THE CALLIE CARTEL WRITER-DIRECTOR REVEALS SECRETS OF THE 'THELMA & LOUISE' SISTERHOOD.Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer You live out this plucked-from-obscurity fantasy straight out of a bad Hollywood story. Your first script - not your first produced script - but the first screenplay you have ever actually written wins you an Oscar. Your outlaw fantasy about a couple of women on the road also becomes a feminist cause celebre cause cé·lè·bre n. pl. causes cé·lè·bres 1. An issue arousing widespread controversy or heated public debate. 2. A celebrated legal case. and gets critics across the country debating your film and calling you a leader and/or the most dangerous man basher since Medea. So how do you outlive out·live tr.v. out·lived, out·liv·ing, out·lives 1. To live longer than: She outlived her son. 2. the responsibility, if you believe your own press material, of having ``galvanized gal·va·nize tr.v. gal·va·nized, gal·va·niz·ing, gal·va·niz·es 1. To stimulate or shock with an electric current. 2. women and sparked nationwide debate in 1991 with the hit movie 'Thelma & Louise'? '' If you're Callie Khouri, you don't outlive it. Maybe you embrace it. ``There's nothing to complain about, I'll tell you that,'' says Khouri, ``Thelma & Louise's'' screenwriter and the writer/director of ``Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a novel written by Rebecca Wells. It is the sequel to Little Altars Everywhere. Unlike its predecessor, which is a series of short stories, Divine Secrets is a novel. .'' ``There's a lot worse things I could be attached to, I suppose. I've been unbelievably lucky in that I have a career at all. My philosophy is that gratitude is the key to happiness. If this is the box I'm in, it fits.'' Yes, Khouri admits that she initially resisted linking up with ``Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'' for fear of being pigeonholed as Hollywood's leading female-bonding scribe scribe (skrīb), Jewish scholar and teacher (called in Hebrew, Soferim) of law as based upon the Old Testament and accumulated traditions. The work of the scribes laid the basis for the Oral Law, as distinct from the Written Law of the Torah. . And yes, she's still a little bewildered that ``Thelma & Louise'' was the subject of a ``Crossfire'' debate (``I was like, 'Oh for God's sake, it can't be that slow of a news week,' '' she says.) Then again, ``Ya-Ya'' gave her the chance to direct for the first time. Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . offered a decent budget and casting freedom. Khouri couldn't say no. Besides, she says, as too many men in too many research focus groups have said, ``Ya-Ya'' is not simply a women's film. ``We would ask, 'Would you describe this as a chick flick n. 1. A sentimental n. os>, movie. chick flick n (col) → filmetto rosa ?' The women would all say yes, and the men would say no,'' says Khouri. ``They'd say it's about families and about relationships. They were very defensive about it. We were so surprised.'' Leave the Y chromosome Y chromosome, n a sex chromosome that in humans and many other species is present only in the male, appearing singly in the normal male. It is carried as a sex determinant by one half of the male gametes. None of the female gametes contain a Y chromosome. home ... Some of the top-grossing chick flicks: ``Terms of Endearment'' (1983), grossed $108.4 million. ``Steel Magnolias'' (1989), $83.7 million. ``Fried Green Tomatoes'' (1991), $80.1 million. ``Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), $66.2 million. ``Beaches'' (1988), $57 million. ``Joy Luck Club'' (1993), $32.8 million. CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: no caption (Callie Khouri) Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer Box: Leave the Y chromosome home ... (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion