About

Julie Lobalzo Wright holds a BA in English with an emphasis on Film Studies from the University of Colorado at Denver, MA in Film Studies from Queen Mary, University of London, and a PhD in Film Studies from King’s College London. Her PhD examined crossover stardom, particularly male popular music stars in British and American cinema.

Research Interests

Her main research interests are in film and television stardom, musicals, multimedia stardom, Hollywood/American cinema, British cinema and television, and animation.

Currently working on: a book chapter about Alan Partridge/Steve Coogan as stars (co-authored); a journal article about Goldie Hawn's producing work in the 1970s and 1980s; and a monograph about Barbra Streisand's agency, artistry, and authorship (proposal submitted) [Listen to Julie talk about her Streisand research on The Warwick History Hour, produced by Warwick's History Department- click here to listen to the podcastLink opens in a new window]

Supervision

She is interested in supervising PhDs that merge with many of her research interests including stardom, performance, celebrity, popular music and cinema, musicals, Hollywood/American cinema, British cinema, and animation. And, especially, interested in representation and the subjects noted above.

Publications

Books

• Crossover Stardom: Popular Male Music Stars in American CinemaLink opens in a new window, (Bloomsbury, 2017; paperback, 2019).
• Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that EndureLink opens in a new window, co-edited with Lucy Bolton (Palgrave, 2016) [Winner of the BAFTSS award for Best Edited Collection in 2017].

Articles

• 'Animation and the Star Body', Film/Philosophy, Vol. 23, issue 2 (Special Issue on Stardom and Philosophy, ed. Lucy Bolton), pp. 194-211 (2019).
  
• ‘The all-American golden boy: Robert Redford, blond hair and masculinity in Hollywood’, Celebrity Studies, Vol. 7, Issue 1 (Special Issue: Blondes, ed. Ginette Vincendeau) (2016).

Chapters

• “‘We All Get Our Jollies One Way or Another’: The Perversity and Pleasure of Christopher Lee in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), James Bond Will Return: Critical Perspectives on the 007 Film Franchise (Columbia University Press, 2024).

• “‘I’m not haunted by Annie Hall. I’m happy to be Annie Hall”: the Tangled Relationship Between Annie and Diane’ in Remembering Annie Hall, edited by Jonathan Ellis and Ana María Sanchez-Arce (Bloomsbury, 2023).
• “‘The Same Story Told Over and Over’: The Mythology of Stardom in the Musical A Star is Born Films” in The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical, Edited by Dominic McHugh (Oxford, 2022).
• "'This is a F**king Business: The Concert Show and Tour in 1970s Hollywood Fiction Films" in Mapping the Rockumentary: Images of Sound and Fury, edited by Scott MacKenzie and Gunnar Iversen (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).
• “The Boy Kept Swinging: David Bowie, Music Video, and the Star Image” in Music/Video: Histories, Aesthetics, Media, edited by Michael Goddard, Kirsty Fairclough-Issacs, Gina Arnold and Danny Cookney (Bloomsbury, 2017).
• "From Boy N the Hood to Hollywood Mogul: Ice Cube’s Lasting Stardom in Contemporary Hollywood" in Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure, edited by Lucy Bolton and Julie Lobalzo Wright (Palgrave, 2016).
• “David Bowie is the Extraordinary Rock Star as Film Star” in David Bowie: Critical Perspectives, edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane and Martin Power (Routledge, 2014).
• “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 60s: The Opposing Gazes of Woodstock and Gimme Shelter” in The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop, edited by Benjamin Halligan, Kirsty Fairclough-Issacs and Rob Edgar (Routledge, 2013).

Reviews

• Book reviews have appeared in: Screen, Women’s History Review, NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies, The Journal of British Cinema and Television, Journal of British Cinema and Television, Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, The Journal of Popular Culture.
• Provided peer reviews for: Bloomsbury, Edinburgh University Press, Columbia University Press, Routledge, University of Mississippi Press; Celebrity Studies, Film Comment, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Open Screens, New Review of Film and Television Studies.

Online

• Written for The Conversation and Viewfinder (The British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council).

Selection of Conference Papers and Talks

• 'Funny Girl/Lady: Barbra as Comedienne,' Critical Barbra: Perspectives on Barbra Streisand First Jewish Global Superstar, Jewish Museum and Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, 14-16 December 2023.

• 'From Dumb Blonde to Hollywood Mogul: Re-Examining Goldie Hawn as a Star-Filmmaker,' Doing Women’s Film and Television History VI: Changing Streams and Channels, University of Sussex, 14-16 June 2023.

• '"Hey, now, You're an all-star"?: Mike Myers and Shrek as Stars and Characters,' Two Decades of Shrek, Middlesex University, 13 November 2021.
• 'Nothing's Impossible: Barbra and Goldie as Star Filmmakers', BAFTSS, University of Southampton, 7-9 April 2021.

