Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos on the set of Kinds of Kindness.(Supplied: Searchlight Pictures)abc.net.au/news/kinds-of-kindness-women-yorgos-lanthimos-qualley-athie/104056924
Kinds of Kindness is among a raft of female-led or co-led films scheduled for release in the coming months.
It is notable because a recent study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that of last year’s top 100 films less than a third featured a female lead or co-lead, the worst representation for women since 2014.
The result was a drop from a record high of 44 per cent in 2022.
And it is the second film this year from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos to feature Emma Stone in a leading role.
It debuted at Cannes in May and received a standing ovation for Stone and its ensemble cast, including actress Margaret Qualley.
Margaret Qualley starred in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Netflix’s Maid, and will appear in body-horror film The Substance.(Supplied: Searchlight Pictures)
In an interview with ABC News, Qualley, whose mother is actress Andie MacDowell, said she felt fortunate for the roles she had been able to play.
“I feel like I’ve been pretty lucky. I feel like maybe the generation before me paved the path for me to have the opportunities to play the parts that I’m playing because I don’t feel like I’ve had to play too many girlfriends,” she said.
In the Kinds of Kindness, Qualley plays four different characters across three stories, including twins Ruth and Rebecca.
“I didn’t worry too much about making them different because they were written so differently, and set up so differently, that I felt like the heavy lifting was done for me,” she said.
“Their circumstances were so different that, hopefully, they felt different.
“I felt like I was going to embark on the whole journey of the movie — the process of all the different characters and trying to make sense of the world — and see where I fit in.
“It feels so specific to Yorgos. It’s such a singular film that I was looking to everyone else to try to figure it out.”
Qualley plays four different characters in Lanthimos’ anthology film.(Supplied: Searchlight Pictures)Leading the charge
Greek director Lanthimos is known for his female-led films like The Favourite and Poor Things.
It was the latter that nabbed Stone the Oscar for Best Actress earlier this year.
At their latest film’s press conference in Cannes, Stone was asked if she saw any difficulties being a woman in Hollywood.
“I’m a feminist and I like working with Yorgos Lanthimos, so I guess that’s activism,” she said.
“I think there’s a lot of people that are doing their best to change things, move things forward so women feel a true sense of equality in cinema.”I don’t know that I’m really the type of actor that’s like ‘I need to do this film because it has this particular message.’ I just find the characters interesting, the worlds interesting, and it’s just something I want to explore.”
Actors Margaret Qualley and Mamoudou Athie discuss Kinds of Kindness
Kinds of Kindness joins many upcoming female-led films scheduled for release in the coming months, including the big-screen adaption of the musical Wicked and the latest instalment in the Alien sci-fi franchise, Romulus.
Others released this year so far include Furiosa starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Challengers led by Zendaya.
But they are still the exception, which might be surprising given Barbie was released only last year and went on to make over $2 billion at the box office.
The Barbie effect
Lauren Rosewarne, an associate professor in public policy and social political sciences at the University of Melbourne, said Barbie demonstrated female-led films could be commercial hits.
“That’s the best contribution Barbie makes because it shows studios that kind of content — very, very girly, women-led content — can make money,” Dr Rosewarne said.
“So I think that’s really important in terms of a takeaway — success begets success, right? To be successful you see more of that kind of content.”
Hollywood films with female-led roles at decade low.(PM)
Dr Rosewarne said one issue was that films were more expensive to make than programs for streaming services, meaning they were more likely to be risk-averse.
“These things cost a lot of money so you also need people who are diverse funding these productions, or willing to take risks on more challenging or more diverse productions,” she said.
A bright spot in the USC Annenberg research was the percentage of lead or co-lead actors from under-represented racial groups had increased from 31 in 2022 to 37 of the top-grossing films in 2023.
Mamoudou Athie’s eclectic career includes Pixar’s Elemental, Jurassic World Dominion, and The Boy and the Heron.(Supplied: Searchlight Pictures)
Qualley’s co-star in Kinds of Kindness, Mamoudou Athie, credits the change to past artists and actors who have helped blaze the way.
“I think about people like Courtney B Vance and Sterling K Brown — and all these people are still working — what they’ve done, and then obviously the generations before them that have done so much,” Athie said.
“I have such a relatively eclectic career and I’m grateful to them.
“Because I understand it’s not just like I’m some genius or something. It’s other people’s work up until this point.”
