“One woman. Multiple personalities. The United States of Tara.”

The tagline pretty much says it all. The new Showtime series, written by Diablo Cody and produced by Steven Spielberg, stars Toni Collette as Tara, a wife and mother who has multiple personality disorder.

If MPD (dissociative identity disorder to you psych pros) sounds like a weighty subject for a half-hour comedy, well, it is. But if any network can pull it off, it’s Showtime. Here’s our first, behind-the-scenes look at The United States of Tara. (NSFW due to the F-bomb, so you'll have to visit the link.)_

I love it that Marshall, Tara’s gay teenage son, would rather read Valley of the Dolls than shoot a rifle at the gun range. I do hope, however, that if one of Collette’s alters is a lesbian, it’s not macho gun-lover Buck. … continue reading

I confess to not being over young adult literature in any way, shape or form. Diablo Cody has me extra-nostalgic today (by way of Entertainment Weekly) for the young adult section at the public library.

In her column this week, Diablo sings the praises of Judy Blume and Blume’s female characters — their complications and contradictions; their small feminist subversions; their defiance; and their wonderful regularities. Like Cody, I loved those books, though I also didn’t start out with Blume’s more scandalous titles (for me, Freckle Juice came way before Forever), but I got there, eventually, and imbibed every word. It was then that I started combing the shelves for more literature that actually spoke to me.

I know I’m not alone in the talent I developed as a teenager for scouring my local YA literature section for the titles that screamed “gender-bender” or “even a little bit gay” — I was looking for reflections of my identity, or at least for something a little sexier than Superfudge. (No offense, Peter Hatcher. But you were a fourth-grade boy!) … continue reading

As a young aspiring female filmmaker, it’s hard not to be just a little bit jealous of Diablo Cody. She’s got it all, including an Oscar and she’s barely 30 years old. Then I look at the flack Cody gets anytime she opens her mouth by putting something out into print and I’m no longer envious of her, I’m just annoyed by all the haters.

OK look, Cody writes a regular back page column for Entertainment Weekly. Does anyone even really read Entertainment Weekly anymore? The last one I can remember buying had Ellen Page on the cover. My point exactly. (Actually, not my point since I just bought it because Ellen Page looked really cute.)

Anyway, back to Cody. Why do so many people keep trashing her musings on pop culture?

Perhaps because it’s so rare in this day and age that women get to show their enjoyment for mass media, much less be funny about it. And judging by snarky write-ups from the pages of Variety to various bloggers and those always pleasant sexist anonymous comments left on the World Wide Web, it seems practically illegal for Cody to have an opinion on anything. It’s like women aren’t supposed to have a sense of humor, take enjoyment out of anything and they definitely are not allowed to get paid for it.

How many times do you turn on the radio, flip through television channels, open any sort of publication and hear what men think about things? Any things, all things, everything. Raise your hand if you would rather see Sarah Silverman host some late night TV instead of her, ex, Jimmy Kimmel. That’s what I thought. … continue reading

There are no new ideas. OK, fine — maybe there are one or two left floating around un-thought. But for the most part, your great idea has probably been thought up by someone else and theirs was probably greater. True in everyday life, incredibly true in Hollywood. So imagine my deja vu when looking thought new posters recently. Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure I detect a theme.

First, there was the poster for the new Alan Ball-helmed vampire series True Blood. It's about vampires. The vampires are sexy. They drink human blood. You get the picture.

Then, I came across the poster for the new Diablo Cody-penned horror flick Jennifer's Body. It's about a demonic cheerleader. The cheerleader is sexy. She feeds off her classmates. You get the picture. … continue reading

Diablo Cody has officially survived the backlash she received after writing last year's hit comedy Juno. Yes, she's a former stripper and she has a blog titled "P---y Ranch," but that doesn't mean she can't write hilarious scripts. Not only did the Academy agree, but so does Steven Spielberg, who will be the producer of Cody's new show on Showtime, The United States of Tara.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that 12 episodes have been greenlight for the show, which will star Toni Collette. She will play "a wife and mother with dissociative identity disorder."

Collette is a brilliant character actress. She has starred in comedies like Muriel's Wedding and About a Boy, as well as dramas like The Sixth Sense and The Hours, and those that seem to straddle the line (Little Miss Sunshine). It's finally time for Collette to be the star, and The United States of Tara could be her platform. … continue reading

Hey, did something happen in Hollywood last night? Oh, right; a bunch of people went home with shiny naked golden men. While some may quibble with a few of the winners, last night’s Oscars telecast was a night when Tinsel Town pretty much got things right. Sure, I would have loved for Juno to sneak in and steal No Country for Old Men’s Oscar for Best Picture. But that might have incurred the wrath of Anton Chigurh, and the last thing you want to do is to make a man with a Dorothy Hamill haircut and a compressed-air gun angry.

The evening was largely a classy affair, with lots of first-time winners, loads of heartfelt speeches and even a couple genuine surprises. So in the spirit of honoring excellence, here are a few awards of my own. May I have the envelope, please?

Best Straight Allies: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

The filmmakers won for their short documentary Freeheld, about a lesbian couple’s fight to win survivorship benefits. (Look for more details in Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. this Friday.)