• ‘The Self-Authored Star Image: Kirk Douglas’ Real Life and Hollywood Legacy’, SCMS, Toronto, Canada, 14-18 March 2018.

• ‘“I’m the Song”: Bing Crosby’s Body in Film’, NECS Conference, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3, 29 June- 1 July 2017.
• ‘Under the Cherry Moon: Sexuality, Race and Hollywood in “A Film by Prince”’, Purple Reign: An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Life and Legacy of Prince’, University of Salford, 24-26 May 2017.
• ‘Easy Come, Easy Go: Elvis Presley and Musical Classification’, BAFTSS Conference at the University of Bristol, 20-21 April 2017.
• “Will Smith’s Peter Pan Syndrome,” Celebrity Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London, 19-21 June 2014.
• “The Rolling Stones’ British and American Identity,” Mad Dogs and ‘Englishness’: Popular Music and English Identities at St. Mary’s University College, 20-21 June 2013.
• “The Crossover: Why Popular Music Stardom and Film Stardom are Often at Odds With One Another,” Revisiting Star Studies at Newcastle University, 12-14 June 2013.
• “All These Things That I’ve Done”: Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Southland Tales,” The Afterlife of the Film Song Symposium at the University of Bristol, 8 December 2012.
• “The Extraordinary Rock Star as Film Star: David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth,” A Strange Fascination?: A Symposium on David Bowie at the University of Limerick, 26-27 October 2012.
• “Romance, Masculinity and the Star Image: The Work of Leonardo DiCaprio.” Film and Media 2012 at the Institute of Education, University of London, 22-24 June 2012.
• “Tougher Than Leather: Run-DMC, Blaxploitation and Hip Hop Cinema.” The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference in Boston, MA, 11-14 April 2012.

Public Engagement

• 'From Dumb Blonde to Hollywood Mogul: Re-Examining Goldie Hawn,' JW3 (Jewish Community Centre London), 21 November 2024.
• ‘Becoming the Star Auteur,’ part of the Season on Streisand, JW3 (Jewish Community Centre London), 17 April 2024.
• ‘Building the Star Image,’ part of the Season on Streisand, JW3 (Jewish Community Centre London), 10 April 2024.

• 'Something Old, Something New: Hollywood Weddings & Jewels', part of the Jewels of Love, Romance and Eternity Online Course, V&A Museum, 17 February 2023.
• Panelist on 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road,' Part of the LFF, BFI, 8 October 2022.
• Panelist on 'Judy Garland: 20th Century Icon,' Part of the Judy Garland season, BFI, 1 June 2022.
• Co-organiser of the "Hollywood Musical Stars" Study Day, BFI, 26 October 2019
• Panelist on 'Kubrick and Masculinity', BFI, 15 May 2019
• Panelist on 'The Seven Faces of Bond', Edinburgh Spy Week, 9 April 2019
• Co-organiser of the student-run film festival, Pushing Boundaries: 1960s British Cinema and its Pioneering Stars, at the Warwick Arts Centre on Sunday 29 April 2018 (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/news/eventsarchive/pushingboundaries)
• 'Glamour, Excess, and Transformation: Jewellery in Hollywood Cinema', part of the Love and Desire in Gems and Jewels Study Day, V&A Museum, 20 January 2018
• ‘An Introduction to Analysing Film’ Masterclass, Warwick Arts Centre, 12 August 2017
• ‘In Conversation: Lasting Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure’, 9 June 2016. With Lucy Bolton and guests at the National Portrait Gallery
• ‘Kirk Douglas: The Movies, The Muscles, The Dimple’, 19 September 2016. Part of the Kirk Douglas Season at the British Film Institute
• Appeared on TRT World, BBC Radio Coventry/Warwickshire, BBC Radio Scotland, CGTn Europe, News Talk 'Talking History', Monocole 24 Radio ('Sunday Brunch')
• Film Introductions to: Shampoo (BFI); Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice (BFI); The Heartbreak Kid (Garden Cinema).

Administrative roles held:

• Athena Swan Committee Member (Current)
• Director of Student Experience (Film and TV) (Current)
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion (Film and TV; Faculty of Arts Member) (Current)
• Lord Rootes Fund Committee Member (2021-2024) (past)
• Study Abroad (past)
• MA Admissions (past)
• Co-convenor of the BAFTSS Performance and Stardom Special Interest GroupLink opens in a new window for many years
• Co-organiser of the Reinvigorating and Reinventing Stardom symposiumLink opens in a new window that took place at Warwick on 2 November 2019.

Teaching

I have taught on many modules that examined stardom and performance, film history, British cinema, Hollywood as an industry, animation and female film directors. At Warwick, I have convened and/or taught the first year modules Film and TV Analysis and Visual Cultures; second year module National Cinemas (British cinema); and second/third year modules Film and Television Stardom and The Art of Animation; in addition to the (former) outside module Discovering Cinema and current outside module, Film History and Methods; and the MA Core module, Screen Cultures and Methods.