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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 23 February 2018
Janney thought film acclaim eluded her _ then came 'I Tonya'

By LINDSEY BAHR for whoever was going to steely exterior.
AP Film Writer help get the movie made: “My heart broke a little for
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The First, no one was allowed to her watching all these in-
Academy Awards seem rewrite him. Second, Jan- terviews because I could
like formality when it comes ney was to play LaVona see under her denial, the
to the best support actress Golden. He'd known Jan- hurt that’s there,” Janney
category this year. ney for decades, since said. When someone says ‘I
Since the world devoured he met her at New York's don’t care, I could care less
Allison Janney's brilliantly Neighborhood Playhouse that we don’t talk on the
acidic performance as School of the Theater when phone,’ it’s like, ‘of course
Tonya Harding's abusive he was only 17 (she's just a you do.’”
mother in "I, Tonya," she few years older than him), She even enjoyed the test
has won nearly every ma- and had written parts for of acting while trying to ig-
jor award she's been up her before. But it hadn't nore the bird perched on
for, including a BAFTA, a worked out yet. her shoulder for the scenes
Screen Actors Guild award, "I said, 'I want it in writing or where she’s talking directly
a Golden Globe and a Crit- it's a deal breaker.' I said it to the camera, in what she
ics' Choice prize. before she had even read In this Feb. 5, 2018 file photo, Allison Janney poses for a portrait describes as the “Defend-
Perhaps the only surpris- the script or even said she at the 90th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Beverly ing Your Life” sequence.
ing fact is that this is the would do it," Rogers said. Hills, Calif. Associated Press “It’s like the bird heard me
first Oscar nomination ever "But I knew. I was like, 'This and said, ‘Oh yeah?’ Let’s
for the 58-year-old actress, time I'm finally going to get ex-husband Jeff Gillooly to humanity,” Janney said. see if you can ignore me
who has seven Emmy and her.'" inform the screenplay and “A lot of that was written in when I’m putting my head
Screen Actors Guild Awards It might not seem like the story, never actually met what Steven wrote in the in your ear,’” Janney said.
to her name (and two Tony most flattering thing to LaVona Golden while he direct address to the cam- “I thought this is exactly the
nominations). Though she have your good friend think was writing the script. Hard- era. That gave me a lot of kind of humor that is per-
has been in Oscar-winning of you as the chain-smok- ing told him that she didn't clues as to who she was. fect for this movie. I kind of
movies such as "Juno" and ing, bitter, abusive and know if her mother was She’s a woman who gave loved it; as much as it was
"The Help," the attention for overall controversial matri- dead or alive (she is alive her whole life to her daugh- irritating me, it was also fu-
those films did not revolve arch to the most infamous and continues to deny ter. Every penny she made eling me as I was trying to
around her. figure skater in history, who abuse allegations). went to her daughter’s get my side of the story
"I kind of thought maybe tells her young daughter to Thus the character in "I, skating. She sees herself across.”
this moment had eluded "skate wet" after she pees Tonya" is based on an as a woman who tried her No matter what happens
me in my career, that I just her pants on the ice, and amalgamation of inter- hardest to give her daugh- at the Academy Awards
wasn't getting the kind of regularly hits her. But Jan- views, documentary foot- ter a better life than she on March 4, where she’s
roles in films that were giv- ney was thrilled. age from 1986 (in which had. Those scenes helped up against Laurie Metcalf
ing me, getting me recog- "I've played a lot of moth- LaVona conducts her in- me find her humanity, (“Lady Bird”), Lesley Man-
nition," Janney reflected ers in my life," Janney, who terview with a bird on her helped me find what made ville (“Phantom Thread”),
recently at the Oscars stars as a recovering al- shoulder), stories from Har- her a human being, not just Octavia Spencer (“The
nominees' luncheon. coholic on the CBS sitcom ding and Gillooly and some an on the page monster.” Shape of Water”) and Mary
And it's all thanks to her "Mom," said late last year. artistic license. For Janney, the experience J. Blige (“Mudbound”), Jan-
longtime friend, screenwrit- "But never anyone to the “It’s a pretty hard charac- of disappearing behind this ney is just hopeful for what
er Steven Rogers, who had degree that this one was ter and I hope the reason woman who never smiles this might mean for her fu-
the idea to seek out the life messed up." he wanted me to play her and never apologizes was ture in film.
rights to Tonya Harding's Rogers, who used accounts was because I would try liberating. And she found She said she is “grateful” for
story. He had two demands of Tonya Harding and her my hardest ... to find her the nuance behind the this moment.q

New study finds female protagonists decreased in 2017 films

By JAKE COYLE the Beast" — 2017's top two
AP Film Writer films at the box office.
NEW YORK (AP) — While Researchers determined
2017 may have been the that while 32 percent of
year of "Wonder Wom- films featured 10 or more fe-
an," but a new study finds male characters in speak-
that female protagonists ing roles, 79 percent had 10
were down 5 percent in or more male characters.
the year's 100 top-grossing "In an awards season when
films. talk about women and
The Center for the Study of gender has been top of
Women in Television and mind, we need to separate
Film at San Diego State hyperbole from reality," said
University released its an- Martha Lauzen, executive
nual "It's a Man's (Celluloid) director of the San Diego
World" on Thursday. It found State center. "The numbers
that females comprised 24 do not yet reflect claims of
percent of protagonists last a tectonic or massive shift
year, down from 29 percent in the film industry."
in 2016 despite high-profile However, black female and Latinas went from 3 percent to 7 percent. 100 films at the box office.
releases like "Star Wars: The characters increased from percent to 7 percent. Asian The study analyzed 2,361 It has been conducted an-
Last Jedi" and "Beauty and 14 percent to 16 percent, females increased from 6 characters from 2017's top nually since 2002.q