One of the highlights of last night’s Golden Globes ceremony came from Natalie Portman as she presented the Golden Globe for Best Director alongside Ron Howard.
As you can see above, the moment only lasted about a minute, but it forced everyone in the room to confront the fact that none of the nominees for Best Director were women, despite the fact that one of the nominees for Best Picture, Lady Bird, along with its lead actress, were nominated for awards. Saoirse Ronan, whom director Greta Gerwig directed to a lovely performance, as well as the film itself, won their awards. But no recognition for Gerwig.
As Natalie Portman introduced the nominees by saying “And here are the all-male nominees…” Howard laughed at first, then nodded, acknowledging the truth of her statement.
Then the eventual winner, Guillermo del Toro, who was nominated for his film The Shape of Water, gave this priceless look:
Wearing his all-black suit ensemble—whether he was wearing it in support of Time’s Up, or whether it’s what he was planning on wearing anyway is hard to say—he went up to collect his Golden Globe and gave a beautiful speech. Unfortunately, he made no acknowledgment of Portman’s statement, even in passing.
Portman seemed to be watching and waiting for del Toro to say something, anything, about it:
But he didn’t, nor did very many other men throughout the evening. As women brought activists as their dates and made women’s involvement in the entertainment industry a primary topic of conversation, the men stayed silent. Perhaps thinking that it’s better to give women the floor?
However, using one’s own time to show solidarity is not the same as taking the floor away from women speaking. If you’re being given the time anyway, use that time wisely. Especially in places (like, say, a directing category) where women aren’t represented at all. In those instances, women don’t even have a floor to be given, so it’s up the men there to speak up on their behalf until they do.
In any case, Portman’s one line caught fire on the Internet, leading to hilarious tweets like this:
The new trailer for Natalie Portman’s Annihilation is the best one yet. pic.twitter.com/7Cqriwl1OZ
— jackson ryan (rainmaker) (@dctrjack) January 8, 2018
However, it also led to clueless tweets like this:
Natalie Portman is offended that every #GoldenGlobes nominated director this year is a man, even though women directed just 7% of the 250 highest grossing films last year.
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) January 8, 2018
*sigh*
- Natalie Portman isn’t the only one who’s offended. Women in Hollywood are offended. Plenty of men in Hollywood are offended on their behalf. This isn’t just Natalie Portman “being unreasonable.” She’s merely a reflection of a wider feeling.
- Um…the fact that women only directed 7% of the 250 top-grossing films last year is exactly the problem! Does Knowles think that 7% is a high-enough number? Or “good enough?” Would he be satisfied if men only directed 7% of big films? No? Okay, then.
What’s interesting is that even before this Time’s Up moment, women in film have been complaining about the dearth of female directors for years. I’ve written about the fact that it’s not even just a matter of nurturing “new” female talent (though we should, of course, do that, too), because that female talent already exists, citing places like Destri Martino’s The Director List, a database featuring over 1000 female directors ready to work. Or the Hire a Ms. database. Or organizations like the Alliance of Women Directors (it’s right there in the name!), Women in Film, or Women in Media and their thorough crew list.
Well, it seems that yesterday, when doing her usual promotion of The Director List (which she’s been doing for years now), her tweets became viral and celebs started spreading the word about her list. She posted about it in a public Facebook post:
It’s pretty thrilling that prominent Hollywood types finally seem ready to take on the issue of female directors. However, this isn’t a new problem by any stretch. It’s pretty sad that it took the lid being blown off a sexual harassment and assault epidemic to force the conversation about female participation in the industry.
And yet, here we are. Here’s hoping that Portman’s comment will be the last of its type that needs to be made. I’m looking at you, Oscars.
(featured image: screencap)
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