Alicia Malone on GIRLS ON FILM

I spoke with Alicia Malone about her new book GIRLS ON FILM: LESSONS FROM A LIFE OF WATCHING WOMEN IN MOVIES. Malone is a core host of Turner Classic Movies and a film journalist. She previously authored two other books, BACKWARDS & IN HEELS: THE PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE OF WOMEN WORKING IN FILM and THE FEMALE GAZE: ESSENTIAL MOVIES MADE BY WOMEN. In all her work she advocates for women working in film and analyzing their representation on film. I condensed and edited our interview for clarity.

BG: I enjoyed your book. It’s a mix of personal memoir, film history, and feminist film analysis. Was it hard writing more personally, and having to decide what to share, what not to share, and exposing yourself a little bit more.

AM: It was. I say in my book how I’m quite a private person. I’m quite a shy person. Even though I have this extrovert job on camera, I actually am quite an introvert myself, as I think many of us film lovers are. We love to escape through movies and watch movies by ourselves at home. I had to write thinking that no one was ever going to read it in order to be as open as possible. Because I knew that if I wasn’t open, then it wouldn’t actually be that interesting or relatable to other people. I think the more personal you are, the more people can relate to what you’re saying. I really had to just forget that anyone was gonna read it and just try to be as honest as I possibly could, while also just keeping it to my life through film, so it’s not my entire life. It’s just really how it relates to movies throughout the stages of my life.

BG: You come from a film loving family. Your dad’s a film buff, and your sister, Yvette, shared movie watching with you.

AM: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, my dad is still a big film buff. He’s in his seventies, and he teaches English as a second language at university in Australia, and he still goes to the film classes to audit them just to listen to people talk about classic film. He loves film noir especially. He showed me a lot of movies when I was young and really started to infect me with a love of movie watching, and then my sister Yvette as well always loved movies. She’s always good at quoting movies. I’m not as good at remembering quotes as she is. She would just make it so fun to watch movies with her because she would be saying all the lines and then encouraging me to learn all the dances and the musical numbers with her that we would then perform to anyone we could capture for a few minutes

BG: Oh, fun! Speaking of you remembering, did you dig through old diaries to look for material and to refresh your memories about your life?

AM: Yeah, I had kept journals on and off throughout my life. I’ve never been good at keeping it consistent, I’ve always envied those people who were able to make a daily practice out of writing a journal, but I have throughout my life, especially when big life events happen. When I moved to LA, I started to write a lot of stories about what my first impressions were of going to LA or when I started working on television, so I tried to keep diaries of major events, and they were really helpful when I went back and looked at my stories and things that I’d forgotten that I wanted to include in the book. I’m pretty good about keeping lists of movies that I’ve watched throughout my life, so I was able to see what correlated at that time.

BG: We grow up with you in this book. We start with you really little being a horse fanatic, relating to NATIONAL VELVET (1944) and surreptitiously trying to buy a horse. Later when you’re more mature, you’re in Paris, and you’re following Cléo’s journey in CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962). Is there an experience you’ve had because you were inspired by a movie that’s your most memorable experience?

AM: Yeah, I think wherever I travel in the world, I always try to seek out the locations of movies, and so Hollywood would be the major one. I had visited America once before I moved over there, and I remember going to Hollywood for the first time and just seeing everything through the eyes of a movie, and I think that’s what happens throughout my entire life, and I’m sure you’re the same as well, that wherever you go, you see it in cinematic terms. I specifically wanted to go to LA, just because of the movies I’ve watched. I didn’t know anyone there at the time, and I was there with my boyfriend at that moment, and we were just traveling through America. I said, we have to go to LA because I want to go to Hollywood, and I want to walk down Hollywood Boulevard, and I loved getting to see that as well. With people coming to the TCM Classic Film Festival every year, they get to go and visit these historic places, even though many of them are still not really around anymore, but it’s still fun to visit these locations. That would be the most memorable. But anytime I get to travel, I’m always like, which movies was set there and can I visit those locations? Do they still exist?

BG: Well, that’s perfect with another gig you have with Focus Features where you’re going to cinematic destinations for current films.

AM: Exactly, yeah, I get to visit the locations of their movies, and that’s really a fun job, like my perfect travel show if I were to create it. I was lucky that they approached me, but I was like, “Oh, this is really up my alley.” I definitely do this whenever I’m in a new place.

BG: When you were younger, you get to enjoy the golden era of the video store. You had your seven films for seven days for $7. You plowed through that video store according to your book. Did your parents let you watch anything and everything or did they rein you in a little at times and say wait till you’re a little older? Or were you just free to watch anything?

AM: Free to watch anything. I think they knew that I wasn’t going to choose anything too extreme. Although because I had these film books and I was such a film nerd, I was interested in David Lynch movies and Tarantino films and all of that at quite a young age. Probably way too young to watch that stuff, but they really just let me choose whatever I wanted with my seven films that I would take home and watch over the weekend. My dad as well. He would record everything from the television and keep it on the VHS stack. I called it his Jenga stack of VHS tapes in the living room, where we’d have to try to pick out one without the entire tower falling over. He had things like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) on that, so I remember picking that out a young age. Yeah, there was really no restrictions about what I was able to watch. For better or worse.

