ever be measured with that kind of precision—in art or in life.
Here’s my bottom line: Since no one will ever know for sure what SLUMDOG would have been like if Loveleen Tandan had not participated beyond her role as Casting Director, it seems prudent to acknowledge her contributions to this extraordinarily popular film and reward her accordingly during the awards process (especially given Oscar’s abysmal statistical record to date).
While I’m at it, I’d also like to give a shout out to Hunter College Professor Steve Gorelick (creator of the blog Media & Mayhem):
“A few minutes ago, I was moved to again watch the video from the Women’s Resource Center that shows just how much vile and persistent sexism was on display during this year’s presidential primary campaign… As I watched the video, I found myself yelling (all the plentiful expletives have been deleted): “Don’t these idiots have daughters, lovers, wives, or mothers or any other women whose future they care about? Is this the message they will send: Try hard, honey, but don’t be stubborn. Don’t be pushy.”
OK, so yes, maybe I’m “stubborn” and maybe I’m “pushy,” but if so it’s because I have nieces and women friends of all ages, & yes, I really care about their future!!!
My thanks to Steve, & thanks also to Google Alert for grabbing Steve’s reference to Jane Addams & pulling him up into my eBox!
18.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (2)
The Women’s Media Center posted a wonderful piece today by doc filmmaker Kavery Kaul. She ends her essay Of Slumdog and Loveleen as follows:
“Today, a woman in India raises concern in the United States about the under-representation of women directors. Did she give of herself too generously to the project? Did she fail to grab for the brass ring when opportunity struck? An Englishman gave her the title of co-director and sparked debate about whether that indicates recognition or condescension. People are often reluctant participants in issues they didn’t create. The questions muddy matters of a delicate balance. They can shatter the spontaneity of a rare moment. Yet, they often push us forward by highlighting the need for change.”
I won’t add to the ugliness by sharing any of the contents of any of the nasty, intimidating messages I’ve received since I began writing about “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha,” but suffice it to say that posts like Kavery’s make it ALL worthwhile!
Thank you, Kavery, & thanks also to WMC!
17.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (4)
“…as we drew closer to the shoot date,
Danny asked me to step in as the Co-Director…”
Someone I really respect sent me (& others) a message last week explaining why he could not support “my SLUMDOG campaign” & in the course of his message, he said this: “When the film was completed, Mr. Boyle took it upon himself without pressure or precedent to acknowledge Ms. Tandan’s extraordinary contributions to the production by creating a credit for her that didn’t exist before: co-director.”
I was stunned! I immediately asked him if he had any evidence for this, & I told him I’d been operating under very different assumptions for months now: “As I try to figure all of this out from what Danny Boyle himself told me when we spoke f2f (as well as everything that’s been published since, most especially by the WALL STREET JOURNAL), I sincerely believe that the critical moment came here:
“As I was casting with her,
I realized, because I’m not a fool,
that I needed her there every day.”
Someone just sent me a link to an interview with Loveleen Tandan posted in late December. While it doesn’t exactly validate my theory, it certainly does confirm my timeframe.
Why is this important??? While my friend in paragraph one above is more articulate than most, I think many others also have a fundamental misunderstanding about what happened when to get us to this point. Quite simply, they don’t seem to understand that Loveleen Tandan was hired to do a job (Casting Director) & when that job was done she was given a new job (Co-Director). Both of these jobs involved both financial as well as creative transactions. Sure Loveleen Tandan “helped” Danny Boyle during the making of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. That was part of her job as Co-Director. (The new job she was hired to do after she completed her job as Casting Director.)
Why are so many people fighting so hard to deny the obvious??? Years ago, another wonderful male friend of mine asked me why I was putting in so many hours of [unpaid] overtime on a minimum wage job. “Jan,” he said. “It’s a job. It’s not an adventure.” Since I am, indeed, a woman who has “helped” way more than her share over the years, I feel I’ve earned the right to say this:
AMPAS needs to recognize the job Loveleen Tandan did
as the credited Co-Director of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
& reward her for her contributions accordingly.
