One of the things that we've tried to do with the 'Guardians' films is to allow the women to be full characters.
I think boys don't always like to read books with female protagonist - I don't even know what to say about this.
I was very proud of that, of taking women and making them vulnerable and so I continued doing that. Right after Beaches I did "Pretty Woman", then I did "Frankie and Johnnie" and then I did "Other Sister" and "Princess Diaries" so that helped me get into the vein there of understanding women and trying to make them very pretty and very interesting.
What was so exciting for me about Wakanda and seeing 'Black Panther' was how incredible the women were in it.
Where does an actress go after playing Cleopatra's magnificent death? Why didn't Shakespeare write more - and more powerful - roles for mature women?
Women like to be scared, but they don't like the blood and the gore, and especially movies that have violence and torture involving women. Women don't want to see that, I can tell you for damn sure right now.
I've always read broadly: literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, chick lit, historical, dystopian, nonfiction, memoir. I've even read Westerns. I prefer female protagonists.
The romance genre is the only genre where readers are guaranteed novels that place the heroine at the heart of the story. These are books that celebrate women's heroic virtues and values: courage, honor, determination and a belief in the healing power of love.
Most mainstream male fiction is littered with heroines, and female characters are basically so great, you want to fall in love with them.
It's frustrating we still don't see more movies featuring strong women.
I think that Hollywood misconstrues actresses saying, 'Oh I wanna play a strong female character,' like we all want to play, like, superheroes or something.
Ordinarily, I develop videogames with female characters that aren't girlfriends, bimbos and sidekicks.
You look at Kerry Washington on 'Scandal,' and a lot of the women on that show in general are very strong, and I think we're seeing it more, and I'm excited because when I was doing Dana Gordon on 'Entourage,' there weren't a lot of strong female characters, which is why I think she came out as such a standout character.
I think it's very refreshing to see women in cinema having strength and their own independent storyline.
Audiences want to watch heroine-oriented films, and even writers are writing scripts for women. I am very happy to see this change.
If the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?
I love women. I've always cared about making movies about women my entire career.
I'm interested in the Gothic novel because it's very much a woman's form. Why is there such a wide readership for books that essentially say, 'Your husband is trying to kill you'?
If you go to my Netflix, the sections that they recommend are 'Thrillers with a Strong Female Lead,' 'Comedies With a Strong Female Lead.'
Chick lit was amazing, and I was thrilled to be part of it.
I'm obsessed with 'Thelma and Louise,' and therefore obsessed with Callie Khouri who wrote that movie.
I think I'd like to do a big movie with a strong female lead, whether or not she would be a superhero. I'm more interested in characters like Scarlett Johansson in 'Lucy.' I'm less interested in people with superpowers because I can't identify with them.
Women-centric films are being made, and they are doing well.
You don't get roles like leading character in 'Christine' very often because people don't really like women on film to be unlikable. I think Christine is lovable, but I don't think she's likable. I think there's a fundamental difference. For me, those are the richest ones. Men have had a career of doing those kind of things.
I have three daughters who grew up while I was working on the special editions and the prequels. They got to be big 'Star Wars' fans. And, you know, I would see them identifying with a lot of the male characters, and I just thought, 'Star Wars' could use more good strong female leads.'