BG: Your book charts your evolving relationship to film. When you start out, it’s film as entertainment. You’re attracted to the charisma and performances of the stars and the music and the dancing, in particular GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)–which is also a film you introduced at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Then your perception of Marilyn changed. First, she’s entertaining. You see something there, a vulnerability. As you grow older, you get into her biography, and you become more feminist in your perspective. How did you feminist awakening contribute to your understanding and your nuance regarding film?

AM: Yeah, and really Marilyn was the kickstart to all of that because even at a young age, I had a sense that there was some kind of performance happening, that she wasn’t only playing a character in her films, especially Lorelei Lee. She was also playing a character of Marilyn Monroe. I just felt like no woman really talks like that or walks like that. She seemed so otherworldly, almost cartoonish at times. I really wanted to explore what happened with her and her story, and I was so fascinated by the way that she transformed herself from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe, and how much agency she had in the creation of her own image, and how publicity savvy she was.

It started me on the track, even though I probably couldn’t have articulated at the time, of questioning the images of women that that are presented to us on screen, that maybe there’s more than meets the eye. It was very easy in Marilyn’s case to write her off as just a blonde bimbo, a dumb blonde, a sex goddess, but she had so much going on underneath, so much complexity, and she really wasn’t one thing or another. She was a whole mess of contradictions. I think that’s part of the reason we’re still fascinated by her today. She really led me down this path of questioning what images of women were trying to say about women in general and whether that was true or not true.

BG: I have to say your drive your ambition, and accomplishments are quite impressive. You lept right into TV; you skipped college went right into the workforce; and you pursued a job that required learning technology. Then when you felt like now’s the time to go to Hollywood, you packed up two suitcases and went to the United States. You followed your dreams and your driving ambition. What advice would you give women looking to get into film and media?

AM: The major advice I would say is one that I’ve followed, which is just to trust your gut and follow your intuition. That was what told me to go to America even when everything on paper and all of my friends and family said, “What are you doing? This is crazy. You don’t know anyone. You don’t have any jobs lined up. How are you going to get a visa? How are you going to pay for rent? Who you’re going to live with? What’s going to happen?” I just knew that in myself that I needed to give it a chance. I was always more scared of never trying, then trying and failing. To me, there’s kind of no failure when you give it a try. Maybe if I moved over here, and then I decided that I didn’t like it, I could always go back home, and it wouldn’t have been a failure in my eyes.

To women trying to get into film and TV, I’d say: A) Trust your gut, your intuition. B) Back yourself. Trust yourself that you can make your dreams happen, and sometimes you will have to work hard and grow more skills, but you can definitely do it. C) To find other allies whether they’re female or male, but I especially found so much support in other women. There’s more than enough jobs for all of us, and we’re all so different from each other, that we can support each other without feeling like we need to compete with one another. The women in my life have been the ones to open the doors for me and encouraged me to walk through them, and that’s been valuable. That’s reason why I’m here.

BG: Your second book, THE FEMALE GAZE, allowed you to publish other women, because you solicited film critics and film historians to contribute to this history of women making film.

AM: After my first book BACKWARDS AND IN HEELS, I noticed that I was getting a lot of calls from reporters to talk about women in film, because I’d done a book about it. I thought, Gosh, I’m not the only one talking about this, and there’s so many accomplished, incredible, female film critics out there. Not that they needed my help, but I just didn’t want my second book to be only my voice, and I wanted to showcase all the great women that I knew in my life. I said to them, I only have $100 to pay you. I’m just gonna pay you out of my own pocket because book publishing doesn’t pay a whole lot of money, and I would love to get your contribution if you would like to be in this book. I was so gratified by all the people that wanted to be in it. I feel so lucky to have all these voices in that book. It has really made it an even more special experience than if it was just me.

BG: I’m very curious about the cover of your book. It’s a reimagining of one of your promotional photos, but you’re now surrounded by a group of diverse women in the dark theater. You’re not alone. Are any of them portraits of real women in your life that you’re giving a little shout out to on the cover? For example, the blonde reminds me so much of another TCM author Sloane De Forest.

AM: Yeah, I know it’s kind of like she’s a Sloane. I’ve got another friend Addie Hamilton that kind of looks like they’re sort of a Marilyn type of figure. I just wanted to make sure that I was surrounded by other women and that they were diverse, and I see quite a few of my friends in those other women. Again I didn’t want to be solo, like I’m the only voice, the only person in the room who’s loving these movies. To say that I’m just one of many women who all have the same experience. There’s definitely touches of a lot of my friends in there, which is fun to do. Also I liked the way it sort of speaks to a mural in LA which is featured in LA LA LAND (2016) as well. It’s on Hollywood Boulevard, and it’s a cinema with all the stars looking at the screen. I was inspired by that as well. Luckily I had a good illustrator working with me at the publisher who was able to weave all those elements together.

