This past spring, Iron Man 3's director described one of the more disappointing rewrites made to the film before its release; an earlier draft of the movie had a female villain. Today, Rebecca Hall confirmed that her role in the movie did indeed get reduced over the course of these rewrites.

Psychological thriller The Gift is currently rocking a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That might make you think it is a good film. And it is! Until the last half hour, at which point it should make anyone who's vaguely sensitive to the way women are portrayed in media want to bash their heads against a wall. This post contains massive spoilers. I consider it a public service to warn people away from this movie.

Professor Snape, Robb Stark, and Maya Hansen (aka Alan Rickman, Richard Madden, and Rebecca Hall) star in a totally not nerdy film called A Promise. But we thought you might want to see the trailer anyway. Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

"There’s been a sort of trend for awhile of people writing strong women as women who are morally right, which is so uninteresting. It's no fun and frankly it's a massive disservice to womankind. It boxes us in to making these sort of slightly dull, virtuous choices... We need to be villains too. We need to be messy and sloppy and three-dimensional and complicated, and that’s writing a strong woman."—Rebecca Hall tells it like it is about female characters while discussing her new movie Closed Circuit. Preach it, Ms. Hall. People all too often throw around the phrase "strong female character" like there's only one way for a female character to be strong. You know what I'm talking about: Your butt kicking, heroic, "don't need anybody but myself" badass. And she's great! But she's not enough. Give us female characters who are physically strong and physically weak. Morally bad and morally good. Mentally secure and struggling to keep it together. Give us female characters who are strong by virtue of being actual, complex human beings. And yes, while you're at it, give us more female villains. Those are my jam. (via: The Wrap) Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

"The thing I really like about this storyline is that everyone assumes, 'Oh, this is going to be some sort of love triangle, and it's going to be some massive cat fight between Pepper and Maya,' and it was never that on the page. Instead, they did what the Iron Man franchise has nearly always done, which is sort of subvert expectations and stereotypes and actually made it about two very smart women who understand this rather eccentric figure, Tony Stark. There is a sort of bonding that happens between them because of that, and they are very funny about it. It's not at all what you expect, which I think is much more true to life and was refreshing, frankly." - Iron Man 3's Rebecca Hall responding to a question from Marvel.com on how her character Maya's past with Tony Stark affects her relationship with Pepper Potts. (via io9) Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

"We needed a snappy and exciting actor to play the part, and not make it this 'female scientist who takes off her glasses and suddenly she's beautiful!' There's a certain element about her being the female Robert Downey Jr in a way." —Director Shane Black on Rebecca Hall, who plays scientist Maya Hansen in Iron Man 3. (via: ComicBookMovie) Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?