BuzzSugar

Why Pixar's First Leading Lady Merida Is the Bravest Princess of Them All

Tara Block — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:44:25 PDT

I recently attended a Pixar event at the animation film company's HQ for its upcoming Summer flick Brave. I was able to watch the first 30 minutes of the film, interview the director Mark Andrews and producer Katherine Sarafian, learn all about Scottish traditions, and even channel my inner Merida with archery lessons. Not only am I hooked on archery (pretty proud of my bull's-eye), I'm also hooked on Brave's heroine Princess Merida - Pixar's first leading lady! But don't let Merida's royal title fool you. As an adventurous girl in ancient Scotland who'd rather shoot arrows than get married, she's far from a typical Disney princess. Katherine and Mark both shared the ways she's breaking the princess mold and what makes her a great role model for us all. And as you'll see in the clip from the film below, the last thing Princess Merida wants is a Prince Charming.

Brave producer Katherine Sarafian agrees that the studio's latest project is especially exciting because it stars a girl. She asked me, "Who among us wouldn't want to give our daughters or sons a great cinema role model?" And not only is Merida a "powerhouse of a girl" with "fire and gusto and vigor" as Katherine describes her, she's also relatable, as she doesn't come with any special superpowers. "She just has great skills and she practices them," Katherine explains, "and she earned her skills by working hard and practicing and playing archery and playing sword fighting with her dad."

What really makes Merida someone little girls and adult women alike can relate to is that she's not perfect. At one point Merida's mom, Elinor, who's trying desperately to persuade her daughter to conform to her traditional role as a lady, says, "A princess strives for perfection." As women, we're constantly feeling that pressure to meet impossible expectations and aspire to society's ideal of who we should be and what we should be doing. But we rarely hit the mark. Katherine tells me, "I find her very relatable as someone who's coming of age and struggling with that central question of how can I really be seen for who I am in a world where there's an expectation of me that is incongruous to who I am?"

So why is such a relatable female lead so rare? Katherine tells me she's never understood why we haven't seen more strong female characters onscreen. With Brave, the filmmakers weren't trying to produce a story with a leading lady; it was the story, that happened to be about a girl, that got the project made. "If more filmmakers are developing ideas with great females at the center of the story, we should be able to take the world by storm," Katherine says.

The good news is with hits like The Hunger Games that are incredibly popular with both sexes, perhaps Brave is a part of a trend toward more female-driven films. Katherine points out that the box office figures have proven that people want to see girls and women lead stories. She adds, "I'm hoping people are realizing and studios realize that there is an audience, that this is half the population."

I found it interesting that Pixar (a subsidiary of Disney) would have its first female lead in a feature film be a princess, meaning, technically, Merida is a Disney princess. It appears that for a girl to be the lead in an animated movie she has to be princess. But both Katherine and director Mark Andrews insist the princess decision had nothing to do with the classic Disney princess archetype, but rather it was about a more exciting plot. "If you're a teenager and you make a stupid decision, maybe you get grounded," Katherine explains. "If you're royalty, your bad decision can have consequences that could cause a war in your kingdom. It was important that her decisions be tied to something much bigger than herself and her immediate family."

Part 2 of Our Interview With Hunger Games Set Decorator Larry Dias

Elka Karl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:07:06 PDT

Earlier today, we shared the first half of our interview with The Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias. Keep reading to learn more about what went into the process of creating the set!

CasaSugar: Where was the chandelier above the dining table sourced?

Larry Dias: The "chandelier" was actually comprised of 50 to 60 separate fixtures from Arteriors that we arranged off site and installed into the cantilevered overhang on stage. It was built into a wedge that floated over the dining table that came to a very shallow point. We had to put one of the set dressers inside the wedge to do the installation and wiring so we picked the smallest guy and in he went. A claustrophobic environment to say the least.

CS: The chairs at the dining table are so futuristic, and I love the pleating effect. Where were these sourced?

LD: Those chairs are made by the Phillips Collection [note: photo above is from Phillips Collection, not from the film]. Buyer Margaret Hungerford found them in High Point in North Carolina. We decided they were perfect for the set since we were looking for something that was a little "off center." They are made of strapping similar to seat belting and are woven around a wooden frame. The texture and silhouette of the chairs read wonderfully on film.

CS: Since Lenny Kravitz also has a design firm, did he have any feedback about the set? Did you collaborate together at all? (The high pile rugs in the penthouse reminded me a bit of his designs.)

