The N.Y. Women of “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”
Jane Dystel
President
Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
The agent for bestselling novelist Colleen Hoover left Georgetown Law in for a job at Bantam Books, the mass-market publisher her father once ran, and hasn’t left the lit world since. In , she established her own rm, now called Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. “It was partially my love of reading,” says Dystel of why she went into publishing. “And it was being in a world of ideas and the possibilities of what could happen with ideas.” Determined to win: A competitive gure skater in her teens, she believes her drive helps make her a great agent.
America Ferrera
Actor
“Barbie,” “Dumb Money”
Ferrera has long been connected to pivotal female roles, from her breakout as Ana Garcia in “Real Women Have Curves” and Betty Suarez on “Ugly Betty,” to her Oscar-nominated turn in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” She’s grati ed that “Barbie” had a cultural impact on a global level, and for the response to her character ’s monologue about the con icting expectations women navigate every day. “I was so moved to see the reactions of people who really resonated with the monologue, and I was also glad to see the dialogue it created,” she tells Variety. “Ideally, the stories we tell are compelling us to see ourselves and each other in more complex ways.”
Rita Ferro
President, global advertising
The Walt Disney Co.
One year after Disney+ with ads debuted, more than half the streamer’s subscribers choose that option. But the streamer isn’t doing what broadcast used to, Ferro says, pointing to recent advancements like the TV ad experience Gateway Shop, and Disney’s Magic Words, which ties mood to a brand’s messaging with contextual advertising. “We’ve brought to market future-forward advertising innovation through our immersive platforms and experiences,” says the exec, who gained global oversight of the studio’s ad business last October. “We are seeing increasing interest from clients to tap into tools that provide simplicity, and seamless access to the most premium inventory.”
Maureen Ford
President, national & festival sales, media & sponsorship
Live Nation
In , Ford oversaw the biggest year in live music’s history as innumerable artists hit stages across the country and more fans attended concerts and festivals than ever before. With years in the business, Ford is encouraging her team to be increasingly creative in crafting once-in-a-lifetime experiences for fans, brands like Citi and Hilton, and each other. “I’m ercely committed to championing women,” she says. “I re ect on the time it took me to nd equilibrium in my career and life, and I want others to foster their con dence sooner.”
Naomi Watts
Actor and exec producer
Chloë Sevigny
Actor
Molly Ringwald
Actor
Just as Truman Capote had his coterie of elegant Gotham society ladies, “Feud” creator Ryan Murphy leaned on his stable of accomplished female actors to portray them in Season of the FX anthology series: “The Watcher” alum Watts plays Babe Paley, wife of longtime CBS president Bill, while Sevigny, previously a star in “American Horror Story,” is C.Z. Guest and Ringwald, recently in “Dahmer,” a relative outlier as Johnny Carson’s ex, Joanne. For Sevigny, a longtime New Yorker who pored over images of Capote and his so-called swans growing up in Darien, Conn., it was a thrill to be lming at grand locations around Manhattan. “We wanted to celebrate old New York and a bit of that charm and glamour,” she says. “It was fun to be there doing it.” Ringwald was also aware of Capote, having performed in an adaptation of one of his novels when she was very young, and believes that, with Carson’s character, Murphy “really wanted somebody who was going to o er a contrast to all of those hangry women.” For all the veneer of perfection, “underneath there are major cracks and so many of them were in loveless marriages,” says Watts, who grew up outside the U.S. and wasn’t as familiar with moneyed s society milieu as some of her castmates. “It’s sad, but it was a di erent era than it is now.” Adding to the melancholy: Treat Williams, who portrays Babe’s husband, unexpectedly died shortly after the production wrapped. Lessons in adulting: Ringwald credits late production designer and producer Polly Platt with boosting her spirit when she was trying to move on from teen roles in lms such as “Pretty in Pink.” “She was like, ‘You’re going to have a really long career. And the only way that you are not is if you decide that you don’t want to. It’s really up to you. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and stick with it.’”
“Feud” stars Chloë Sevigny, Naomi Watts and Molly Ringwald