Uma Thurman star producer
March 2nd, 2008, 1:03 am Hobbies Ideas
It%26rsquo;s funny, beams Uma Thurman, but in Hollywood, you don%26rsquo;t hear the
word %26lsquo;bitch%26rsquo; as much as you used to. Up until recently, if ever a woman was
doing well or achieving something, that term was liberally applied. Women
were called all sorts of names. Sitting in the comfortable confines of
London%26rsquo;s Dorchester hotel, looking remarkably fresh in her earth-coloured
trousers and top, and acting especially chirpy for someone who stepped off a
transatlantic flight just four hours earlier, Thurman is musing on
Hollywood%26rsquo;s perception of female writers and directors. A trio of women
screenwriters crafted her latest movie, The Accidental Husband.
I think female writers and directors have been getting more work in recent
years, she continues, her slender fingers fiddling with the fine blonde
hair scraped back from her face. The slow move towards Hollywood accepting
women in the employer and leadership positions is getting better. I think
we%26rsquo;re all growing up more and more. There is some positive movement, and
that makes me happy.
An undoubtedly happy Thurman %26ndash; she giggles throughout the interview %26ndash; has
hopped into the realm of leadership herself. She is credited as a producer
on her new film, buying the rights to the story in early 2001 and spending
the succeeding years working with writers, financiers and her first-choice
director, her long-standing friend Griffin Dunne, who is perhaps best known
for his work as an actor, starring in John Landis%26rsquo;s An American Werewolf in
London and Martin Scorsese%26rsquo;s After Hours before graduating to the director%26rsquo;s
chair.
The film is her second outing as a producer, following 2002%26rsquo;s HBO feature
Hysterical Blindness, and whereas the latter is a rather gritty black
comedy, her latest is a slick romantic comedy, starring the genre mainstay
Colin Firth as Thurman%26rsquo;s intended fianc. He is a rather stiff publisher who
represents a safe bet for her character, Emma Lloyd, a radio presenter who
encourages her listeners to plump for the more anodyne choice in their
relationships, before suddenly pursuing the opposite option herself.
Reflecting a world where marriage licences could, or at least should, be
printed on an Etch a Sketch, the film allows Thurman to display her comedy
chops, blending the slapstick with the poignant.
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