The Glorias | |
---|---|
Directed by | Julie Taymor |
Screenplay by |
|
Based on | My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Rodrigo Prieto |
Edited by | Sabine Hoffman |
Music by | Elliot Goldenthal |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 147 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [1] |
Box office | $30,940 |
The Glorias is a 2020 American biographical drama film directed and produced by Julie Taymor, from a screenplay by Taymor and Sarah Ruhl. The film is based upon My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem who is played by 4 actresses, representing her life in different ages. It stars Julianne Moore as Steinem, with Alicia Vikander portraying a younger Steinem, from ages 20 to 40, Lulu Wilson portraying a teenage Steinem, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Steinem when she was a child. The cast also includes Lorraine Toussaint, Janelle Monáe, and Bette Midler.
The Glorias had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020 and was released on September 30, 2020 by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment.
A Greyhound bus filled with variations of Gloria Steinem of all ages drives along the road. The Glorias begin to reminisce about the past. As a young child, Gloria is charmed by her father, an antique salesman whose 'make do' attitude aggravates her mother. A few years later, her parents are separated and a young Gloria is forced to be her mother's caretaker as she falls into a deep depression. To her surprise she finds various articles written with a male byline that her mother reveals were written by her before she was married.
As a young woman, Gloria travels to India on a fellowship. Returning to America she seeks out jobs as a journalist and, despite casual sexism and harassment, manages to succeed writing articles on fashion and dating. After writing an exposé on the poor working conditions of the waitresses working at the Playboy Club, Steinem's name is made. However she feels ashamed by the continued degradation of her work and turns down an offer to turn her article into a book.
Shortly after, Gloria's father is injured in a car accident. Arriving to see him a week after the accident she learns he has died and feels immense guilt that she delayed her visitation out of fear she would have to become his caretaker as she once was for her mother.
While attending the March on Washington to write a profile of James Baldwin, her discussions with a black woman open her mind to the prejudice faced by black women in America and to her own complicity as a white woman. She later attends a speak out on illegal abortion event that causes her to reflect on her own abortion which she had shortly before her fellowship. Moved by the stories of other women and knowing that magazines will not allow her to write the stories she wants, Gloria moves towards activism and befriends Dorothy Pitman Hughes and Florynce Kennedy, two black women who teach her about public speaking and activism.
In the early 1970s, Gloria and her friends publish their magazine Ms. in order to finally be able to talk about subjects they want. In the first issue, Gloria, along with 52 other famous women, publicly admits to having had an illegal abortion.
Gloria begins to move further into politics by campaigning for Bella Abzug. At the National Women's Political Caucus, Gloria and other women in various movements fight to establish the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment ultimately fails.
Gloria continues to advocate, speak, and campaign despite being continually plagued by opposition to her pro-choice stance and questions about her marital status and lack of children. At the age of 66, she marries for the first time only to become widowed shortly after.
In 2016, she writes an article about the devastating effect of Hillary Clinton's loss during the 2016 United States presidential election. It is then revealed that the Greyhound bus is filled with protestors headed to the 2017 Women's March with the real-life Gloria Steinem on board. Footage from the 2017 Women's March, including the real Steinem's speech as well as footage from around the world is shown.
It was announced in October 2018 that a biopic of the activist Gloria Steinem was in production, with Julie Taymor directing along with co-writing the screenplay. Four actresses were cast to play Steinem at various points in her life, with Alicia Vikander cast to play her from ages 20 to 40, and Julianne Moore playing her beyond 40. [2] Bette Midler was cast later that month. [3] Lulu Wilson was cast in November. [4] In December, Janelle Monáe was cast to play Dorothy Pitman Hughes. [5] In January 2019, it was announced Timothy Hutton and Lorraine Toussaint had joined the cast of the film. [6] [7]
It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020. [10] [11] Shortly after, Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. [12] Originally scheduled for a theatrical release on September 25, 2020, the film was released on Prime Video in the United States and Canada on September 30 that year. [13]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Uneven yet engaging, The Glorias honors the work of a pivotal American activist without quite capturing her trailblazing spirit." [14] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 58 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [15]
Katie Walsh of The Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review writing, "Using every tool at her disposal, Taymor crafts an epic tapestry of a remarkable life, paying tribute to the glorious Gloria Steinem." [16] Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com also gave the film a positive review writing: "Just when you think she's heading into cliched territory, Taymor mixes it up, plays with structure, and subverts your expectations." [17] Jen Chaney of New York Magazine gave the film a negative review writing: "With a runtime of two and a half hours, it lasts too long and doesn't go deeply enough to register the way it should." [18] Brian Lowry of CNN also gave the film a negative review writing: "The key performances are strong, but director/co-writer Julie Taymor's movie meanders too much, dragging through the beginning and again toward the end." [19]
Bette Midler is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Julie Anne Smith, known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, and for her roles in blockbusters. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Emmy Awards. In 2015, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, The New York Times named her one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. Her 2002 film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original Song nomination for Taymor's composition "Burn It Blue". She also directed the 2007 jukebox musical film Across the Universe, based on the music of the Beatles.
