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In a fluky show of solidarity, an Oscar winner and an Oscar presenter/hopeful/soon-to-be-exile spent the week demonstrating the full spectrum of women's power behind the camera. First, Reese Witherspoon hit the press circuit for Penelope, the new indie featuring Christina Ricci as a girl cursed with a pig nose and co-star Witherspoon in her debut as a producer. Stepping up from the more nominal executive producing duties she adopted for Legally Blonde 2, Witherspoon oversaw everything from development to distribution for her Type A Films shingle:

The 31-year-old producer said the story of Penelope was perfect for a Type A personality because, among other reasons, it spoke to some big issues yet centered on a young woman.

It had a really great female character who was strong, ambitious, but definitely had a journey to go through to get to the place where she would find herself," Witherspoon said.

Kind of like the deeply personal debut effort by Miley Cyrus, who, mere hours before telling Extra's red-carpet fluff goblin Mark McGrath, "I want to be here next year all on my own!", joined her Hannah Montana co-star Mandy Jiroux in their own independently financed, high-concept girl-power epic:

Of course, The Miley and Mandy Show has already exceeded the audience projected for the oft-delayed, acclaim-challenged Penelope, thus vanquishing the Witherspoon threat and affirming the teen superstar's media supremacy at least a full year before a sure-to-surface sex tape her first turn as a "serious actress" will put her over the top once and for all.