Gawker: defamer, hollywood genderwatch

Spider-Friends Remember Sony's Amy Pascal On Her Big Day

Mark — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:17:04 EDT

The weekly edition of Variety officially awards its Showmen of the Year honor, the most coveted recognition in all of showbiz trade journalism (and yes, that includes Var's Billion Dollar Director Day celebration), to Sony's Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, an occasion necessitating the purchase of full-page tribute ads by any talent, producers, or agency ever hoping to get a movie made at their red-hot studio. While none of the ads make direct mention of Pascal's ceremonial bepenising by the publication, this minimalist, phoned-in-by-someone's-unimaginative-assistant offering by Spider-Man's trio of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Sam Raimi (really, couldn't someone have thrown some spider-related clip art on there?—click the thumbnail to enlarge) nods to the co-president's honorary gender reassignment, a little in-joke that only those who've generated billions in box office grosses can get away without fear of career reprisals.

[Ad via Digital Variety]

Previously: They Aren't Kidding When They Say Amy Pascal Can Run A Studio Like A Man [Defamer]

Update: Larry Wachowski Probably Still A Dude

Mark — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:37:59 EDT

Yesterday, the internets were ablaze with rumors (well, really, one rumor) that allegedly gender-shuffling Matrix co-director Larry Wachowski had finally completed a long-whispered-about sex change, opting to spend the rest of his life as a woman named Lana who would haunt the dreams of every embattled publicist unlucky enough to be assigned to subsequent Wachowski Family films. Troubled by the swiftly spreading report, Fox 411's Roger Friedman put in some calls, and today is satisfied that Larry is still happily beschlonged:

On Wednesday, I had lovely chats with people at the sound studio in Germany where the Wachowskis have been making the live action version of the Japanese cartoon "Speed Racer." The folks I spoke to got quite a kick out of the whole thing.
I asked one man in building operations, "Have you seen Larry lately? Does he have breasts now, as rumored? Is he wearing a dress, wondering if it's making him look fat?"

Laughter. "He looked like a man to me," was the response.
And what about this Lana business? Said one woman who worked in the "Speed Racer" office: "On the call sheets, it still says Larry. There's no Lana." She laughed too. [...]

Finally, I did speak with Joel Silver, who executive produces the W Brothers' movies.

"It's all untrue," he reconfirmed for me. "They just don't do interviews, so people make things up."

Hopefully, the assertions of Wachowski's Speed Racer collaborators will be sufficient to quash the rumor before it's disseminated any further. But if the public's untoward fascination with the director's genitals persists and the gossip continues to circulate, Wachowski's media-shy penis may ultimately have no choice but to break its suspicious silence on the controversy by sitting down with Diane Sawyer to let the world know its longtime relationship with Larry is still intact.

No Sex Change for 'Matrix' Director Larry Wachowski [Fox 411]
Previously: Catching Up With Larry Wachowski. Or Lana Wachowski. We're Not Exactly Sure. [Defamer]

Catching Up With Larry Wachowski. Or Lana Wachowski. We're Not Exactly Sure. (UPDATED!)

Mark — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:55:31 EDT

We have no idea if the "newly released photo from a rare public appearance earlier this year" posted in an item at Rated-M.com (as excavated by Cinematical) is evidence of anything but reportedly transgendering Wachowski brother Larry's predilection for dangly earrings and sassy bandanas, but the blog claims that his much-rumored journey towards womanhood is now complete, a transformation that has obvious implications for hopeful 2008 summer blockbuster Speed Racer and the way the directing duo's names will be listed on its one-sheet. Says Rated-M:

The duo will now just be known as "The Wachowskis", dropping the "brothers" part of their name. It is expected that Larry, now called Lana, will actually speak to the press about this for the first time, but not until after the Speed Racer film is out. The current feeling is that his sex change could hurt the family image the Speed Racer film is going for.

It is also expected that Andy will do all the press for the Speed Racer film, with Larry/Lana staying in the background for the above reason.
Dateline NBC is still rumored to have exclusivity of Larry/Lana's first public interview, but it has to be on his terms, not theirs.

If you find any of this reported update confusing, now would probably be a good time to review last January's illuminating Rolling Stone piece on Wachowski's personal life. But with Speed Racer still so far away, we'll have to wait months to see how the Warner Bros. publicity department rises to the challenge of dealing with a delicate situation; while we hope that they'd have the understanding to support their collaborator in an air-clearing TV appearance like the one rumored above, we realize that the far more likely scenario involves the studios sending their potential PR liability on an all-expenses-paid vacation until the movie's had a profitable run, explaining her (or his, you know, depending) conspicous absence from various promotional obligations with a press release asking the media to respect the privacy of Wachowski's genitals during this difficult time.

UPDATE: Larry Wachowski is still a man, reports Fox's Roger Friedman.

Larry Wachowski's sex change is complete, first photo emerges! [Rated-M via Cinematical]