"Faye" Documentary Highlights The Complexities of Women
Actress Faye Dunaway Calls It Out & Shakes It Up
Faye, a new documentary, is available to watch on HBO/Max. Its subject is Faye Dunaway, the famous, iconic actress. The larger subject is one woman’s example of living life as a woman on her own terms. Faye’s breakout role in Hollywood was the movie, Bonnie and Clyde, circa 1967 starring Warren Beatty.
Dunaway gained somewhat cult-figure fame through her role as Joan Crawford in the movie Mommie Dearest.
Faye Dunaway is one of those Hollywood actresses who had the reputation as being “difficult.” The documentary begins in present time, cameras rolling, before the official start time, with Faye changing position on the couch trying to determine her best side. In the next frame, Faye is complaining that she wanted “a glass of water” not “a bottle of water,” - a clear attempt to display Faye being “difficult.” It’s clear that she does not know she is being filmed yet. I had to wonder, is she “difficult” or is she simply being assertive, articulating what she wants? I already loved her as an actress, now I really love her.
The documentary is fantastic and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. It covers Faye’s life - her rise to stardom as a stage actress, movie actress, and then her move to tv-movie producer career. As is true of many Hollywood actresses, there comes a time when they reach the age of 40, when roles are scarce. Faye wanted to do something about that and the fact that so many female roles are one-dimensional. During the interview, Faye shares her desire for “roles that touch the real issues and real feelings that women have.” She wanted “to create her own females roles.”
In the documentary, Faye expresses again and again how important her work was to her sense of self. She says, “my work has never let her down.” The documentary addresses her love of motherhood AND her recognition that women are not just ONE thing - mother, actress, wife, etc. and therefore should not be portrayed as such in movie roles. Women are complex! As the typical Hollywood roles dried up for Faye, she bucked the system and found a new way. She created new roles by starting her own production company. She wanted to produce women in funny, vulnerable, complex roles that “challenge the conventional wisdom of who and what a woman is.”
Be like Faye Dunaway. Call it out, produce (your life) yourself. You ARE complex. Nothing you have done in your life deserves an easy label - wife, mom, career woman. Write your own story. The generations of women that come after you will thank you for it and carry the mantle based on your example.
My Faye Dunaway Movie “Three Days of the Condor” Dunaway’s performance is a great (and fun) example of her range as an actress. Her delivery of the line, “Have I ever denied you anything?” to an abashed Robert Redford is delicious.
My Available Books TODAY (both books “shake it up and call it out)
It Gets Easier! and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers - It’s available as a free audio book on spodify with a premium membership. No matter where you are on the motherhood journey, I promise laugh out loud and contemplative moments. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Get Your Book Seen and Sold: The Essential Book Marketing and Publishing Guide - co-authored with publisher, Julie Murkette, this is an author’s must-have guide to the basics of publishing and book marketing. It’s a great (and quickie) no-nonsense refresher for every author no matter where you are on the author journey.
LOVE Faye Dunaway. Barfly? Genius.
Yes! She talks about Barfly and Mickey Rourke speaks about her - very glowingly