You have to look closely to find the women in these films

YOU know it’s a bad year for women when none of the best picture nominees even features one in a lead performance. Both “Good Night, and Good Luck” and “Munich” present almost entirely hermetically sealed male universes, while “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote” and “Crash” feature women as ignored wives and gal pals.

Over the last 20 years, the studios have zigged and zagged in their support of female-driven films, with a few stalwarts (Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, the “Bridget Jones” films) keeping women in the box office game. But 2005 marked the year in which a number of high-profile women, such as Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz and even Barrymore, bombed out commercially in such films as “Bewitched,” “In Her Shoes” and “Fever Pitch.” (In Hollywood, women seem to earn a double black mark for box office failure as opposed to male counterparts, such as Matthew McConaughey, who routinely flame out.)

Of course, there were still a number of fine performances in successful films, such as those by nominees Reese Witherspoon and Keira Knightley in “Walk the Line” and “Pride & Prejudice,” respectively. The Johnny Cash biopic, in which Witherspoon played June Carter Cash, was a major hit, and the Jane Austen film scored with the art house crowd and internationally. The other best actress nominees were another story; barely anybody saw Judi Dench in “Mrs. Henderson Presents” or Charlize Theron in “North Country” or Felicity Huffman’s turn as a lonely man about to undergo gender reassignment in “Transamerica.” This last film has so far grossed only $1.5 million. Good thing Huffman is also one of the “Desperate Housewives,” so people knew who they were voting for.

“There’s definitely a few good roles, but there are a lot of great actresses, and it’s hard to get them” the parts, said Rachel Weisz, who was nominated as best supporting actress -- a richer category this year for women -- for her role as a political activist in “The Constant Gardener.” Weisz flew from London to Los Angeles for 24 hours just to audition for the movie.

Noted Huffman, “I know at a certain level, you read scripts and go, all the good parts are for men. Women have a short shelf life. It used to be 40. Maybe now possibly, thanks to [“Desperate Housewives” creator] Marc Cherry, bump that up to 50.”

Women today run such studios as Universal, Sony and Paramount, but it’s men who run the studio independent wings such as Focus, Fox Searchlight and Warner Independent, where more of the award-type films are made. Moreover, Oscar films tend to be director-driven, and in a 2005 study conducted by Martha Lauzen, a professor at San Diego State University, only 7% of the 250 top-grossing films were made with female directors. No woman has ever won the best director Oscar; only three have been nominated.

Economics also play a role even in the world of relatively low-budget films. Many independent films are financed through a patchwork of foreign financing, and as Rena Ronson, co-head of William Morris Independent noted, overseas buyers often prefer men. “Unfortunately it is more difficult to find funding for a film where the majority of the cast is female, and it’s not in the action or suspense genre.”

Taking in the dearth of women in major roles among the best picture nominees, James Schamus, co-president of Focus Films and producer of nominee “Brokeback Mountain,” sighed. “I would pray that’s not a trend. That would be terrible.”

Schamus, whose company released such films as “Pride & Prejudice” as well as such previous attention-getters as Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” added that in his own experience of finding foreign financing (a key component to many Focus films) “there is a genuine inequitable tilt toward male stardom, but we have so many factors that allow us to leaven that, like director.... I think our track record is better than anybody else’s, but I don’t expect a lot of pats on the back for it either.”

Elizabeth Gabler, president of Fox 2000, the division of Fox that made “Walk the Line” (which also garnered a nomination for Joaquin Phoenix) as well as such female-driven films as “In Her Shoes” and “The Family Stone,” says the foray into material starring women has been successful, especially since the films have cost less than $35 million. The $17-million “Family Stone,” bolstered by Sarah Jessica Parker’s post-”Sex and the City” appeal, has earned $59 million, while “Walk the Line” has earned more than $100 million.

“The reality of it, if you make a picture that has something to sell to audiences and a good release date and a budget that puts you at minimal risk, a female-driven movie will find a place in the world and an audience,” said Gabler.

Given the fact that moviegoing is a social experience, Gabler suggested, it’s also important for a film to be able to attract the date audience, both men and women. “I think that was part of the massive success of ‘Walk the Line.’ June Carter Cash made it accessible to women, and she was also a woman who was accessible to men too. A lot of the parts women have had have been in things that men have not wanted to go out and see.”