Lorraine Toussaint is a Trinidadian-born actress based in the United States. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Black Reel Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Paul "Wash" Westmoreland, previously known professionally as Wash West, is a British director who has worked in television, documentaries, and independent films. He frequently collaborated with his husband, writer-director Richard Glatzer. Together, they wrote and directed the 2014 film Still Alice, based on Lisa Genova's NYT best-selling book and starring Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, and Alec Baldwin. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Julianne Moore and Humanitas Prize for feature film for the duo. Their 2006 coming-of-age feature film, Quinceañera, won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.
Janelle Monáe Robinson is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and actress. She has received ten Grammy Award nominations, and is the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Children's and Family Emmy Award. Monáe has also been honored with the ASCAP Vanguard Award; as well as the Rising Star Award (2015) and the Trailblazer of the Year Award (2018) from Billboard Women in Music.
The Danish Girl is a 2015 biographical romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 novel of the same title by David Ebershoff, and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of gender-affirming surgery, Alicia Vikander as Wegener, and Sebastian Koch as Kurt Warnekros, with Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, and Matthias Schoenaerts in supporting roles.
Alicia Amanda Vikander is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards.
Dorothy Pitman Hughes was an American feminist, child-welfare advocate, activist, public speaker, author, and small business owner. Pitman Hughes co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance. Her activism and friendship with Gloria Steinem established racial balance in the nascent feminist movement.
Julianne Moore is an American actress who made her acting debut on television in 1984 in the mystery series The Edge of Night. The following year she made her first appearance in the soap opera As the World Turns, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series in 1988. Following roles in television films, Moore had her breakthrough in Robert Altman's drama film Short Cuts (1993). Her performance garnered critical acclaim as well as notoriety for a monologue her character delivers while nude below the waist. She played lead roles in 1995 in Todd Haynes' drama Safe and the romantic comedy Nine Months. In 1997, Moore portrayed a veteran pornographic actress in Paul Thomas Anderson's drama film Boogie Nights, which earned her her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared in Steven Spielberg's adventure sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park—Moore's biggest commercial success to that point. Two years later, she played a wartime adulteress in The End of the Affair, for which she received her first Academy Award for Best Actress nomination.
Tomb Raider is a 2018 action-adventure film directed by Roar Uthaug, with a screenplay by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons, from a story by Evan Daugherty and Robertson-Dworet. An American and British co-production, it is based on the 2013 video game of the same name, with some elements of its sequel by Crystal Dynamics, a reboot, and the third installment in the Tomb Raider film series. The film stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, who embarks on a perilous journey to her father's last-known destination, hoping to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas appear in supporting roles.
Submergence is a 2017 romantic thriller film directed by Wim Wenders, based on the novel with the same name by J. M. Ledgard. The film stars Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The story revolves around the characters' individual professional missions and flashbacks to their romance on the coast of Normandy.
Harriet is a 2019 American biographical film directed by Kasi Lemmons, who also wrote the screenplay with Gregory Allen Howard. It stars Cynthia Erivo as abolitionist Harriet Tubman, with Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, and Janelle Monáe in supporting roles.
Gloria Bell is a 2018 comedy-drama film written and directed by Sebastián Lelio; it is an English language remake of Lelio's 2013 film Gloria. The film stars Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera, Caren Pistorius, Brad Garrett, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Rita Wilson, Sean Astin, and Holland Taylor. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 8, 2019, by A24.
Homecoming is an American psychological thriller television series based on the Gimlet Media podcast of the same name. Created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg, the series premiered November 2, 2018, on Amazon Prime Video. Horowitz and Bloomberg also serve as writers and executive producers alongside Sam Esmail, Chad Hamilton, Julia Roberts, Alex Blumberg, Matt Lieber, and Chris Giliberti. Esmail also directed every episode of the first season, which stars Roberts, Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, Shea Whigham, Alex Karpovsky, and Sissy Spacek.
Earthquake Bird is a 2019 psychological thriller film written and directed by Wash Westmoreland based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Susanna Jones. It stars Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, Naoki Kobayashi and Jack Huston.
Antebellum is a 2020 American black horror thriller film written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz in their feature directorial debuts. The film stars Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons and Gabourey Sidibe, and follows a 21st-century African-American woman who wakes to find herself mysteriously in a Southern slave plantation from which she must escape.
Page Fifty-Four Pictures is an American independent entertainment production company founded by Alex Saks, located in Los Angeles, California. It specializes in film production, and film finance.