Greta Gerwig talks 'Mistress America'

THERE ARE actresses who raise hell about sexism in Hollywood, and there are, increasingly, actresses who do something about it.

Greta Gerwig is a bit of both - part of a generation of college-educated women (Amy Schumer, Zoe Kazan, Rashida Jones, Brit Marling) who have addressed the dearth of good roles for women by writing good roles for themselves.

Gerwig's a DIY-generation star who co-wrote (with director Noah Baumbach) and starred in the coming-of-age comedy "Frances Ha," and has now co-written (also with boyfriend Baumbach) "Mistress America."

It's worth noting that both movies are defined by female friendships - "Frances Ha" about a platonic break-up, "Mistress America" about a timid college student (Lola Kirke) and her fascination with the self-confident, cosmopolitan woman (Gerwig) who takes her under her wing.

"I'm really interested in friendships among women, the way they are manifested, the different dimensions these relationships take on, whether we're talking about best friends or mentors or mothers or daughters or sisters," Gerwig said. "When I'm writing - and this is not to pat myself on the back - I'll stop and say to myself, 'I can't believe I haven't seen this in a movie before.' And that's so weird, because there is something so universal about friendship, and so important."

Or maybe not so weird, she notes, when you take note of how many men are in charge in the movie business.

"The numbers are still really bad, still terrible for women in terms of directing," Gerwig said. "I think in 2014, only 7 percent of the Top 250 grossing films were directed by women. And that's no good. If you are giving women less than 10 percent of the jobs, how can that possibly not affect the way stories are told about women?"

She has not much tolerance for any suggestion that innate gender differences favor men in the directing arena.

"To me that's a tautology," she said. "Because there aren't women directors, directors are therefore men. Therefore the men who are directors, they have the qualities that directors have, which are male. That argument makes a circle for itself."

She writes her way out of that circle in "Mistress America." She and Lola Kirke (the motel grifter in "Gone Girl") play women, essentially strangers, about to be brought together as step-sisters by marriage.

This sets ups a comical road trip that carries them through Manhattan to the posh suburbs. The relationship has as many twists and turns as the trip itself.

Said Kirke: "A woman asked me, 'Is this a feminist bromance?' I hate to put it in a box. Is it feminist? I mean, Tracy, my character, her idols are Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer, if you look at the posters in her room. So, I don't think she's your classic feminist. I don't know if there's one word that could describe Tracy. And also, I think if you say it's feminist, people will be thinking, 'Oh no, it can't be funny.' But it is!"

Kirke continued to tiptoe around the F-word.

"Feminism is very pop right now," she said. "It's been embraced by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, though some of the creeds that make their way into the mass consciousness are not ones that I would abide by. But if you define feminism as the freedom to choose who to be, and how you want to be it, if it's about the fact that it's hip to speak your mind, then, yes, this is a feminist story."

Kirke and Gerwig both take a moment to extol their astonished admiration for Swift, whom they idolize for her command and dominance of the music industry.

Gerwig is making her own way in the smaller scale world of indie film, which may not pay as well as Hollywood, but which offers her creative control.

She's fashioned "Mistress America" as an ode to the screwball comedies of the 1940s, with a nod to the importance that friendships play in lives of modern women.

"Friendships don't have the parameter of a romantic relationship, but they are so important to me in my life," Gerwig said. "They are what make my life so rich. If you think about all the trials you suffer in life, and then you think that God created friends to help you through it - what a thing!"

Kirke put it another way.

"Friends are God's apology for family."