Geeks Love Women! (In Lead Roles!)

Rant Movie about 11 years agoby Dave Wylde

Dear Studio Heads,

Please take a look at 2013’s top seven movies. You’ll notice that 3 of the top 7 movies in our country star women only. No men at all in the lead role/roles.

#1 – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $414m US, $847m WW. Note: We will see anything with Jennifer Lawrence. Ballsy, badass, wildly intelligent… and also happens to be beautiful.

#4 – Frozen – $318m US, $712m WW. Loved it. We also loved Tangled, Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid, etc.

#7 – Gravity – $256m US, $671m WW. Sandra Bullock in the lead role. Ballsy, badass, wildly intelligent… and yes, happens to be beautiful. Kind of reminds you of Ripley, doesn’t it? It’s only been 100 years since those movies came out.

My point… I’ve spoken to the geeks and nerds. We’ve all come together and discussed this. We’ve convened a global conference of nerds. Our finding: We want more women in lead roles!

Please make this happen.

Yes, we want Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman. We want Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, and Flash. We also want Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, and Starfire. Just as much, maybe more.

Yes, we want Bilbo, Sparrow, and Solo. We also want Leia, Uhura, and Gamora. Just as much, maybe more.

Yes, we definitely want more Will Ferrell movies. We also want more Melissa McCarthy movies. To be honest, I probably want Heat 2 before Anchorman 3. And so do you! Anchorman 2 was the #23 movie of the year. Identity Thief was #19 and Heat was #15.

I definitely want Tangled 2 or Frozen 2 (female leads) before another Madagascar, Ice Age, Kung-Fu Panda, Shrek or Cars (all male leads, and that list could go on forever).

Calling a spade a spade, there are still infinitely more Geek movies being greenlit starring men than women. And if you’re a random male actor… you are much more likely to get the chance to star in a major, blockbuster movie vs. a huge female star. Henry Cavill is Superman, whatshisname is Spider-Man, Chris (blank) is both Thor and Captain America… but if you are Scarlett Johansson, you have to co-star as Black Widow. If you’re Anne Hathaway, you have to co-star as Catwoman. If you’re Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Adams or Emma Stone, you have to co-star as “the girlfriend.”

And think about this: Robert Downey, Jr. is Iron Man, Ben Affleck is Batman, Johnny Depp might be Dr. Strange, Paul Rudd is Ant-Man, even Michael Douglas is Hank Pym… but Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman? I’m probably one of the bigger Gal Gadot fans, but that seems weird. If Ben Affleck is Batman… why isn’t Angelina Jolie Wonder Woman???

(I asked this question to a female friend of mine and she said, “Well… is Angelina Jolie too old to be Wonder Woman?” For the record, she is 3 years younger than Ben Affleck, 5 years younger than Jeremy Renner, 6 years younger than Paul Rudd, 7 years younger than Hugh Jackman, 8 years younger than Mark Ruffalo, and a full 10 years younger than RDJ. She is also much sexier than all of those men. And if Angelina Jolie was Wonder Woman… well, that would be ridiculously awesome.)

Marvel Cinematic Universe in particular… I’m calling you out! Here it comes, and I can’t believe this isn’t said more at this point. Right now, as it stands, your stand-alone movies are Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man and it now looks like Dr. Strange. That is a very white, male crowd. Wouldn’t it seem worth a shot, now that you have an enormous brand and billions of our dollars, to greenlight a standalone Black Widow? Or a Ms. Marvel, Firestar or Spider-Woman? (Or, for that matter, a standalone Nick Fury, Black Panther or Blade?) If nothing else, just to beat DC to the punch? I appreciate the argument that at least you’re adding Widow, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and maybe Wasp as co-stars… and that the new TV series includes Jessica Jones. But at this point, that is simply not enough.