Please enjoy my conversation with my friend Tory Crowley about two leading lady directors. As Tory says in our conversation, Greta Gerwig and Sofia Coppola are the “It Girls” of directors right now. Both had major motion pictures come out in 2023, Barbie and Priscila. Both are from California, and both tell primarily female-centric stories.
I’m grateful to Tory for suggesting this topic, and for bearing with me in my first-ever long-distance recording venture, and being gracious with some of my long pauses and over-reliance on our outline…
Tory is thoughtful and well-researched, and I love all the interesting facts and ideas she presents in this conversation. I think you’ll appreciate her in this podcast as much as I did!
Show Notes
0:00 Introductions - how we know each other, why we love movies
2:07 Why Tory picked the topic of comparing Sofia Coppola and Greta Gerwig
3:15 Why does it matter to talk about female directors versus female directors
6:30 The List of Female Directors who have been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards
11:00 Coppola and Gerwig are the “It Girls” of Female Directors right now
18:00 Which director does Tory like more? How are they different?
30:00 How they use the male perspective differently in their storytelling, and why feels problematic to some men
35:00 Tory’s take on what our culture wants in leading men and women; what makes a character a positively portrayed strong man or woman
37:00 Tory’s examples of positive female characters in Coppola and Gerwig
39:00 Heather’s pontificating on how and why there are more female television directors
42:00 Back to what makes female directors different than male directors, and how place/setting/homes have a lot to do with it
49:00 The future is female?
52:00 Does Heather like any superhero movies?
54:00 How a female narrative is not always an epic hero journey, which is a more inherently male narrative structure
Note: Tory, I apologize for never sending it, and I’m still looking for the episode I heard Greta talk about this concept, but all I can find in my played podcasts is this interview with IndieWire. I’ve combed through it, but I might have to keep searching. Still, worth a listen!
1:00:00 Gerwig’s and Coppola’s upcoming projects, Narnia and Priscila
1:06:45 Wrap-up
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