Latest news with #LightsonWomen'sWorthAward
Toronto Star
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Gillian Anderson had an epiphany that changed how she saw aging: ‘Why waste time?'
Gillian Anderson does not mince words. Speaking about wellness culture and the pressure to self-optimize on the podcast 'How To Fail' in 2023, she said in a calm, matter of fact and confident tone: 'I realized that anytime somebody tells me to do something, I'm going to say f—k off.' In a culture where women still feel obliged to be people pleasers, the 56-year-old actress makes being forthright look easy. When we spoke over video call from the Cannes Film Festival, where Anderson was attending L'Oréal Paris' Lights on Women's Worth Award, I asked if she's always been able to set boundaries. 'I was quite a rebellious teenager,' she said. Yet it wasn't until her 40s that she felt able to speak her mind without fear, without worrying about what other people thought. 'It was almost like something that pre-existed but I didn't realize how valuable it was, and that it was something that I could actually vocalize and delight in,' she said. 'There was something that felt really good about having that.'
Hamilton Spectator
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Gillian Anderson had an epiphany that changed how she saw aging: ‘Why waste time?'
Gillian Anderson does not mince words. Speaking about wellness culture and the pressure to self-optimize on the podcast 'How To Fail' in 2023, she said in a calm, matter of fact and confident tone: 'I realized that anytime somebody tells me to do something, I'm going to say f—k off.' In a culture where women still feel obliged to be people pleasers, the 56-year-old actress makes being forthright look easy. When we spoke over video call from the Cannes Film Festival, where Anderson was attending L'Oréal Paris' Lights on Women's Worth Award, I asked if she's always been able to set boundaries. 'I was quite a rebellious teenager,' she said. Yet it wasn't until her 40s that she felt able to speak her mind without fear, without worrying about what other people thought. 'It was almost like something that pre-existed but I didn't realize how valuable it was, and that it was something that I could actually vocalize and delight in,' she said. 'There was something that felt really good about having that.' Gillian Anderson at the L'Oréal Lights on Women Award at the Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2025. Anderson has also become more vocal about women's sexual pleasure. A far remove from how most of us came to know her — as brainy, buttoned-up agent Dana Scully from the '90s TV show 'The X-Files' — this sex-positive persona seemed to be a spillover from her role as a sex therapist on Netflix's 'Sex Education.' When Anderson was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on the show in 2024, she wore a strapless Gabriela Hearst gown subtly decorated with white embroidered vulvas. Gillian Anderson at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards in a white gown embroidered with vulvas. Last year, she published 'Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous,' a collection of women's sexual fantasies which were submitted from all over the world; she also has a functional soft drinks brand, G Spot, which includes the flavour, 'Arouse.' In this, and in everything she does, Anderson proves that life after 50 is full of possibility. 'I certainly feel that and have been embracing that and really properly leaning into it and taking advantage of it,' she said. 'What's interesting is when I've been asked about it, there's part of my brain that just thinks, 'Well, of course. I mean, why wouldn't it be?'' Still, Anderson said leaving behind her youth wasn't a seamless transition. She experienced two periods of 'deep grief, real sadness and feeling of loss,' one in her late 30s, another in her early 40s, sparked by the realization that she was on the other side of something. In her 40s, she had a mind-altering epiphany: she was the youngest she was ever going to be for the rest of her life. 'It was like, my brain exploded,' she said. 'It's such an obvious thing to say, but at the same time, this is right now. Appreciate where you are right now. Why waste time?' But she understands why many of us feel apprehensive about what life has in store once we hit the midpoint, and why we delight in witnessing women over 50 in popular culture thrive. 'To see women our age showing that not only is there a next, but it's a really fantastic next is really important,' said Anderson, who recently landed her first beauty contract earlier this year, as a face of L'Oréal Paris's Age Perfect line. 'I encourage women to look forward to this time and not be afraid of this time, but to know that it can be incredibly positive and empowering — actually more empowering than some of the other decades that we've lived.' Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs at a London screening of 'The Salt Path.' As Anderson has progressed further into her career, she's begun working with more women directors — including on 'The Salt Path,' out later this month. The film, based on writer Raynor Winn's memoir, is a drama about a married couple who walk across the south west coast of England after becoming homeless. It was directed by Marianne Elliott, and the crew was populated with many women, including a producer and the director of photography. 'Anytime I see a woman director, I celebrate it. It's just a very different vibe,' Anderson said, comparing the atmosphere to the 'very male-centred, very macho' sets that she's become accustomed to. From here, Anderson is feeling ready for whatever is next. 'I'm not afraid of my age or the changes that are happening. I feel proud to be the age that I am,' she said. 'I'm continuing to build and to grow and do what I set my mind to.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Together Group Acquires ‘Experiential' Agency Obo
Together Group, a London-based collective of marketing, communications, digital and events agencies, has acquired Obo, which has produced fashion spectacles for Victoria's Secret, L'Oréal Paris, Elie Saab and many others. Financial terms were not disclosed. More from WWD Helen Mirren on Cannes, Culture Shift and the Power of Visibility Viola Davis, Jane Fonda Spotlight Emerging Directors at L'Oréal's Lights on Women's Worth Award Lancôme's Françoise Lehmann Is Stepping Down René Célestin, who cofounded Obo 25 years ago in New York, later opening offices in London and Paris, is to remain its chief executive officer, while benefiting from the broader Together ecosystem, which includes PR firm Purple. 'Obo is the creative agency and supervising producer trusted by leading brands and destinations for their brand-defining experiential moments,' Christian Kurtzke, CEO of Together Group, said in a statement shared with WWD. He lauded Obo's 'exceptional blend of creativity and cultural insight, enhanced by a range of digital tools — including real-time digital rendering technologies that have been part of their process since 2015 — allows them to craft immersive, emotionally resonant storytelling experiences across both live and digital environments.' Founded in 2017, Together also recently added Dubai-based communications agency Frame Publicity to its portfolio. Obo's client roster includes Ami, Giorgio Armani, Bulgari, Celine, The Row, Saint Laurent, Toteme and Zimmermann. It is also one of the founding partners of Paname 24, which produced opening ceremonies for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. Célestin said he spied operational and strategic opportunities as part of Together's collective, which includes digital animation studios Imerza and Visualization One. Indeed, Kurtzke sees Obo as an integral part of Together's 'tech-powered immersive experiential platform to transform luxury for the experience economy.' According to Célestin, 'when it comes to fashion shows as well as to wider brand storytelling across all customer touch points and campaigns, luxury brands need to think in ways that overcome segmentation and beyond the past, in order to meaningfully engage next-generation audiences. 'Our mission is to further revolutionize guest experiences by weaving entertainment and cultural references seamlessly into every project,' he added. For example, Elie Saab's 45th anniversary show in Riyadh last November fused fashion, entertainment, choreography and a high-profile lineup of female musical talent woven together under a loose '1,001 Arabian Nights' storyline. Best of WWD Model and Hip Hop Fashion Pioneer Kimora Lee Simmons' Runway Career Through the Years [PHOTOS] Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Helen Mirren on Cannes, Culture Shift and the Power of Visibility
Helen Mirren makes a regular pilgrimage to the South of France for the Cannes Film Festival with both her own films and L'Oréal Paris. She's attended around 10 times — though she can't be precise — and revels in the surrealism of it all: a convention town with one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world, standing on her hotel balcony getting paparazzied while looking down at women in fantastic gowns 'looking like a flock of beautiful birds.' 'It's that juxtaposition of working town, the beach, the weather, the Mediterranean, and then this crazy, mad parade of beauty,' she says. 'In the middle of that is a very serious festival with serious art film. It's a sort of wonderful, strange cocktail.' More from WWD Viola Davis, Jane Fonda Spotlight Emerging Directors at L'Oréal's Lights on Women's Worth Award Elle Fanning Masters Off-duty Glamour in Giuseppe Zanotti's Angular Heels and Max Mara Shirtdress for Cannes Film Festival 2025's Final Day Paris Jackson's Dramatic Cannes Corset Dress Sparkles With Synergy in Christian Louboutin for 'Honey Don't!' Film Premiere L'Oréal's Lights on Women's Worth Award, which supports emerging female filmmakers, holds special meaning for Mirren. When she first started in the business, she was often one of only two women on set along with the 'script girl.' Now she sees progress and women supporting women. 