Black Swan actress Natalie Portman wore a cape with the names of all the female directors who were not nominated for an Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards. This year, only men are up for the coveted award.
“I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for the incredible work this year in a subtle way,” she said.
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It’s not the first time Portman has addressed the lack of acknowledgment for female directors. At the 2018 Golden Globes, she said “and now, here are the all male nominees” while presenting the best director award.
So who are the men that were honored with the nomination? Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Todd Phillips for Joker, Sam Mendes for 1917, Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Bong Joon-ho for Parasite.
The lack of recognition for female directors has left much of Hollywood upset. Arguably the biggest slight was for lacking to recognize Greta Gerwig for Little Women. Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh were vocal about Gerwig being snubbed.
Pugh expressed it was “a big blow, especially because she created a film that is so her and so unique and it’s just come out of her, and it’s been a story she’s wanted to do for so long.” The star added, “I think everybody’s angry and quite rightly so. I can’t believe it’s happened again, but I don’t really know how to solve it. I don’t know what the answer is, other than we’re talking about it.”
Ronan shared Pugh’s dismay. “I’m really happy that the Academy recognized [Gerwig] for Adapted Screenplay and Picture, and I feel like if you’ve been nominated for Best Picture, you have essentially been nominated for Best Director,” she said. “But to me, Greta, since she started, has made two perfect films, and I hope when she makes her next perfect movie, she gets recognized for everything because I think she’s one of the most important filmmakers of our time.”
Other female directors snubbed were Lulu Wang for The Farewell, Melina Matsoukas for Queen & Slim, Kasi Lemmons for Harriet, Lorene Scafaria for Hustlers, Marielle Heller for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Alma Har’el for Honey Boy, among many others.
Insecure creator Issa Rae made her displeasure clear when she announced the nominees alongside John Cho. “Congratulations to those men,” she said.
Many other Hollywood elite chimed in, including Bette Midler. “No women received noms for Best Director Oscar even though many exceptional films were directed by women this year. Maybe we just get our own show called the Osc-hers?” she tweeted in January. “I guarantee it will be way better organized and way more entertaining!”
Only five women have ever been nominated for Best Director in the Academy’s 92-year history. Only one, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, has won.”This is why TIME’S UP exists—to ensure women in entertainment and across industries get the opportunities and recognition they deserve. And we won’t stop fighting until they do,” Rebecca Goldman, the Chief Operating Officer of TIME’S UP, shared in a statement.
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