women in trouble Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Carla Gugino has spent the better part of the last decade playing some of the most complicated and interesting female characters in Hollywood. After early roles in lighthearted fare like Son in Law, she played an appropriately combative counterpart for Michael J. Fox's deputy Mayor on Spin City before appearing in Wayne Wang's The Center of the World as a troubled seductress, Robert Rodriguez' Sin City as a tough-as-nails parole officer, Ridley Scott's American Gangster as Russell Crowe's exasperated ex-wife, and most recently in Zack Snyder's Watchmen as a sexpot superheroine with a pitch-black past. This month, she's acting in Sebastian Gutierrez' Women in Trouble, where she plays a porn star coming to terms with the news that she's pregnant.

Cinematical recently spoke to Gugino at the film's Los Angeles press day, where in between pointing out some of the bruises she earned while shooting Zack Snyder's Watchmen follow-up, Sucker Punch, she offered a few insights into her character in Women in Trouble.

Cinematical: What immediately jumped out to me about Elektra is that even though she's at her own crossroads in Women in Trouble, she seems to have the most certainty of the characters about who she is.

By Jette Kernion (reprint from 3/17/09 -- SXSW Film Festival)

I'm wary of movies that try to be instant cult/camp classics, with intentionally overdone dialogue and outrageous costumes and actors who are metaphorically winking or even non-metaphorically mugging for the camera. When the characters are in on the joke, it isn't all that funny. And when I learned that the writer-director of Women in Trouble also co-wrote Snakes on a Plane, I grew even more skeptical. But the actresses who populate Women in Trouble tend to play it straight, even when they're wearing assless spandex pants or smoking invisible cigarettes, and that's what keeps this film fun instead of tiresome.

Women in Trouble has a multi-story, anthology-like structure. Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez said before the SXSW screening that he originally had one ten-page sequence that he wanted to shoot, then thought it might be easy to shoot several of them, all with different actresses, to make a good movie quickly. Apparently it wasn't all that easy, but the result is a large cast of mostly actresses playing a variety of the traditional exploitation "women in trouble." These include porn stars, tag-team hookers (one in a Catholic school uniform, natch), stewardesses (they're not flight attendants when we're poking fun at the exploitation genre), unmarried-and-pregnant women, and a very understanding masseuse.

We already know that Women in Trouble is some sort of identity crisis cinema. Jette's review mentioned that the film not only rethinks exploitation cinema, but also sports a "Lifetime channel" feel in some scenes. Then Jenny posted about the weirdness that was the film's backstage video, where the women talk about strong language, sex, and commando-style wardrobe. ...But they also hinted that maybe guys would think this is a "chick flick."

While they probably wouldn't before, I bet they will now. The trailer for Women in Trouble has gone up over at Apple, and while it does have all that it promises -- raunchy glimpses of sex, "hot chicks in lingerie" -- it's also got ... rousing music teamed with pictures of girls frolicking, tearful exclamations from a wife whose husband is cheating on her, discussions of loneliness, and the montage of smiling scenes that introduce all the actors in the film while the lyrics say: "I just want to be loved." Yet it also ends with back-to-back dialog: ""If we don't tell people how we feel, what are we doing here?" ... "Do you have fake boobs?"

I dig the confusion, to a degree. There's no better way to get some parties interested in the film other than to confuse them enough that they have to see it and figure out what's what. But with this super-sweet trailer in 100% classic "chick flick" style, it seems like they're finally throwing out the confusion and letting the film dig deep into its interpersonal relationships. But then the poster (to the right) still looks campy. Is this just another step to the confusion? Will some spanky-saucy trailer come next? What do you make of all this, and do you think this all will work?

Cinematical has received three exclusive teaser posters for Women In Trouble, that filthy, good-for-nothing tramp of a film from writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez (Snakes on a Plane) that's caused quite the stir online with its provocative tone and Carla Gugino awesomeness. Described as a serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate women, the film dishes out one of those multi-layered storylines full of sex, intrigue and a damn whole lotta trouble. Co-starring alongside Gugino are a bevy of Hollywood's most underrated seductresses, like Marley Shelton, Adrianne Palicki, Cameron Richardson, Connie Britton and my personal favorite, Emmanuelle Chriqui. And if those names aren't enough to turn you on, then maybe the promise of assless spandex pants and this behind-the-scenes video will.

Still not convinced? Here, our own Jette Kernion said this about Women In Trouble from its SXSW premiere: "Women in Trouble is a fun addition to the current trend of revisiting and reworking exploitation-film themes in a lighthearted way." She later adds, "There's a certain pleasure in seeing a movie where the men are relegated to the Supportive Spouse and Lust Interest roles, after I've seen so many films where those are the only roles for women."

Check out all three eclectic posters in the gallery below, and be sure to keep the light on for Women In Trouble when it dips into theaters in New York and Los Angeles on November 13.