LD: He gave some really positive feedback. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the sets. By the way, the high pile carpeting was area rugs that we fused together because we had to cover an area that was quite large.

CS: I loved Katniss's bedroom quarters. What went into your look for her room? How did you choose the color palette?

LD: Phil and I were trying to come up with a bed that anchored the room, and we were really playing with color. We couldn't find anything that wasn't too recognizable so he designed it on his computer and we built it. The paint is a high-gloss lacquer, and the upholstery was this amazing patterned velvet Margaret had found. The faux fur spread was an homage to Katniss's hunting prowess.

CS: I also loved the row of organic, macrame-look pendants behind Katniss's bed. Where did you source these? How did you come up with the idea for these lights as a focal point?

LD: Those fixtures are actually made of wire. They are a group of pendants from a company called Shine Labs in the Bay Area. I thought they had great silhouettes so I bought a number of them and played around with some configurations, and that's what we ended up with.

CS: What went into your inspiration for President Snow's Capitol home? What
time period particularly influenced you?

LD: This was a funny one. The script called for an opulent room in the Capitol, but being sort of landlocked in Charlotte limited the options available for Phil to choose from, and since it was at the very end of our shooting schedule it was impossible and not cost effective to do a big company move. A film crew has quite a lot of people working between all of the departments. So after futile attempts to find something appropriate, Phil asked me to join him to look at a space in the Philip Morris facility that we were using as our home base. The room was a former screening room/meeting room of sorts that looked out onto an amazing interior courtyard. We had the neglected plants pruned and added about 50 rose bushes to the garden. We built some interior walls that were clad in a faux travertine and did mica inlays that were very luminous. It tied into the brutalist architecture very well and to me had the feeling of the '30s Milanese Villa Necchi Campiglio, one of my favorite places ever.

Have you seen The Hunger Games yet? What was your favorite part of the set design? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Film photos courtesy of Lionsgate

Hunger Games Set Decorator Larry Dias Shares Stories and Decor Details From the Film

Elka Karl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:17:42 PDT

Watching The Hunger Games at a press preview, both Angela and I were scrambling to jot down notes on the fantastic set design showcased in the film. Now, we have the answers to all of our set design questions. Set decorator for The Hunger Games Larry Dias was integral in making the film come to life, from the Appalachia-inspired homes seen in District 12 to the opulent palace of President Snow. Dias was nominated for an Oscar for his production design work on Inception, and he's worked on the set design for films including The Village, The Last Airbender, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Keep reading to find out more about the process of designing the look of The Hunger Games. CasaSugar: I read that much of the decor for District 12 was sourced from local antique shops in North Carolina. How were you inspired by these antiques, and how did the look for this district develop?
Larry Dias: When [production designer] Phil Messina discovered the North Carolina location that serves as District 12 in the film, it just made sense to utilize the local antiques sources. In the book, District 12 lies within what is formerly known as the Appalachians. It could not have been more perfect. We found a number of dealers that had an abundance of unfinished "as is" antiques with rotting wood, peeled finishes, broken drawers, and rusty hardware, and they were items from the region. It was a perfect fit.

CS: The train car seems to have an art deco feel. Was this an influence for the look? How did you decide on the color palette and wood choices? What items did you include that seemed particularly important for these scenes?
LD: Phil came up with the design of the train cars, and the palette was an early idea that we toyed with changing a number of times but we always went back to the blue. The velvet I used in the upholstery was from Dedar, and at first we were having some trouble having it fit within our time frame. It was milled in Belgium, if I remember correctly, and we tried numerous times to find a replacement close to our original choice and just could not find a suitable one, so we played the odds and got it at the last minute. I'm glad we did because it had such amazing depth and was a really regal-looking hue that ended up being the perfect complement/contrast to the muted blue dress that Judianna Makovsky had designed for Katniss.

Of course we compared our swatches, but I think it really told a story when she entered that train car. The wood tones were chosen by Phil. As my team and I were sourcing the furniture for the train it became apparent that we would need to do part antique and part reproduction mainly because of quantities and also because Katniss drives a knife into the dining table! A lot of deco furniture is veneered, and we found a lot of great pieces that had irreparable finish issues or pieces that were too diminutive in scale, so we ended up finding some good reproductions that we could get quantities of. Because it was really difficult to get the woods to work well together on pieces coming from all over the US, we had our lead scenic Rick Riggs and his amazing crew faux finish the furniture to tie it all together.

