Entertainment

Bow Down, Bitches

by Marisa LaScala

There would be no Queen Elsa, no Princess Anna, and — shudder to think — no Olaf tap-dancing in summertime if it weren't for Jennifer Lee, who co-directed Frozen with Tarzan's Chris Buck. Not only did she direct the Frozen, she co-wrote it (along with the criminally underrated Wreck-It Ralph before it). That is, she wrote it with a little bit of help from Hans Christian Anderson.

Lee's insurmountable success with the Idina Menzel-starrer is a huge step for female directors. Frozen is the fifth-highest-grossing movie ever worldwide — only Avatar, Titanic, The Avengers, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 outrank it — and the highest-grossing movie ever directed by a woman. To find the next woman on the list, you have to go all the way down to No. 74, to Kung Fu Panda 2's Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

Lee is Disney's first female director, and first Disney screenwriter to be promoted to the director spot. After it was clear that Frozen was a smashing success, she told The Hollywood Reporter about other breakthroughs she wants to make for female directors. "I would love to be the first female director to do a giant sci-fi movie," she said. "I have a real love of sci-fi. A pretty obsessive love of sci-fi, actually."

But if that doesn't make you love her, there are some other pretty fantastic reasons Lee is an all-around, awesome person.

Because This Is Her Twitter Bio

There's nothing not to love about that.

And This Is What She Did After She Won Her Oscar

Frankly, if I were in her position, I'd do the same thing.

Her Daughter Sings "Do You Want to Be a Snowman"

Agatha Lee Monn, Lee's daughter, is the voice of the nine-year-old Princess Anna. Lee snuck her own voice in there as well; she's Idun, the Queen of Arendelle, Anna and Elsa’s mother.

She Defies Type

Lee told L.A. Weekly that she was an atypical high school student: "a flute-playing band nerd who 'became a cheerleader — a nerd cheerleader.'" This continued all the way through grad school, where she was an older, married (and, later, pregnant) student. Agatha was born while Lee was still in grad school.

This Quote

"What I find holds women back is our doubt of ourselves. A lot of my male friends don't do that, and if they do, they know how to hide it. So maybe steal from them. It's OK to be completely flawed. That's everyone."

Lee said this in an interview with PopSugar , where she admitted that When Harry Met Sally is the screenplay that made her want to get into movies. (Who can argue with Nora Ephron?)

She's Making Good on That Promise to Tackle Sci-Fi

At least as a writer. Lee's next project is adapting the screenplay for A Wrinkle in Time , which will also be at Disney. (As of right now, no director has been announced.) It's fitting for such a glass-ceiling-breaking director that her next project be a female-driven sci-fi story from a female novelist. I can't wait.

Images: alittleljelee/Twitter; Giphy (2); aer-dna/Tumblr