15.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Kudos to Melissa Silverstein (again!) for her wonderful WMC article today on FROZEN RIVER, which is now available to all on DVD. I’ve been so obsessed with “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha” that I haven’t given this topic sufficient attention, but just so you know, I love FROZEN RIVER which got one of only 3 “perfect scores” (5 points) from me last year & wound up #3 on my Ten Best List for 2008.
Melissa Leo came to Chicago to promote FROZEN RIVER in July. As haggard as she may look in FROZEN RIVER, she’s a very beautiful woman, & her face was absolutely luminous when we met f2f in her suite. She told me something wonderful that day which I send out now to all friends of women filmmakers with love (yes, today, on “Friday the Thirteenth”):
“When Courtney was trying to raise money for FROZEN RIVER, I would call her every three or four months and say: ‘We makin’ that movie?’ I come to find out three years later that I would often call, just like woman do, at that very moment when she was ready to give up, get a kindergarten teaching license, and forget about it. Certainly I have been given reasons to give up, but I won’t.”
Hooray to AMPAS for nominating Melissa Leo for a “Best Actress” Oscar! Hooray to AMPAS for nominating Courtney Hunt for a “Best Original Screenplay” Oscar!! And oh yes, hooray to AMPAS for nominating TROUBLE THE WATER for a “Best Doc” Oscar!!! That’s three cheers for AMPAS!!!
Note that I too have been given reasons to give up,
but I won’t J
13.Feb.09 Events: WITASWAN & SWAN Day, Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments Off
Sending best wishes to all our cyber friends!
Jan (& Rich)
PS: I didn’t add the pink bow. It came on the card. How perfect!
13.Feb.09 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments Off
People seem to be latching on to Kim Voyner’s comments in Movie City News to impugn my credibility, so it seems I need to address her post a second time.Let’s start here: “[Huttner] says she is both ‘stunned and shocked’ that Tandan was not co-nominated for Best Director. Why exactly is Huttner stunned and shocked?”
Here’s the full context for the comment Voyner quotes above: “I’m a resolutely optimistic, ‘glass-half-full’ kinda gal,’ so I truly believed the zeitgeist would prevail. But alas, while people all around the world cheered Barack Obama’s Inauguration on Tuesday, on Thursday it was back to business as usual in Hollywood: for the 78th time in 81 years, five guys became contenders for the ’09 Best Director Oscar. Say it isn’t so!!!”
To the extent Voynar has an actual critique of my post, it’s here: “Does [Huttner] point to a long history of the Academy recognizing co-directors in the nominations? No, she does not, because there is no such history.” In this way, Voynar implies there IS a significant history of co-director credits, but that’s precisely what’s at issue. Co-Director is an extremely rare credit. I didn’t create it. All I did was notice it & begin asking questions. Most of my colleagues didn’t notice it, but some did & when they did, they began asking questions too. (I suspect this is the source of the enormously important article in the WALL STREET JOURNAL.)
To make her case, Voynar then proceeds to attack Loveleen Tandan’s contributions to SLUMDOG, going so far as to lump her with the best boy and the gaffer. In this way, she (& others) have tried to incite me to “fire back” by questioning Danny Boyle’s contributions, but as I’ve already said, that assumes a zero sum game in which “elevating” Loveleen Tandan’s contributions devalues Danny Boyle’s contributions. I don’t believe this & I won’t say it!
Danny Boyle was open & honest when I met with him face-to-face, & come what may, I will continue to believe the best of him in this context. I see him in my mind’s eye as someone surfing a wave he never expected to be on. Danny Boyle is certainly not personally responsible for 80 years of AMPAS rules &/or 80 years of Oscar statistics. But then neither is Loveleen Tandan. Neither of them had any input whatsoever into the rules that now deny her appropriate recognition for her contributions to this wonderful film.
