Oprah may have raised the roof with a long and rousing speech at this year’s Golden Globes, but presenter Natalie Portman cut to the chase with just six words: “Here are the all-male nominees.” Presenting the award for best director, the actor raised an uncomfortable laugh, and an important point. Very few women are ever nominated for this category in major film awards ceremonies; fewer still win.
But why is that? An argument made by many on social media was that there simply aren’t enough female directors to choose from. That’s part of the problem: studios are still hugely reluctant to hire a woman to helm a major movie with the kind of marketing and campaign budget that gets the attention of ceremonies such as the Globes and the Baftas, who also failed to nominate a single woman in its director category this year. Women accounted for just 11% of directors of the 250 top-grossing films of 2017, according to the latest report by San Diego State University’s Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film. Those figures have barely improved since 1998.
“The numbers haven’t changed significantly for the last two decades because at the highest levels of the business, people do not hire women to direct movies,” says Melissa Silverstein, founder/publisher of Women and Hollywood. “Studies have shown that when people in the industry think about a director, they picture a white male with greying hair – basically Steven Spielberg. That’s the default because that is what people have seen.”
And it may be what voters are seeing, too. Greta Gerwig’s film Lady Bird picked up the Golden Globe for best motion picture (musical or comedy) as well as best actress (musical or comedy) for Saoirse Ronan. But who won the all-male best director category? Guillermo del Toro, for The Shape of Water. “A film like Lady Bird can have an almost perfect critical response, yet not get nominations,” laments Silverstein.
While it’s true that the best picture and director winners aren’t always awarded for the same film, for Gerwig not to be even nominated for an acclaimed feature speaks volumes. Del Toro’s fellow nominees demonstrate Silverstein’s point clearly: Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, Martin McDonagh and yes, Steven Spielberg, for a film (The Post) that went home empty-handed, and wasn’t even nominated for a Bafta.
Spielberg, diplomatically, has since made optimistic comments about the chances for a female director nominee when the Oscar contenders are announced on 23 January. “This is a pretty incredible year, and I think you’ll be seeing some nominations, I’m predicting at the Oscars this year for a woman director, if not several.”
Silverstein says steps have been put in place that may help redress the imbalance. “Over the last two years, the Academy have completely remade the directing branch and have added many more women directors from all across the world. This will give women directors a fighting chance, one they really didn’t have previously when the branch was pretty much all men.”
Other less high-profile awards ceremonies have also offered hope: Gerwig has already won best director at numerous critics’ awards, while Dee Rees, the director of the racially charged Mudbound, has also been honoured, though less resoundingly than pundits predicted. Other awards are finding different ways to honour female film-makers. The Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society recently decided to split the best director award into male and female categories, but segregation can’t really be the answer. While it may have been done with the best of intentions – to give credit to talented women – might it not seem a little patronising to put them in a different category, as if they can’t compete with the big boys? Surely the way to show the industry that great directors can be any gender is to nominate them alongside each other.
What we need is an industry that welcomes all applicants for crew positions, whether they’re in sound, editing, cinematography or directing; and whatever their gender, race or sexuality. The Time’s Up campaign is raising awareness of the imbalance of power in every industry, and let’s hope film is making up for lost time by leading the way. Says Silverstein, “As a culture we need to shift away from our stories being about white men and by white men. That is how more women will receive the deserved honours.” Let’s hope the Academy takes note.
