The 75th Golden Globes have very publicly tackled sexual assault.
And now Natalie Portman has brought sexism into the conversation, too.
It’s no secret that the Golden Globes 2018 set the stage of the Time’s Up movement – a line in the sand where Hollywood celebrities decided to stand up to sexual assault with a show of solidarity by wearing all black.
But now, it looks as though Natalie Portman has gone one step further.
Natalie Portman and Ron Howard were selected to present the Best Director award… which happened to be a category filled entirely with male nominees.
And she wasn’t happy about it.
Introducing the category she pointedly stated: “And here are the all-male nominees.”
Ron Howard – currently directing the upcoming Star Wars spin-off, Solo: A Star Wars Story, was visibly taken aback by the comment… and the nominees were clearly uncomfortable as the camera panned across for their reactions as each of their names were called out.
This year’s nominees for Best Director included Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water, alongside McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World) and Steven Spielberg (The Post).
Guillermo Del Toro took home the coveted award… but looked noticeably ruffles as he took to the stage to accept it.
But were Natalie Portman’s comments deserved?
Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig was sensationally overlooked for the category, despite the film being one of the best reviewed of 2017 – even briefly holding a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, until it was dethroned by a single bad review. Dee Rees was also overlooked for her movie Mudbound, which included a Golden Globes nominated performance by Mary J. Blige.
And the same thing happened last year, too.
The 2017 Golden Globes noticeably failed to recognise Patty Jenkins, who directed Wonder Woman – one of the best received blockbusters and arguably the best superhero film of last year.
Natalie Portman certainly has a point… and in a year when the Time’s Up movement featured so largely at the forefront, perhaps it would have made a huge difference to mix things up with a few female nominees.
Here’s hoping for next year.
