‘I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are,” the late Nora Ephron said of her screenplays. But she was a rarity. Even today, female screenwriters are sparse; a mere 14 percent of the top 250 movies last year were written by women.
This summer, though, three young actresses are starring in comedies they penned themselves, upending stale traditional female-lead stereotypes and rom-com tropes (11th-hour sprint through the airport, anyone? Junk-food binge during a breakup? Falling-in-love montage?).
Zoe Kazan, 28, wrote and plays the title role in “Ruby Sparks,” which opened Wednesday and follows an author (Paul Dano, Kazan’s real-life boyfriend) who creates his dream girl on the page — only to find her living in his apartment one morning.
“It’s about what happens when men have an idea of a woman and sort of idolize their partner, put them up on a pedestal. And how that erodes the originality of the actual person,” says Kazan, the granddaughter of director Elia Kazan, and the daughter of two screenwriters.
Though Kazan says the idea for her script came more from past relationships than from pop culture, other films are a more direct response to some of the hacky ways in which women are often portrayed. Particularly, says Rashida Jones, when they’re in the midst of a messy split from a significant other.
“Everything is just adorable, even though the female lead is heartbroken, beat-up, confused about the guy — her hair still looks amazing,” says Jones, who co-wrote “Celeste And Jesse Forever,” out Aug. 3, with writing partner and ex Will McCormack. The film is an account of a close-knit young husband and wife divorcing. Among aspects of the turmoil inherent in a big breakup, it features Jones’ character “looking like she hasn’t showered for a week,” she says.
Jones, who stars in NBC’s “Parks & Recreation,” says part of her inspiration came from her desire to break out of her usual role — “the affable, dependable best-friend wife.” She aimed to create something more complex: “a woman who is flawed and doesn’t think she’s flawed.”
“Celeste and Jesse Forever” is the first screenplay for Jones, 36, who says she looked to her favorite films of the ’80s for guidance. “Nora Ephron is No. 1 for me,” says Jones. “ ‘When Harry Met Sally’ is a perfect movie.”
Kazan agrees: “People like my mother [screenwriter Robin Swicord], Nora Ephron and Callie Khouri really paved the way in blood. Things used to be much harder than they are now, harder to get your movie made, harder to have it get attention.”
This year’s crop of lady-centric movies also benefits from a more recent development: the “Bridesmaids” effect. Ever since the massive success of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s film last summer, studios have been fast-tracking edgy female comedies.
“People would be like, ‘We love your script, but we can’t make it because R-rated female comedies don’t do well,’ ” says Lauren Miller, 30, co-author and star of “For a Good Time Call . . .” (out Aug. 31), which she and partner Katie Anne Naylon first attempted to sell months before “Bridesmaids” hit last summer.
Their script, about two friends (Miller and Ari Graynor) who become phone-sex operators, was liberally peppered with vulgarity, but focused squarely on friendship in the way that traditional rom-coms have on heterosexual relationships — or, in more recent years, on “bromance” between guys.
Wiig’s movie changed everything. “We knew about ‘Bridesmaids,’ ” says Miller, who’s married to Judd Apatow regular Seth Rogen. “We had gone to a table read of it, and we kind of knew that it was happening.” Its success, she says, made the environment in Hollywood much more hospitable to female-centric films aiming to break out of the mold.
“For a Good Time” is also in step with one of the biggest TV stories of the year: the huge success of Lena Dunham’s HBO show “Girls,” which follows four 20-something women in New York and is written by, directed by and stars Dunham.
“I think Lena does a great job of being extremely honest about certain situations most women in their 20s or early 30s recognize,” says Leslye Headland, writer and director of the pitch-black female comedy “Bachelorette,” out in September.
Dunham, who writes the scripts and often directs herself in the show (as well as in her 2010 film “Tiny Furniture”), stands as a first-rate example of the virtues of crafting your own material for yourself to play. After all, if nobody is creating the roles you want, why not do it yourself?
“Producers would say to me and Paul, ‘We’re never going to get the financing with you guys in the lead,’ ” recalls Kazan. “But I felt very strongly that it should be Paul and me.”
And Miller says she initially thought of herself as a long shot. “At first I was never going to be in our movie,” she says. “The plan was to cast an established actress. But one day I had this moment where I was like, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ I basically had this epiphany that if it was ever going to happen for me, I had to make it happen for myself!”
sstewart@nypost.com