BG: I related a lot to the coda of your book. I’m somebody else who made big life changes during the pandemic. I, too, actually drove across the country to start a new chapter of my life in New England. You took the leap. You took Miss Hayworth, your cat, across the country. Can you talk a little bit about why you chose to get out of LA and to embrace small town living?

AM: I always felt like a small town girl, even though the place where I grew up, Canberra, is technically the capital of Australia. It has more of a small town feel than big cities like Sydney or Melbourne. I always moved for work. I moved to Sydney because I wanted to work in television, and then I moved to LA because I wanted to work in television, but talk about movies. I really started to consider what would it look like if I made a move that was just for myself and not for anyone else or for any particular job. Luckily now I have a job that allows me to essentially work from anywhere and then travel to Atlanta to film.

I was always talking to my friends about I want to go to a small town, I want to go to a small town. I’d been to New England in 2019 and saw all the leaves, and it felt like a Douglas Sirk movie. Again it’s just all about those references. That was fresh in my mind when the pandemic happened, and I got locked into my apartment, like we all did, and I was very fortunate through that time to keep working. I didn’t get sick. I didn’t lose anyone I loved. It really gave me a chance to think about what I wanted. The idea of moving to a small town kept replaying in my mind. New England, because I just been there was just really fresh up there.

The lease was coming up on my apartment, and I thought, again, there’s no failure here. I can always go there, try it out, and come back. I packed up all my stuff. I must have been sure that I wouldn’t come back because I took my car and I put some things in storage, but I put as much as I could in my car. My cat and I drove across the country, which I felt was quite cinematic to kind of drive off into the sunset towards a new chapter.

Then as soon as I arrived here, and I stayed at Airbnb, I knew that this was the place I wanted to be and very quickly settled down, bought a house. I’m so much happier and so much calmer than I was in the city. I know for some people they thrive off the energy of a city, but for me because I’m an introvert, I’m quite quiet. I love just having peace and quiet and seeing nature, being able to walk in the woods every day. It’s really changed my life for the better. I feel much more relaxed as a person and calm, and it’s a nice balance to when I go to the TCM Classic Film Festival, and it’s crazy, it’s a whirlwind. All these people saying nice things to me and wanting photos, and then I come back to this tiny little town where no one knows what I do. I can be anonymous and walk in the trees every day.

BG: In your small town, there’s a movie theatre. I know it’s a passion project of yours that you’re really burning to reopen that theatre and create a cinematic destination in that town. How is the project going?

AM: It’s slow going. As you imagine, it’s a big job to try to start a nonprofit in order to buy and run this theatre, but it’s something I feel very passionately about, and I’m not going to give up on. It’s been great as well even in just doing the research into how this can happen. Traveling around the state and meeting other historic theatre owners and asking them how they did it to what kind of programming they run. Telling them my ideas, of course, basically about bringing a lot of classic films to this town, which I really think there would be a market for. That’s been very rewarding, just meeting other theatre owners. I’m still just trying to look for people that want to do it with me. Obviously, I have no business experience. I’m not good with finances and numbers, but I do have the programming ideas and some connections as well. If I can find a partner to do it with, I think that will really help so. I’m nothing if not determined and not going to give up easily.

BG: You have a special series coming up on TCM right now FOLLOW THE THREAD, and it’s inspired by the Met exhibition IN AMERICA: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FASHION. What can you tease us with about the new series?

AM: Oh, I’m so excited about this. This is so much fun to get to delve into the idea of fashion and film and the ways in which they have inspired each other and also the ways in which they differ from each other. The fashion designer and a costume designer have two very separate goals, but there is some kind of interplay between the two mediums. I get to speak with a whole host of incredible fashion designers, costume designers, and fashion historians to talk about films. In particular we have all these different themes happening on TCM throughout June and July and into August a little bit as well. I also got to visit the Met and do some introductions from there, and that was just a dream, and a lot of those will be seen on HBO Max. It’s a huge series that I just feel so lucky to be part of. I got to learn so much about fashion in doing this project and had an even greater appreciation for the hard work that costume designers and fashion designers do, and the ways in which we communicate our identities through fashion. I think that’s fascinating.

FOLLOW THE THREAD premieres on TCM this Saturday, June 4, 2022, with special guest fashion designer Bob Mackie. Find the series’ TCM schedule here and a list of HBO Max’s offerings here, including exclusive mini-documentaries sure to excite cinephiles and fashionistas.

Interested in reading Alicia Malone’s books?

• Order a copy from Larry Edmunds Bookshop, and tell them Spellbound With Beth Ann sent you!
• Order a copy from Bookshop.Org, and this blogger earns a 10% affiliate commission.
• Order a copy from Amazon, and this blogger earns an affiliate commission.

• Order a copy from Larry Edmunds Bookshop, and tell them Spellbound With Beth Ann sent you!
• Order a copy from Bookshop.Org, and this blogger earns a 10% affiliate commission.
• Order a copy from Amazon, and this blogger earns an affiliate commission.

• Order a copy from Larry Edmunds Bookshop, and tell them Spellbound With Beth Ann sent you!
• Order a copy from Bookshop.Org, and this blogger earns a 10% affiliate commission.
• Order a copy from Amazon, and this blogger earns an affiliate commission.

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