Best Upset I Didn’t Know I Wanted: Marion Cotillard

I thought I’d be mad at Marion for upsetting my personal favorite Julie Christie for Best Actress, but after hearing her exuberant, charming and sincere speech, I’ve fallen in love instead.

  … continue reading

The BAFTAs took place in London last night. If you’re American, this is your chance to say, “What are the BAFTAs?” If you are British, then it was your chance to feel embarrassed as journalists ran right and left on the red carpet, trying to persuade the major Hollywood actors who had flown over for the occasion to say that the event was as big as the Oscars.

The BAFTAs — or annual film awards given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts — aren’t as big as the Oscars, but they are the closest we Brits get to an equivalent. And, in their favor, they’re usually a lot more concise than the Oscars, clocking in at a neat two hours rather than a bum-numbing four.

I’ll admit I love awards ceremonies — the women, the gowns, the often incomprehensible choices by the Academy, and the awkward acceptance speeches — so without further ado, here’s a rundown of what went down last night:

Sienna Miller was nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public):

As were Ellen Page and the beautiful Lust, Caution actress Tang Wei. But they lost out to Shia LaBeouf. Yawn. … continue reading

The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. The big question, though, is whether the Oscars broadcast will happen at all. It's slated for Feb. 24, which is, like, 5 minutes from now in writers' strike years. And the stakes are very high. As Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly puts it, "If putting the kibosh on the Globes put the hurt on NBC and made the world pay attention to the strike, imagine what stopping the 80th Annual Academy Awards would do?"

I hope they find a way for the show to go on. Meanwhile, here are the Best Picture nominees:

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

That's right, Juno! Woo hoo! I still haven't seen Atonement. I liked Michael Clayton well enough, but not more than Juno. And I won't be seeing those last two very male-oriented films. So, yay, Juno!

Several other AfterEllen.com favorites nabbed some nods. Here are the actress categories: … continue reading

We've been raving about Juno lately, praising both its star, Ellen Page, and its writer, Diablo Cody. If you haven't heard much about Cody, here's the short version: Cody (née Brook Busey) is a former stripper who was "discovered" when a talent manager stumbled upon her blog. It's the kind of story that makes you suspicious — you wonder whether she really deserves it, or just got lucky because some schlub was Googling "stripper" one evening. But even if she never pens another screenplay as good as Juno, that one alone makes her a star in my book.

For some people, though, that might have to be all she wrote, at least for a while. Cody's next film is a horror movie, and it sounds pretty gory. Titled Jennifer's Body, it's the tale of a homecoming queen who is possessed by satanic forces and starts to actually devour the boys she dates. "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" meets Freeway, maybe, plus a dash of Sweeney Todd? Early word is that the tone will be more like Heathers — but with more blood. I'm already looking forward to it.

This week, Jennifer's Body got a director, Karyn Kusama. Cody expressed her excitement on her MySpace blog:

I'm stoked as hell. More than anyone, she gets it. She gets it. I'm feeling an early-stage mind-meld, and it is excellent.

Megan Fox (Transformers) will play Jennifer. … continue reading

The Golden Globes have been canceled, but the the writers’ strike didn’t prevent the live broadcast of the Critics' Choice Awards from pressing on last night. But the strike it did have its effects. Many winners noted that they were speaking off the cuff because they wanted to respect the strike and did not write speeches.

Host D.L. Hughley’s commentary was incredibly awkward, and it seemed that all his jokes were about race. Probably the oddest comment of the night for me came when Hughley dubbed Brad Pitt an “honorary black person” for seemingly no reason. And several times Hughley told the crowd that they needed to lighten up and laugh once in a while.

Despite that, there were many bright spots during the evening. For one, it seemed that every two minutes Pitt and AfterEllen.com’s No. 2 hottie, Angelina Jolie, were on the screen, looking just as fabulous as ever.

Additionally, there were some fantastic female winners throughout the evening.

Nikki Blonsky, breakout star of Hairspray, won the award for Best Young Actress.

Blonsky shared the award for Best Acting Ensemble with the rest of the Hairspray cast, which includes Queen Latifah (AfterEllen.com Hot 100 No. 55), Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow and, of course, John Travolta in drag. … continue reading

A couple of nights ago at midnight, I watched fireworks from a friend's roof, kissed my girlfriend and thought about the career and personal changes I could make in the new year. Then I decided self-improvement was overrated, and it would be more fun and less work to make resolutions for others. I suspected that my girlfriend wouldn't let me make them for her, so I turned my attention to the powers-that-be in Hollywood and on Broadway. Here's what I resolve they do for women in entertainment in 2008.

Movies

I resolve that the Academy Awards will be less of a celebration of male accomplishment, and more of a recognition of the breadth of accomplishment in Hollywood. Last year, it was great that Ellen DeGeneres hosted the show, but the dearth of female nominees in the directing, writing and producing categories was a wee bit depressing. So I resolve that the Academy nominate at least two women for Best Director. If they need my help, I'll make suggestions: Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me)

and Sarah Polley (Away From Her).

… continue reading