Pearl @Venice Film Festival

The last update we gave you on Pearl, French director Elsa Amiel's debut feature, was back in April, and big news it was - news that Swiss sizzler Julia Föry had been cast as the film's eponymous heroine. The film is currently "in post-production", we noted, meaning it could well be doing the festival rounds as early as this summer.


Julia Föry as Pearl

And that is indeed what has happened. Shown in Venice last Saturday, the film has had "strong word-of-mouth" according to France24. And the first review - on Indie Wire - praises both the film for "subverting the male gaze in striking fashion", and Julia, "whose acting debut suggests her abilities as a performer aren’t confined to the stage".


Julia (with Peter Mullan) in Pearl

There's also the first stills, and the first preview clip, which - though we don't get to see what shape Julia is in - demonstrates that she has more than enough star quality to hold the camera's attention. Plus we all get to play a bit of "Spot the FBB Extra".



What we'd really like to see though, is the film in its entirety! Even more so after reading Indie Wire writer Michael Nordine's description of its opening moments...

The first close-up is almost microscopic, so close to the skin you can see sweat emanating from individual pores as you try to discern what body part you’re looking at. Then the camera pulls back ever so slightly, just enough for you to realize you’re inches away from the base of a woman’s neck — might this be Pearl? — as she pushes herself to the limit on a weight machine. The music, a dreamy guitar riff that wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch film, isn’t as loud as her pained exhalations.



More news on Pearl as soon as we get it.

P.E.A.R.L. (An Update)

Back in February 2016, FMS reported that French production company MK2 Films had "slated" (as they say in the movie business) a film called P.E.A.R.L. which would tell the story of "a professional female bodybuilding star Lea Pearl, whose past catches up with her when, just a few hours from the final of the most important competition of her career, her ex-boyfriend shows up with the 6-year-old son she has not seen in years".

Exciting stuff.

Filming was due to begin that September, and MK2 reported that the lead character would be played by "a real-life British bodybuilding star" and "announced shortly".

FMS immediately weighed in with casting suggestions from the obvious (Lisa Cross, Rene Campbell) to the frankly unlikely. Readers were enthused ("OMFG! That's INCREDIBLE NEWS!!!"). Fan forums briefly, but loudly, buzzed with anticipation.

Who is Lea Pearl?

Well, it's taken a while, but we can now answer that question.



It's Julia Föry.

Not British, not a pro, but I think we can all agree a very good choice.

And even more excitingly, Julia is not going to play Lea Pearl, she already has played Lea Pearl. Filming began on 22nd September last year, it's already, as they say "in the can". The latest from MK2 is that the film is currently "in post-production", meaning it could well be doing the festival rounds as early as this summer.

We'll bring you more news as soon as we have any.



OMFG!!!!

Tube Watch

FMS picks a few of our favourite YouTube clips so far from March in the latest chapter of our (pleasingly both popular and) regular muscle in motion fest: Tube Watch.

CROSSFIT®

If Crossfit is your thing, then you have probably been a very happy bunny in the last few weeks or so, as the lady stars of the sport (ie. the real stars of the sport) have been all over the CrossFit® channel doing their Open workouts. Quite frankly, it can be a bit manic for an old female muscle head like me. Nevertheless, watching any of Iceland's "dottirs" really going at it can be an undeniably breathtaking experience, as I believe our pick of the March bunch so far aptly demonstrates. Over to you Katrin...



Phew!

For Your Consideration

If you prefer to drink in your female muscle, you might well enjoy almost nine minutes of Sandra Grajales Romero, recently in the Hot and Hard 100 Top 30 for the first time, filmed during a photoshoot for Tora Brasil. Sandra models a few different (but all equally skintight) outfits in a gym, and stills from the shoot are intercut with the footage. A less time-consuming four-minute "Making of..." edit is also available.

I WAS PRETTY EXCITED...

Please excuse the camera work, writes femcepsfan in his description of one of two clips of gorgeous Julia Föry guest posing at the 2017 IFBB Battle of Champions to appear on his channel this month. I was pretty excited, that's why it's a bit shaky.



Totally understandable. And I think he did a sterling job. Had I been the cameraman, I doubt the footage would have been watchable at all. Anyway, harsher critics than I might like to view the other, less shaky, version of Julia strutting her jawtastic stuff.

For Your Consideration

Yes, yes, you don't follow Figure, I know, BUT... perhaps you would just like to remind yourself why with a little clip of the Figure International ladies backstage at this year's Arnold Classic. Eventual winner Candice Lewis-Carter's just perfect abs after about half a minute are just one of the many highlights. I personally reckon Ivana Ivusic's fully pumped and apparently HUGE arms (@1.03 on) are most likely to stop you saying that "I don't follow..." bit any longer, but I could be wrong.

STRAIGHT UP MUSCLE SEXY

Pick of the month so far though has got to be Episode 2 of Vanessa Naesheim's Straight Up series, which will follow her prep for this year's IFBB New York Pro.



Catch up with Episode 1 here. The mouth waters (among other things) at the prospect of the episodes to come. Don't miss a thing by subscribing to Vanessa's channel.

Enjoy!

2016 Review: March

Hot and Hard 100 voting began for the third time, and while that was going on we "reduxed" the previous 10 months on FMS as a reminder. New stuff too though!

Debutants (And Their Backs)



In a post featuring six women making their first appearances on FMS we met Sandra Grajales Romero (above), "like Mexico's answer to Shanique Grant" with her Figure back that would do Physique proud, and Molly Brice, a 20-year-old Australian with a back that surely a 20-year-old hasn't had time to develop.



The Genius of Siberianar

I saw this on Google. I thought it was a real woman...



It's an easy mistake to make when first coming across the work of Andreas Siberis, we thought at the time, and a mistake I made myself. This digital artist is, as those more qualified to judge have pointed out, producing "the best 3D female muscle ever seen".

The FMS Arnold Classic Review

Went on a bit did this. We managed to get almost two weeks' worth of posts out of the Arnold Classic and Arnold Amateur, running from the last week of March into April.



Autumn Swansen cleaned up in the Physique International (no FBBs allowed near Arnold these days, so no Ms International to enjoy) and FMS wondered whether this was the look the IFBB were going to go for in 2016 and beyond - long, lean and ripped but not too ripped. Muscle but not too much muscle. How wrong we were! As usual.



Meanwhile, at the Arnold Amateur, Brazil's Fernanda Gutilla and Switzerland's Julia Föry won their classes and provided us with the biggest swoons.



Also making a big impression was Denmark's gorgeous Physique pro Ida Sefland, who tends to go through phases of competing a lot then taking a long break, so we got our swoon in while we could. And Diana Schnaidt, while she was still kidding herself she was a Figure competitor, was interviewed by Katie Lee for HD Physiques.

Watch to the end for the flexing!



April tomorrow - the Hot and Hard 100 is revealed (partly), among other things...