Nia Vardalos wants to promote her new movie, My Life in Ruins, but she’s having a hard time of it because men hate seeing women succeed.  Why, just listen to this unsubstantiated rumor about what an anonymous man said to her:

Lately, I’ve been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because… “women don’t go to movies.”  When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, [she studiously avoids mentioning the most obvious example, the female-led, female-written, female-directed Twilight, for some reason]. he called them “flukes.” He said “don’t quote me on this.” So, I’m telling everybody.

Telling everybody… without mentioning the guy’s name!  She’s sacrificing her career on behalf of women everywhere!  Girl power!

I’m in a new movie, My Life In Ruins, out in theaters now. It’s a small indie, that was picked up for distribution by a studio (thank you Fox Searchlight.) We’re in one-third, maybe less, about one-quarter of the amount of screens of the big movies…yet we made it into the Top Ten [with a not-that-great $2769 per-theater average].  …My Life In Ruins is the highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight history so we’ve been given a chance. And, the theater owners said they’ll keep the movie in their theaters if people go. [HuffingtonPost via CinemaBlend]

Highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight History?  You mean your movie that’s tracking 13% on rottentomatoes?  The one from the same studio as The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, and Super Troopers?  That movie?  This conspiracy must go all the way to the top.  I bet no one wants to see her succeed because she’s so sassy and female and sort of ethnic.

_{Birthday Dog looks at the camera because Birthday Dog is a f*cking professional.}

Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a feature on “The Fempire,” accompanied by the headline “An Entourage of their own.”  The group of Hollywood power womyn in questions?  Why, Diablo Cody and three chicks you’ve never heard of, of course.

Lorene Scafaria [who co-wrote Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist] and Diablo Cody are usually not a duo, but half of a quartet. With their pals Dana Fox, who wrote “What Happens in Vegas,” and Liz Meriwether, a playwright-turned-screenwriter, they make up a Hollywood powerhouse writing posse who call themselves “The Fempire.”

The Fempire’s solid front — all four wear the same gold necklaces with tiny heart pendants inscribed with words that can’t be printed here, gifts from Ms. Cody — seems to make some men nervous and envious at the same time.

You can find them at work in their Laurel Canyon homes in their pajamas, or sitting next to one another at laptop-friendly restaurants. To see them gathered amid the dinosaur topiary around Ms. Fox’s swimming pool with their dogs (they all have dogs) is to see four distinct styles of glamour that bear little resemblance to traditional images of behind-the-scenes talent.
…
Don’t even try to credit their bankability to their looks. “When you read a screenplay, it doesn’t come with a picture on the cover,” said Adam Siegel, president of Marc Platt Productions, a producer who is friends with all four women.

The totally not-condescending article then goes on to compare them to Entourage and the Apatow posse, and it’s all very empowering, because it communicates the message that girls can indeed do many of the things boys can do. *Spice girls pose*