■ Much excitement on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City when select members of the media were treated to a 30-minute taster of footage from the female Ghostbusters movie, directed by Paul Feig and set for release in July. At check-in, the security guard asked journalists for their name and identification, then added, deadpan: “One final question. Do you know who you’re going to call?”
■ A female director in Hollywood is about as rare as a waiter around here without ambitions to act. Despite attempts to tackle the issue, the boys’ club atmosphere prevails. Not a single female director appears on the upcoming slate for 20th Century Fox or Paramount. More than 20 consecutive films from each studio have male directors attached, covering everything set for release until 2018.
With so much big-budget fodder consisting of superhero franchises, and all-action comic-book adaptations catering mainly to the tastes of teenage boys, there’s little hope for change any time soon.
■ The vice-president, Joe Biden, was asked which musician he thought would make the best president in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “The middle class would have the best chance with Bruce Springsteen,” he replied. “He understands issues facing working Americans.”
The Democrats love a bit of the Boss. John Kerry used Springsteen’s No Surrender as one of his campaign tracks in 2004. Four years later, Barack Obama chose I’m on Fire as one of his all-time favourite songs. Are they trying to tell us something?
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■ Over at Disney, concern is mounting about finding a worthy successor to its chairman and chief executive, Bob Iger, who is due to step down in two years’ time. Iger has overseen an extraordinary roster of box-office smashes since he took over as CEO in 2005, delivering even in the face of an economic downturn.
This year alone, Disney has been responsible for Zootropolis (currently the highest-grossing film of 2016) and The Jungle Book (which generated a whopping $103.6m on its opening weekend). Captain America: Civil War was heaped with critical praise ahead of its release. And Alice Through the Looking Glass, with Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska, is expected to be a smash this spring.
■ The Aids Healthcare Foundation has a history of inventive advertising. When Straight Outta Compton was in cinemas, it ran a series of billboards promoting safe sex, “Straight Outta Condoms”. Then it used Bernie Sanders’s campaign slogan to ask whether Los Angelenos could “Feel the Burn?”. Now it has manipulated the infamous “Netflix and chill” meme, with billboards telling us to “Get Tested and Chill” instead.