Look, I know what you're thinking. I thought the same thing when this photo arrived in my inbox. And then I looked at the "backstage" footage from Women in Trouble, which you can see for yourself after the jump, and I was even more confused. The clip begins with porn star Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino from Watchmen in a really questionable faux bondage ensemble over regular street clothes) announcing that she's here to tell you why you shouldn't see Women in Trouble. Fresh-faced prostitute Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki from Friday Night Lights) chimes in that she's also here to talk to you about why you should avoid the movie. It's not for people who don't like sex, "hot chicks in lingerie," "damn strong language," or, uh, spaceships, among other things. ("There is no spaceship in the movie," whispers Elektra to Holly.), Later, the two talk amongst themselves...

Indie Roundup reviews the past week of news from the independent film community and provides a peek at what's coming soon.

Deals. Screen Media Films picked up U.S. rights to Women in Trouble and plans a release on November 13. The film, directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, is "a fun addition to the current trend of revisiting and reworking exploitation-film themes in a lighthearted way," wrote our own Jette Kernion earlier this year. "There's a certain pleasure in seeing a movie where the men are relegated to the Supportive Spouse and Lust Interest roles, after I've seen so many films where those are the only roles for women."

Dave Boyle's White on Rice, described as a heartwarming comedy, has been acquired by Variance Films and Tiger Industry Films; a theatrical release is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on September 11 before expanding throughout the fall. Matt Bradshaw pointed the way to the quietly funny trailer. [More details on both deals can be found at indieWIRE.]

Online / On-Demand Viewing. All you Netflix "Watch Instantly" addicts can get your fix from even more indie films, thanks to Cinetic Rights Management. Matt Dentler notes that Richard Linklater's charming (and hugely influential) Slacker and festival favorites like Bob Odenkirk's Melvin Goes to Dinner and Gabriel Fleming's The Lost Coast, among others, are now available for online streaming to subscribers. I suppose it's a little too obvious to point out the irony of making a movie called Slacker even easier to watch, with almost no effort required at all? Ah, life in the 21st Century.

Who won the Indie Weekend Box Office? It's a laughing matter -- find out after the jump!

Did you like Quantum of Solace? Neither did I. Despite all the bombast and the film being billed as "The first direct James Bond sequel EVAR!" I just found myself bored throughout it, except maybe during that opening car chase. Otherwise, it was snoozeville. I lay part of that blame on the fact that we didn't get a decent Bond girl to go with it. Olga Kurylenko bored me to tears with her monotonal portrayal of a daughter seeking revenge, and I would have much rather seen more of the redhead who is all-too-briefly seen as another MI6 agent sent to guard Bond. So, with that in mind, here are seven women who I'd like to see fill the Bond cups, er... shoes.

Alright, this list is partly SXSW-influenced, and that's because of the sheer amount of hotties shown onscreen in Sebastian Gutierrez's Women In Trouble. Carla Gugino spends a good amount of time in nothing more than a bra and panty set, and you could practically see the humidity steaming off the screen because of it. Yes, she's seriously that hot, don't let her middle-aged turn in the recent Watchmen fool you. But lined up right behind her is even more hotness from the film, and you'll have to read on to see how it plays out.

Carla Gugino
I'll be honest here, and Ms. Gugino I sure hope you aren't reading this. But ... I just didn't think you had the chops. However, I loved your powerful (and all-too-brief) turn in Sin City, and enjoyed your portrayal of Vincent Chase's agent Amanda in Entourage, and now I realized that you have the curves a Bond girl needs, but you really deliver on the icy cold ball-busting looks that a Bond villain thrives on. Let's give Bond a good villainess to do battle with, and one that stands on equal footing with him in the smouldering looks department. When you appear as aging boozehound Sally Jupiter and pornstar extraordinaire Elektra Luxx a few weeks apart, it's bound to pop a few eyes out. Thanks for proving to us that you've got both the acting ability and the jigglewatts to pull this off.

I'm wary of movies that try to be instant cult/camp classics, with intentionally overdone dialogue and outrageous costumes and actors who are metaphorically winking or even non-metaphorically mugging for the camera. When the characters are in on the joke, it isn't all that funny. And when I learned that the writer-director of Women in Trouble also co-wrote Snakes on a Plane, I grew even more skeptical. But the actresses who populate Women in Trouble tend to play it straight, even when they're wearing assless spandex pants or smoking invisible cigarettes, and that's what keeps this film fun instead of tiresome.

Women in Trouble has a multi-story, anthology-like structure. Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez said before the SXSW screening that he originally had one ten-page sequence that he wanted to shoot, then thought it might be easy to shoot several of them, all with different actresses, to make a good movie quickly. Apparently it wasn't all that easy, but the result is a large cast of mostly actresses playing a variety of the traditional exploitation "women in trouble." These include porn stars, tag-team hookers (one in a Catholic school uniform, natch), stewardesses (they're not flight attendants when we're poking fun at the exploitation genre), unmarried-and-pregnant women, and a very understanding masseuse.