In an interview with Variety this week, Creed director and Black Panther frontrunner Ryan Coogler had some very, very insightful things to say about diversity and women in film.
After describing Selma director Ava DuVernay as “a special person, bro,” Coogler went on to muse more generally about women in the industry. Here’s an excerpt from Variety:
I really feel like, you know — this is off the record — I feel like women are better filmmakers than men.
You really don’t want that on the record?
Yes, you can put that on the record.
I think you should put that on the record. It’s a powerful thing to say.
Put it on the record. I mean, it’s true, bro. In film school, life, whatever, they’re equipped to do this job, in many ways, better than us. They’re infinitely more complex than we are. Stronger and sharper. So, you know, we’re going to get better movies [if we have more female filmmakers]. The industry would improve. That’s the best thing I could say about that. They’ve got to be given the opportunity.
Listen, for any cinebros getting themselves all fired up over Coogler’s comments: chill. Obviously striving for directorial diversity isn’t about one gender being objectively more suited for filmmaking than another, it’s about making the art form more interesting, meaningful, and appealing to a wider audience. Men are in no danger of being ousted from the film industry, so I really appreciate Coogler taking time out of an interview about his own accomplishments to highlight specific talented female directors, boost the visibility of women overall in the film world, and remind readers that female creators are still not being given the opportunities they deserve.
Coogler also talked about working with Creed cinematographer Maryse Alberti:
One thing I was interested in in crewing up from top to bottom is always trying to have as much diversity as possible. But I think diversity in gender is so important in filmmaking. Especially looking at boxing, because it’s very easy to say, “Yeah, we get a bunch of dudes in there to tell their story.” But she would see things that would happen and have ideas about things that were just so awesome, things I would never see. It was incredible. She was able to form a great relationship with the actors and it was a really incredible process working with her.
To read more of Coogler’s thoughts on filmmaking and what his experience was like working on Creed, head over to Variety.
(via Jezebel, image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com)
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