Which brings us to the Zeitgeist: In 2008, American almost nominated a woman Presidential candidate, succeeded in electing an African-American President, & made major statements at the Box Office (most notably by turning out in large numbers for three films that most male critics trounced & which are completely out-of-sight out-of-mind now that we’ve reached the awards season). I think the caption that accompanies this cover photo of Michelle Obama captures the Zeitgeist. In the past, I suspect this caption would have used the word “…behind…” but now it uses the word “…alongside…”
Me personally? I think SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE has captured the heart of the world precisely because Loveleen Tandan worked alongside Danny Boyle (not behind him), & I think AMPAS should find a way to acknowledge this. Think of the upside of giving Loveleen Tandan an Oscar nomination as SLUMDOG’s co-director, & then ask yourself this: what’s the downside? As humorist Nicole Hollander asks in her comment on one of my recent posts: “Will Oscar melt?”
10.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (3)
Click HERE for Newly Revised ‘08 Oscar Impact Chart.
I heard a very interesting segment on NPR this AM, an interview with Matt Miller about his new book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Miller explicitly endorsed the main message in President Obama’s recent Inauguration Address: let’s drop the rhetoric, figure out what actually works, & plan our future accordingly. I agree.
Many, many people are contacting me now to explain “the rules;” suggesting that if I only understood “the rules,” then I wouldn’t be concerned, surprised, or upset about the fact that SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE’s credited co-director hasn’t been nominated for any Best Director awards. If only it were that easy!
I fully understand “the rules,” thank you very much, but here’s my point: if current rules produce abysmal results, then I think the powers that be need to examine their rules & make appropriate changes. Stop & consider the actual numbers: do YOU really want to defend the fact that over 99% of all individuals ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar have been male??? Is this really a fact that YOU think should be simply ignored, now, at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century???
This is not a joke, folks, this is a fact! In 80 years of Oscar history, 99.25% of all nominations for Best Director have gone to men. Furthermore, 99.25% of all nominations for Best Director have gone to white men. (John Singleton was nominated for BOYZ N THE HOOD in 1992, & Ang Lee was nominated in 2001 for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON & in 2006 for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.) Furthermore 100% of all Oscar-winning Directors have been men, & 98.75% of all Oscar-winning Directors have been white men. (Ang Lee broke the color barrier when he won in 2006.)
If this is the system YOU are defending, then I suggest you give serious thought to buying a copy of The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Me? I will continue to fight this by asking AMPAS to examine its rules, identify sources of hidden bias, & make necessary internal reforms. If YOU agree, then please write to AMPAS & tell them so. If you do NOT agree, then please give me better reasons than same old, same old, because The Tyranny of Dead Ideas will never sway me.
09.Feb.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Last night we put our Oscar obsessions aside & went to see two new movies @ our local multiplex. Afterwards, we both agreed that we’d inadvertently performed a nice little experiment. While both of these films are basically genre trash, one is now #1 at the Box Office, while the other is in a downward spiral. Why? It can’t have anything to do with the merits of either film: they’re both awful. But one is an R-Rated “macho treat” filled with violence & sexual exploitation, while the other is a sweet-natured PG-Rated “chick flick.” And my fellow critics (most of whom have always been & continue to be male) think the “macho treat” is “undeniably fun,” while they totally dismiss the “chick flick.” I don’t think it gets more clear than this…
By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed this, we’ve rated both films “Does not meet criteria” on our website FILMS FOR TWO, even tho, if left to our own devices, Rich would recommend TAKEN & I would recommend NEW IN TOWN. Remember, neither of these films is actually “good,” & for sure, you all have much better choices, but if you just want to relax for a couple of hours in the presence of genuine star power, you could do worse.
08.Feb.09 Raving/Ranting about Critics/Journalists Read more Comments (0)
