“Well behaved women rarely make history”.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
May 1, 2016, Los Angeles-
By: Christy Oldham
A Classy Broad Doc
Texan, stalwart feminist, luminary and Hollywood’s first female Studio Vice President, Marcia Nasatir, is a very classy broad. So much so that in fact, a sensational new film documentary called A Classy Broad was created about her notable rise to the top in Hollywood. Nasatir is responsible for green lighting extraordinary films like Carrie, Rocky, Hamburger Hill, Ironweed, Apocalypse Now and The Big Chill and has thus revolutionized the concept of leadership in a once male dominated industry.
Written, produced, directed and edited by master filmmaker Anne Goursaud, whose editing credits include Bram Stoker’s Dracula as well as the 1983 mega-hit The Outsiders, A Classy Broad chronicles Nasatirs’ odyssey from secretary to VP of United Artists, one of the largest film studios in the 1970s.
Demi Goddess Chronicle recently sat down with these two brilliant ladies to discuss A Classy Broad and Nasatirs’ ground breaking sojourn which has inspired and created opportunities for many women and men over the last four plus decades.
DGC: Thank you for taking time to sit down with Demi Goddess Chronicle. Let’s start from the beginning. When and where were you born, Marcia?
MN: “I was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. My father was a traveling salesman and moved the family, my mother, older brother and I, to San Antonio. I grew up as a Texan”.
DGC: You have been called a trailblazer for women in the film industry. What is your take on this label?
MN: “I like being a woman. I believe in equal pay and equal opportunities for all. Always have. If that makes me a trailblazer, then I accept it”.
DGC: How did A Classy Broad manifest, Anne?
“Marcia has been instrumental in my life. We have been friends for many years. She helped me get my first job in Hollywood. One day I realized that she was responsible for helping launch the careers of many people, writers, and so on. I asked her if she would be interested in making a documentary about her life”.
MN: “I like to talk. So, I said of course!” (laughter)
DGC: Your professional life is quite impressive. How did you make the transition from secretary to VP of a major Hollywood studio?
MN: “Everything that I have done in my life is based on the love of storytelling.
I learned to read at the tender age of 3 from my older brother. I’ve always believed that what we love about movies are what captures our hearts.”
DGC: You both have worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. What director have you learned the most from, Anne?
AG: “Francis Ford Coppola. I loved his relentless search for perfection. I just love making movies. Everything about it. I can identify with a person like Marcia, her struggle in a very male dominated industry.”
MN: “And this film is a no-punches-pulled movie about Hollywood. The fascinating thing about this film though is the response from the men who have seen it…all positive”.
DGC: What do the men like the most?
MN: All very positive. They really like the cooking scene and often ask for the recipe for the sugar pecans”.
(laughter from all)
AG: “They also ask where their daughters can see this movie”.
DGC: So, where can people see A Classy Broad?
AG: “We are just getting it out there…screening it at different venues now. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and we just screened it to a sold out audience at The Landmark Regent Theatre in Westwood”.
DGC: What projects are you currently working on?
MN: “I’m still working. I turn 90 years young this month. Like Anne, I love to make movies and have a project called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that’s in development.
DGC: Marcia, what advice would you like to give women who aspire to “make it” in Hollywood?
MN: “Read Edna Ferber’s work. She was a novelist and playwright who wrote Show Boat and Giant. Her work often depicts strong female leading characters in adverse situations. I learned the most from reading her stories about being a strong woman and having compassion for those who are mistreated. And besides that, I never wanted to be the wife of so- n- so, a doctor or whomever but to do it myself. Ferber’s work inspired me to do it because it had to be done”.
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