'For me, it's not just the directors,' she says. 'It's the camera people, the sound people [and] all of those other roles that are available in the making of a movie. Whenever you have a female director, you have many more women on the set in general. They deliberately go out and find women to fulfill those roles.' She calls the award 'invaluable' for young female directors. 'It's the key that can open the door. It's so hard to get a film financed. If you can go with that little star on your shoulder, it's enormously helpful,' she says. 'I'm very proud of L'Oréal Paris for those kinds of initiatives,' she adds. 'As well as making a fortune selling us lipstick, they conscientiously support women.' Mirren has long spoken out about age representation on screen. 'There will always be a desire to see youth and beauty on the screen. I mean, I feel the same, quite honestly,' she says. 'But I think it's the broadening of the stories that we tell. Casting then follows. People are living longer, and as people live longer, they have stories to tell. Between 50 and 100 years old, there are obviously roles for men and women.' She doesn't wish to be younger for vanity's sake, only to see more of the changes she's long hoped for. 'The one reason I do wish I was younger is I would like to live longer to see, because I've waited 50 years for the changes to happen that I thought should happen when I was 16 or 17 years old.' Still, she remains wary of the backsliding of women's rights. 'My great fear is that with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and what's happening in America in general, you realize that lurking in the back is always this need, this desire to repress women,' she says. 'You think of the way women were treated under Stalin, under Hitler. It was 'get back there, have babies, and shut up.' Be pretty, be sexy, have babies, and then shut up about everything else. 'I keep thinking it can't take over, because women have come so far,' she says, though she notes that women are often still sidelined in political spaces. 'For all of my life, up to like 20 years ago, if I went to the movies, I only ever saw a vision of the world and culture and human relationships and stories and romance and adventure that was seen through a man's eyes,' she says. 'Now we're seeing women's view of the world about us. I think it's really surprising a lot of people. I think they thought women would just make movies about romance and dogs or something. 'They are doing amazing, challenging, difficult, shocking stuff,' she says. 'It's great.' Mirren also highlights the overdue conversation around menopause. 'It's amazing. Just in the last three years, suddenly it was like, 'Oh my god, there's such a thing as the menopause,' and every woman goes through it,' she says. 'It doesn't happen when she's 80. It happens when she's 40, and so half of her life is going to be post-menopause. Why is nobody mentioning this?' She adds that she hopes beauty brands will create products specifically for menopausal women who still want to look and feel great. After filming several projects back-to-back, including 'The Thursday Murder Club,' '1923,' 'Mob Land,' and the forthcoming 'Switzerland,' based on the life of author Patricia Highsmith, Mirren says she's planning a break. It will be a 'big reset,' she says, including a return to her signature cropped hairstyle after growing it out during the pandemic. But it might not be for long. 'I work because I know if I don't work, I'm intrinsically very lazy,' she says. Best of WWD Celebrating Lenny Kravitz, Rock Icon, Actor, Author, Designer and Style Star: Photos Cannes Film Festival 1970s: Flashbacks, Celebrities and Fashion Highlights from WWD's 'Eye' Pages [PHOTOS] A Look Back at Cannes Film Festival's Best Dressed Red Carpet Stars: Blake Lively, Angelina Jolie, Princess Diana and More Photos
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Viola Davis, Jane Fonda Spotlight Emerging Directors at L'Oréal's Lights on Women's Worth Award
CANNES, France — Cannes was lit up by Jane Fonda and Viola Davis, who arrived on the final weekend of the film festival to honor the next wave of female filmmakers at L'Oréal Paris' Lights on Women's Worth Award ceremony, celebrated in a beachside ceremony. Fellow brand ambassadors Gillian Anderson, who joined the L'Oréal family in February, Simone Ashley, an ambassador since last year, and Elle Fanning were in attendance, after hitting the red carpet earlier in the evening. Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch and Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode executive president Pascal Morand were also among the guests. More from WWD Elle Fanning Masters Off-duty Glamour in Giuseppe Zanotti's Angular Heels and Max Mara Shirtdress for Cannes Film Festival 2025's Final Day Paris Jackson's Dramatic Cannes Corset Dress Sparkles With Synergy in Christian Louboutin for 'Honey Don't!' Film Premiere Jane Fonda Goes Bold at Cannes in Caged Sandals and 3D Florals, Elle Fanning's Winning Look and More Closing Day Ceremony Style 'It's not young filmmakers, it's young women filmmakers, and that's what's important,' Fonda emphasized. 'Women, for centuries, have not been a powerful presence in Hollywood. This is slowly changing.' Reflecting on her early days in the industry, Fonda recalled often being the only woman on set, forced to navigate complex on-set politics, as well as love scenes, without support. While she praised the introduction of intimacy coordinators and acknowledged growing representation, she insisted there is still a lot of work to be done. 'This is why it's important — we respond differently to everything. We respond differently to war, to poverty, to health. And so, if you leave our voices out of the media of the culture, then everybody's getting half the story. We're poorer because we're only getting half the story. So when you bring women in, then suddenly there's the full picture. And that's good for men as well as for women, and for boys as well as girls.' Fonda, who hasn't appeared on-screen in two years, has been devoting her energy to climate activism. She also admitted she's been turning down scripts. 'I get offered movies all the time and they're bad, they're not good. They're stereotypes — you know, the 'old woman.' And so I am waiting for a good project,' she said. In the meantime, the iconic actress is working on a memoir titled 'Before I Forget,' which she is still in the process of writing. For Davis, the juror for the award, the evening felt personal after screening the 13 eligible films from the short and student film categories. 'I feel like I have a front-row seat to all of these great female filmmakers' stories, [and] that I'm now a part of it,' she said. 'I have a front-row seat in congratulating them, celebrating them, spotlighting them, awarding them. And that's the gift that it gives to me.' She also praised the powerful narratives being told in women-led films. 'There's some extraordinary films that are out there. The thing that surprises me — but see, it doesn't surprise me — is the depth of storytelling. When you give a woman a story where the woman is in the center of the narrative and they control that voice, what you get is a level of truth that you haven't seen in filmmaking. It's a brutal truth at times and it makes you feel seen because it's so honest.' While progress is happening, Davis acknowledged that there is still a glass ceiling that exists in Hollywood. Still, more actresses are stepping behind the camera to direct, including Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson, and Regina King among them. 'It's still very difficult, but what's happening now is, we're getting hip to the fact that we have to do it anyway,' she said. 'They're out there and they're doing it despite of [difficulty] and they're doing it on their terms. That's the future of filmmaking. I think that we've discovered the elixir.' One of the few actors to achieve EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), Davis admitted she rarely visits the room where her trophies reside. But recently she took some time to revel in a moment of celebration. 'I did allow myself, a few months ago, to sit in there for a couple of hours. And I forced myself to look at them so I can squeal, be proud of my story and my journey and actually, almost proudly say that I've had an interesting life.' At the ceremony, Davis presented the award to Heo Ga-young for her short film 'First Summer,' which was selected from the eligible films. The South Korean director's film follows a woman torn between attending a memorial service and her granddaughter's wedding. 'The depth of understanding the complexity of human loss is a mighty feat. Heo Ga-young through [main character] Yeongsun captures that desperate need for us to claim what makes us feel alive at all costs. Brave, bold and absolutely the story of what it means to be a woman,' Davis said. Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, global brand president of L'Oréal Paris, reflected on the award's significance. 'This fifth anniversary of the Lights on Women's Worth Award is a powerful reaffirmation of our enduring commitment to uplifting women in cinema. This mission is deeply woven into the fabric of who we are at L'Oréal Paris,' she said. 'For the past five years we have been committed to giving recognition and visibility to promising young female directors. I hope one day this award will no longer be needed — a sign that our women have finally claimed their rightful place at the heart of the cinema industry.' Best of WWD Model and Hip Hop Fashion Pioneer Kimora Lee Simmons' Runway Career Through the Years [PHOTOS] Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline
