December 3, 1995
Web posted at: 2:30 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Sherry Sylvester
HOLLYWOOD, California (CNN) -- They are killers, quilters, crime solvers, computer geeks, casino hustlers, lovers, lobbyists, wives, and daughters. They are women on the big screen. And after many false starts, they finally may be able to celebrate 1995 as the Year of the Woman.
Actress and producer Demi Moore said so-called "women's
films" reflect what women are really doing. "In many
different outlets," she said, "we've heard women being
encouraged to be with women -- girls 
night out, trips
together, bonding." (68K AIFF sound or 68K WAV sound)
Actresses say they are finally finding characters as diverse, complex, and interesting as they are in real life. Anne Bancroft, who is in two recent releases, "How to Make an American Quilt" and "Home for the Holidays," said the lack of such roles has been a longtime problem. "Since I started in the business, I don't think I've ever done more than one or two things a year. I never could find anything, really, that excited me -- that wanted me to explore me, that helped me in any way to enrich me."
While the meaningful roles have not been numerous, actresses
have been preparing to play them. "I had done a lot of work
in my acting class and I played a lot of different parts that
I never in a million years would have been cast as," said
Sharon Stone, who stars in the new Martin Scorsese film
"Casino." "So I knew to a certain degree that I could do all
kinds of things that I didn't have a chance to do before."
Women behind the scenes are partly responsible for the equal
opportunity. Diane Keaton, Barbra Streisand and Jodie Foster
are directing. Demi Moore and Meg Ryan are producing. And
Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson is writing. Over the
past five years, she worked on a screenplay based on the Jane
Austen novel "Sense and Sensibility." "It's been a long and
often despairing process ... but it's been fantastic," she
said.
Novelist Terry McMillan adapted her best seller "Waiting to
Exhale" for the screen. (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)
The late December release stars
Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett.
"Whitney said, 'Oh, what
a relief to go to a movie and
not see a gun or some guy
shooting himself in the head,'" recalled Bassett.
Ensemble films like "Waiting to Exhale" can get women to the
theaters, but Entertainment Weekly's Anne Thompson said a lot
of men won't go to the so-called "women's films." To keep
the genre alive, she said, women must support it. (68K AIFF sound or 68K WAV sound)
Bigger box office receipts are won by films that are equal in their appeal to both men and women. "The American President," for example, is about the commander in chief and the women who change his life. "They're flawed, which is refreshing," said Annette Bening, who plays the leading woman to Michael Douglas' president. Her role is that of "a strong -- whatever that means -- a strong woman who is intelligent (who) can be frail and make mistakes and be sensitive and have vulnerabilities and fall apart. To me, that's human," she said.
It was 1993 that was supposed to be the Year of the Woman. It fell a bit short of that in Hollywood. But just two years later, Demi Moore is making $12 million for her next feature, as is Sandra Bullock. And Whoopi Goldberg has a multi-picture deal. Women are redefining their roles in the movie business.
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