Why hasnt it changed before now? Accuracy and availability may vary. The feature documentary, This Changes Everything, narrated by Naomi and directed by Avi Lewis, premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Oscar Winning Director Alfonso Cuarn, and executive producers Seth Macfarlane, Shepard Fairey, and Danny Glover. So I learned about being a feminist through the activism of a man. Now they were saying, oh, I have to tell you what I thought about this movie, and this is how many times I saw it. Starring Naomi Klein Stacey Arwen Raab. I felt its my duty as a feminist, male or otherwise. They could say, what was I doing? GROSS: A battle with yourself to not battle with yourself. DAVIS: Well, it did in a way. If she can see it, she can be it. Terms Privacy Policy For Our Members Access, All rights reserved. MARTIN: So Geena, how do you stay in it though? GIESE: Well, I understood very quickly that the numbers in and of themselves inferred violations of Title VII. So Geena, will you just tell us what the title is referring to? So it was all very shocking and great because what it really - well, first of all, I'll tell you how it affected me. See production, box office & company info, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres, Late Night with Seth Meyers: Milo Ventimiglia/Geena Davis/Ex Hex/Julian Dorio. And I was so shocked when my coach said after just a few months, well, now you've got to start competing. GROSS: It's like, he's short; you're really tall. Women are socialized to go along with the dominant patriarch. Oh, we forgot. This documentary on climate change and its causes focuses largely on stories of human connection to the land, some who try to control the land, while others who see humans as temporary stewards of the land to pass to future generations. They respond by organizing against fossil fuel extraction in their beloved Powder River Basin, and forming a new alliance with the Northern Cheyenne tribe to bring solar power to the nearby reservation. MARTIN: But Geena, this has to have happened to you throughout your career? Also with us is director Maria Giese, who's featured in the film, too. Theyll just get somebody else. GROSS: And doesn't know where to put his eyes. MARTIN: Have you felt your career jeopardized by your unspokeness about this? Overview. You know, the "Teletubbies" are gender-balanced; I don't know if you can tell. GROSS: But you're in your underwear. You had a small role. The film is a Canada-United States coproduction. DONAHUE: But also, Reese Witherspoon says in the film that sometimes she would go on set and it would be 115 men and she would be the only woman. I'm talking about family-rated films. Now, this changes everything. Written with an elegant blend of science, statistics, field reports and personal insight, it does not paralyze but buoys the reader. AMANPOUR: Yes. So it was so horrifying to me that we would be doing this to kids that I decided I had to try to do something. When you have 150 men on set and one woman, how is that woman protected? I showed her, you know, G-rated videos and little kids movies and TV shows - and, you know, obviously, there's some exceptions to that. Did you think of it as there not being enough roles for women in their 40s? So you started your career as a model. And that's what I set my mind to do. Channeling the hurried nature of a TV docuseries edited to cover an extremely broad topic in a limited amount of time, the first act layers a lot of too-brief sound bites albeit from an impressive array of influential women, including Reese Witherspoon and Shonda Rhimes over movie clips emphasizing the prevalence of machismo and misogyny (The Godfather, for example) to almost dizzying effect. Klein argues that the changes to our relationship with nature and one another that are required to respond to the climate crisis humanely should not be viewed as grim penance, but rather as a kind of gifta catalyst to transform broken economic and cultural priorities and to heal long-festering historical wounds. GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are both featured in the new documentary "This Changes Everything" about discrimination against women in Hollywood. And I was sure they must be right and waiting for this fabulous future that was coming. She's best known for her starring roles in "Thelma & Louise," "A League Of Their Own," and "Beetlejuice." Go behind the scenes of Netflix TV shows and movies, see what's coming soon and watch bonus videos on. You hear so many women speaking up when they encounter injustice and openly talking about it. Theres a lot of talk about change and theres a lot more content being made but a lot of the diversity that happens in content is happening at the lower pay levels. Its just very elevated because its in the entertainment world. DAVIS: I think I noticed it because Ive been in like A League of Their Own and I became very aware of how few inspirational female characters there are in regular adult fare. And this is according to the Center for the Study of Women and Television and Film in San Diego State University. Good Deed Entertainment (Theatrical Premiere), Starz (Broadcast), VOD, TVOD. This Changes Everything | A book, film and engagement project about why the climate crisis is the best opportunity we've ever had to build a better world. DAVIS: Exactly. You know, some shows are researched and all that and certainly harmless. Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize for Nonfiction. This Changes Everything Directed by: Tom Donahue Produced by: Ilan Arboleda, Kerianne Flynn, Tom Donahue Executive Producers: Geena Davis, Steve Edwards, Regina Scully, Simone Pero, Madeline Di Nonno, Jennie Peters, Patty Casby, Ku-Ling Yurman Co-Producers: Jessicya Materano, Robin Kelleher Production companies: CreativeChaos vmg, New Plot Films DONAHUE: So the cheaper shows on Netflix and Hulu. For the first thing I showed her, there were profoundly more male characters than female, and it was aimed at two-year- olds. And - but nobody, and least of all him, nobody ever said, you realize you don't have to come every day? MICHEL MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR: Geena Davis, Tom Donahue, thank you so much for talking to us. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, listen up, please. After a break, I'll talk more with Geena Davis about her movie career, and Bruce Talamon will talk about taking photos of soul, funk and R&B stars of the '70s. Well, we call the film This Changes Everything, because its about kind of why that doesnt happen. And they started to reach out to interview many, many women, as many women directors as they could. I'm Terry Gross. YES Magazine Most fascinating is an examination of the six women who in 1979 founded the Directors Guild of Americas Womens Steering Committee, which sought to investigate the hiring practices of studios. Published in 2014, it debuted at #5 on the New York Times list and at #1 in Canada. So I never thought about it again. JOIN NOW. And if you're just joining us, my guest is actor Geena Davis and director Maria Giese. A really decent doc, but like 99% of the reviews here, I'm completely dumbfounded why they hired a MALE to direct this. So I began to think, you know, this is maybe not just about me, and even if my own career is just about me, that doesn't answer for all the incredible, talented women everywhere that are not able to contribute their voices to our entertainment media storytelling. So there's no way for us to really know where the investigation is, even though it's now, oh - what? Watch all you want. I felt very unhappy with having that sort of imposed on me by other people. Global Release 2020, 2023 Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. SCREENING GUIDES. A lot of negative reaction in the press too like, oh, no, the world is ruined now. So I started making this movie. Michel Martin sits down with Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis and director Tom Donahue to discuss their new film This Changes Everything, which tackles the need for more female representation in media. Dutch A work of startling force, exhaustive reporting, and telling anecdote . Her work led to an ongoing EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, investigation into systemic discrimination against women directors, as well as an ACLU campaign against discrimination. I was very upset and angry at that happening to me. An office worker who is insecure about her looks becomes a masked internet personality by night until a chain of ill-fated events overtakes her life. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. GROSS: So you and your friend, played by Susan Sarandon - they go on a trip together, have a lot of drinks in a bar, guy comes up to you, asked to dance with you. And it's a buddy movie. You used to make a movie a year. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Feud is so, so good. You know, what we tend to do when we don't succeed is to blame ourselves, and women were so siloed off in this industry we really didn't have any means of communication. Jyothi, a matriarch in Andhra Pradesh, India who sings sweetly and battles fiercely along with her fellow villagers, fighting a proposed coal-fired power plant that will destroy a life-giving wetland. . Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies. And I also expected it to be not true anymore by the time I would get to that age. Maria Giese is a director who felt shut out for being a woman. JENNIFER LAWRENCE: Its our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal . So I sat down with her, and the very first show I turned on and watched with her, I pretty much immediately noticed something, and I thought, wait a minute - how many female characters are in this show? makes a muscular case for global warming as the defining, cross-sectional issue of our era., [A]robust new polemic . So here was my hero calling himself a feminist. So they were driven out of the unions. You were attached to other projects. And he just does it. Absolutely not. It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. Presenting portraits of communities on the front lines, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. Norwegian Promotional materials, trailers & welcome video. Script extract. But thats what we were worried about. DAVIS: Well, no, no. . Not rated. Danish AMANPOUR: Let me just give some of the statistics that you cite in the film. Finnish DONAHUE: Yes. DONAHUE: There hasnt been a lot of change. And so I did. Greek It was a small budget, and we hoped somebody would see it and not object to the ending. She's featured in the movie and as an executive producer of the film. And for a very brief time, the nature of that change is still up to us. And I explained to them why I thought that this was so significant on a global level. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And she's been dedicated to equality for women, more roles for women in Hollywood. So, like, it seems like a lot of the change is happening from women like that who are creating the change themselves. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Kleins narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. This sudden change in how people reacted when they recognized me was very, very pronounced. This Changes Everything makes this point very clear, while also seeking to spark initiative. And I think thats but also part of it is that my peers and I felt like you cannot complain about any of this because they wont hire you. GROSS: So did being a model for Victoria's Secret lead to having this part where you're in your underwear in the dressing room? Romanian GIESE: You know, I did a lot of script writing and doctoring and - but no, no primetime TV shows, even though I observed for hundreds of hours on major TV shows like Dick Wolf's "Law & Order.". Featuring interviews with Geena Davis, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Taraji P. Henson, Reese Witherspoon, Cate Blanchett, Tiffany Haddish, Jill Soloway, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Chastain, Yara Shahidi, Chloe Grace Moretz, Amandla Stenberg, Alan Alda, Sandra Oh, Anita Hill, Rashida Jones, Rose McGowan, Judd Apatow, Rosario Dawson, Maria Giese, and many other influential voices in the fight for gender equality. GROSS: But you were with Sydney Pollack. Told first-hand by some of Hollywoods leading voices behind and in front of the camera, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING is the award-winning 2019 feature-length documentary that uncovers what is beneath one of the most confounding dilemmas in the entertainment industry the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women. Portuguese And, you know, the growing movement against Keystone XL, but, frankly, all of the tar sands pipelines, is really starting to resonate right there in the electoral cycle. It'll ruin your career was the thinking. He's got you pinned against a car. And it seemed that, in the 21st century, this was a horrible message to be sending and very shocking. Originally, it was about workplace discrimination in Hollywood but I thought to myself, who is going to want to see this movie outside of the people in Hollywood. [Klein] writes of a decisive battle for the fate of the earth in which we either take back control of the planet from the capitalists who are destroying it or watch it all burn.. No, I didn't think, oh, it's me, at all. To have these conversations with men, youre saying like, well, I dont think you should depict it that way and I think you should depict it this way. 2019 | Maturity Rating: 13+ | 1h 35m | Documentary Films. And so it kind of made sense in that way. It's about two women who grab ahold of their fate and refuse to relinquish control no matter how far it takes them, that they remain in charge of their destiny. 47%. GROSS: And, you know, you're dressed in your underwear so it's even more, like, imposing and, for him, kind of embarrassing because he's a man who is finding it all very arousing, and he shouldn't be there because he's posing as a woman. . At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was first runner-up for the People's Choice Award: Documentaries. I didn't want to try any sports because I was - I call it physically shy. And there's a scene where you come out in - why don't you describe the costume. It takes a bit of time for the documentary to find its groove. DAVIS: Well, you know, we found that for every two speaking male characters, there's one female speaking character, and that there's an appalling amount of hypersexualization of female characters, even in G-rated movies, and the female characters are very often narrowly stereotyped, hypersexualized or not really integral to the plot. Portuguese This was my plan (laughter). MARIA GIESE: My first feature film directing job out of graduate film school was in England, not in the United States. -Alice Walker, author and activist, Purposely unsettling Ultimately encouraging GROSS: So part of your work was modeling for Victoria's Secret. And, of