A funny thing is the barrel chairs that play prominently were pieces that my buyer Sara Gardner-Gail found online, and they were really inexpensive but had the perfect shape. I had the legs cut off and added a swivel platform base, had them painted and upholstered, and they looked like the finest antiques. One of the things about set decoration is that you have to be ready to improvise as well as accommodate change. Unlike the design of, say, a hotel lobby where everything has been drawn in will not change, a film set is quite the opposite. Once the actors, camera, and crew are in the set, furniture starts flying, literally.

First, just to accommodate the cast and crew, usually at least one half of the set will be cleared of furniture, then as the shots and camera angles are being set up, the director may decide he needs things to rearrange a bit to accommodate a scene. It can be a little improvisational so having a few extra chairs, lamps, or occasional pieces hanging around is a good thing.

Keep reading for more of our interview with Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias!

Link Time - How Warmer Weather Heats Up Your Sex Life

Tara Block — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:58:00 PDT

Top 10 ways that warm weather is good for your sex life - Em & Lo
What it's like watching Titanic at 26 vs. 12 - Huffington Post
Why journalism suffers when morning shows seek salvation with celebrity - The Daily Beast
Lena Dunham addresses Lee Aronsohn's "labia saturation point" comments - The Frisky
What your American Girl says about you - College Candy
Learn about pheromone parties and the trend of dating by smell - YourTango
Check out Sofia Vergara in her Hunger Games skit on SNL - BuzzSugar
Study finds economic inequality linked to rise in teen pregnancy rates - The Jane Dough
On- and offscreen celebrity couples - theBERRY
A jealous hubby kills a man over Facebook flirting - Newser

Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood Join Nicole and Keith For the ACM Awards

Allie Merriam — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:59:41 PDT

The annual Academy of Country Music Awards went down in Las Vegas last night with Blake Shelton serving as host. Lovely ladies like Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, and Taylor Swift posed on the ACM Awards red carpet and then headed inside so the statues could be distributed to winners. It was an unconventional show - a couple even got married at one point in a ceremony officiated by Martina McBride! The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth was also called in to host the ACM Fan Jam. Big honors went to record of the year and female vocalist of the year winner Miranda Lambert, and her husband Blake got the corresponding male honor. Taylor Swift was crowned entertainer of the year in a hotly contested category. Blake even poked a little fun at Taylor's well-used surprised face when handing over the statue. The fun went down in front of a star-studded crowd that included Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and even Ashton Kutcher.

See Never-Before-Seen Clips From The Hunger Games on the Interactive Movie Website!

Kristy Korcz — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:30:35 PDT

Can't wait until Friday to see The Hunger Games? Me neither! Thankfully there's a place you can go to get your Hunger Games fix before the film hits theaters, and see some never-before-seen content to boot . . . if you know the right pass code, that is.

Point your browser to TheCapitolTour.pn, then sign in using your Facebook or Twitter account and get a better look at the Capitol. The website, which is optimized for HTML5-running browsers like Microsoft's IE9 and Chrome, will show you everything from the sleek and futuristic train station to the control room, the Avenue of the Tributes to even the Capitol skyline. You'll have a holographic guide to "show" you around, and can learn facts about the movie and popular Capitol Couture in special areas of the website (identified by cinemagraph effects on the screen). Speaking of fun facts, did you know that Arcade Fire scored the "Tribute Entrance" theme music? You can hear a snippet of that score in the "Avenue of the Tributes" area after President Snow gives his speech.

Now about that bonus content. I'll tell you how you can check out some bonus clips on TheCapitolTour after the break.

Josh Hutcherson Tells Us His Favorite Hunger Games Scene and Catches Up With Costars at His Cover Party

Lindsay Miller — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:55:59 PST

Josh Hutcherson was joined by several of his costars from The Hunger Games last night at a dinner to toast his new Nylon Guys cover in LA. We caught up with Josh inside the soiree to talk about being a part of one of this year's most hotly anticipated movie events and why he felt an immediate connection to his character, Peeta Mellark. He also shared a little about his favorite scene in the close-to-finished cut of the film he recently watched, and told us about the moment on set that brought Jennifer Lawrence to tears. Here are some highlights:

PopSugar: Have you guys gotten to see the final cut of The Hunger Games?
Josh: Not final cut, but a very close to final cut, yeah.
PS: What was the coolest moment or scene for you [to watch]?
Josh: For me, honestly, my favorite scene is when it's, like, the day before the games and Katniss and Peeta have that conversation. And that, for me, I thought was a really cool spot in the relationship because you kind of see the tenderness between them a little bit. So that meant a lot to me.
PS: I started reading the book and I actually pictured you as Gale before I knew who was playing who. I'm curious, did you read for any other part?
Josh: Really? I mean, for me I had an immediate connection with Peeta. I felt like I was Peeta in so many ways, it kind of blew my mind a little bit. To the point when I actually walked into the room to audition, and [author] Suzanne Collins and [director] Gary Ross were there, I said to them - I've never said this before in any audition and I'll never say it again because it sounds disgusting - but I am so much like Peeta! Reading it, I was almost like, 'How did Suzanne Collins write a movie about my [kind of] person?' It kind of blew my mind.

For more from our chat with Josh and a look inside last night's party, just read more

Lauren Bush: How Busy Women Can Find Time to Give Back

Emily Co — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:54:57 PST

Privileged and beautiful, Lauren Bush, the niece of former President George W. Bush, is also a big philanthropist. TrèsSugar recently sat down with Bush for an interview, in which the model spilled the deets about FEED, a project she founded to fight world hunger. Bush gave advice on how busy women can find the time to give back:

"I feel lucky that I've been able to integrate giving back into my job, so it's all one in the same, which is not necessarily the case for most. But most companies do offer opportunities to volunteer or encourage that to some extent, and if they don't, it's a thing to push for. It can be this overwhelming thing to be like, 'I need to find the cause that I'm so passionate about. I need to jump headfirst.' And at some point people might do that, but in the meantime, just dabble and learn and find small things you can do. Like my brother - this isn't small; it's actually quite huge - but he's a Big Brother. And it's changed his life, changed this little kid's life. And it's just the coolest thing. It's a big time commitment to open your life up to a kid, but he loves it. You don't always need to start your own, and nor should most people."

It's always good to start small and to be realistic about your time commitments. You need to pick activities that are doable because giving back should always feel fulfilling and not like something that you feel obligated to do.

Lauren Bush Shares Relationship Advice and Thoughts On Giving Back

Annie Scudder — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:50:27 PST

Lauren Bush is much more than a pretty face and famous last name. This past weekend at Pixar Animation Studios, Lauren spoke about giving back creatively at the Intersection Event, a conference on innovation.

Before her panel, I caught up with the newlywed model and founder of FEED, a project to fight world hunger in conjunction with UN World Food Programme. She shared her relationship advice, as well as the issue she hopes women will pay more attention to and details about her upcoming FEED back. Read our interview below.

TrèsSugar: How have your relationship and career priorities changed with age?
Lauren Bush: "It's been a flow to this point. I don't think there's a perfect science to it. Maybe there is and in that case I'd love to know. I don't have kids yet, therefore I can travel more easily perhaps. I think it's about doing what you love. FEED for me is like my arm. It's like second nature. I feel like I'm in this rare awesome position where getting up to go to work isn't really work, it's exciting. If you find something you love, it melds naturally. To be an entrepreneur is all consuming. And lucky enough, my husband was an entrepreneur himself, is very entrepreneurial, so he just gets it. It's also about surrounding yourself with people who will support your passion."

TS: What piece of relationship advice would you share with young women?
LB: "Don't sweat the small stuff."

TS: Who are your female role models?
LB: There are more women now than when we started five years ago that I can look to. Sheryl Sandberg (the COO) from Facebook. I saw her speak and she's so inspiring. Also, Somali Moms, a foundation in Cambodia with this amazing woman. And Christie Brinkley and what she's been doing with Every Mother Counts is really inspiring.

Keep reading to find out about more about FEED and its newest bag.

Buzz Gift Guide: The Hunger Games Goodies!

Rose Curiel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:49:03 PDT

With the holidays fast approaching, it's time to start thinking about what to get everybody on your list this year. If there's a fan of The Hunger Games in your life, chances are you've probably heard them buzzing about the upcoming film based on Suzanne Collins's series. Although the movie doesn't come out until next year, there are still plenty of The Hunger Games-related gifts to stuff in their stockings this holiday season. From board games to jewelry, we've got you covered at every price point!