course, it's all a joke. Was that because you thought that was the way you could break in? DAVIS: First of all, for the simple fact of fairness, that women deserve to be in half of the positions, you know, and have leadership roles and also be the grip and be on the crew and, you know, use their [13:45:00] talents. I wasnt thinking, this is so unfair. Drawing on an impressive volume of research, Ms. Klein savages the idea that we will be saved by new technologies or by an incremental shift away from fossil fuels: Both approaches, she argues, are forms of denial . And this guy on the show named Alan Alda, who I was learning everything about. Actress Geena Davis rallies Meryl Streep, Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon and others in this . So let me just play that clip. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Chinese Complex Nothing except that climate change changes everything. Its the lowest hanging fruit possible. And this is in every sector of society, its the same story. We can reflect the future now and it will make it happen. Most importantly, the film seeks pathways and solutions from within and outside the industry, and around the world. DAVIS: Well, it was completely random in some ways. Yet we can seize this existential crisis to transform our failed economic system into something radically better. MORETZ: The biggest part of the movie is when she gets her period for the first time in the shower. Here it is. . GROSS: So what about other women you knew from film school? Chinese Simple And then maybe five years later, another movie comes out with a female star. DAVIS: Well, so my character - they told me from the beginning - was a former showgirl who, when she was getting too old to do that, went into management and was able to create a successful career for herself that way. And she documents the inspiring movements that have already begun this process: communities that are not just refusing to be sites of further fossil fuel extraction but are building the next, regeneration-based economies right now. JOHN LANDGRAF, HEAD, FX: I had this unconscious bias that we would have to be making sacrifices to hire people with less experience. You know, I mean, both are kind of unattainable. In the directors guild, there were only two women I think up until the 1960s who were members of the union. Change or be changed, but make no mistake, this changes everything.. And I was - well, I was mostly thrilled that my first job was not playing, you know, a corpse in a morgue on a soap opera or something. And I couldn't get the numbers on women in commercials, which is the most lucrative category of directing, but I spoke to some big executives in the commercial world who told me that the number was less than 1%. GROSS: Geena Davis, Maria Giese, thank you both so much for talking with us. GROSS: Did you think of it as discrimination against older women? And I'd be like, which part exactly? But I loved it. Recorded by CBC Ideasafter the historic December 2015 Paris Climate meeting, in this lecture, Naomi analyzed the failures of that Agreement and discussed ways to move forward from it. He's just decided that that's what he's going to do. And in May 2015, The New York Times published the ACLU's 15-page letter to the EEOC and to other government agencies, calling for an industry-wide federal investigation into systemic discrimination against women directors. And I started to do research. This is FRESH AIR. MARTIN: So you can see it with kids entertainment? . I very much expected that that would not be the case. GROSS: Geena Davis, let me bring you back into the conversation. The epitome of WTF? Co-Producers: Jessicya Materano, Robin Kelleher Over the course of 90 minutes, viewers will meet. Can you talk about that? And you try really hard to, like, throw him off of you. And it was just, you know, doing a video with a casting assistant. After feeling that she was shut out of directing because she's a woman, she became an activist. And she demonstrates precisely why the market has notand cannotfix the climate crisis but will instead make things worse, with ever more extreme and ecologically damaging extraction methods, accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism. That was the first time where I was ever like, I guess, men dont see us women equal in this industry. The extraordinary detail and richness of the cinematography inThis Changes Everythingprovides an epic canvas for this exploration of the greatest challenge of our time. But when she got older and roles started to dry up, she realized how unempowered women were in Hollywood. GROSS: The one with the feathers and DAVIS: The one with the feathers and rhinestones? Shocked when my coach said after just a few months, Well, we the. Up to us to have wage equality once and for a very brief time the! And solutions from within and outside the industry, and it will it! And then maybe five years later, another movie comes out with a female.... 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