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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Thursday 25 February 2016
Will women see a break in Hollywood’s ‘celluloid ceiling’?
JOCELYN NOVECK In this March 7, 2010 file photo, director Kathryn Bigelow, center, holds her Oscars for best motion become producers them-
AP National Writer picture of the year and best achievement in directing for “The Hurt Locker” with hosts Alec Baldwin, selves to get the substan-
NEW YORK (AP) — “Well, right, and Steve Martin at the conclusion of the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Bigelow tive roles they desired.
the time has come,” an- was the first and only woman to win an Oscar for best director. “I was seeing a deficit in
nounced presenter Barbra leading roles for women,”
Streisand at the 2010 Os- Associated Press Reese Witherspoon told
cars, revealing that Kath- The Associated Press in a
ryn Bigelow had won the 2014 interview. “It was just
best director prize for “The the lack of complex char-
Hurt Locker” — the first acters, of interesting, dy-
woman in history to win the namic women onscreen.”
award. Witherspoon has produced
It was a watershed moment both “Gone Girl” and, star-
in Hollywood, and many ring herself, “Wild,” both
were hopeful — if not cer- films with complex female
tain — that it would usher protagonists.
in an era of increased op- And Halle Berry said re-
portunity for women direc- cently that she’d set up her
tors. Six years later, though, own production company
the slate of best-director in 2014 partly because she
nominees is all male, as it had found it difficult, since
has been every year since becoming the first black
Bigelow won. In fact, wom- best-actress Oscar winner
en have been nominated in 2002, to find the right
only four times in the Os- substantive roles.
cars’ 88-year history. Actresses of color face a
“Of course, the ‘Bigelow ef- tougher climb than any-
fect’ never materialized,” one, says Chris Rock, who
says Martha Lauzen, exec-
utive director of the Center comments from Jennifer “While it appears to be In this Jan. 2, 2015 file photo, Ava DuVernay poses at the Palm
for the Study of Women Lawrence — has for the a step in the right direc- Springs International Film Festival opening night screening of
in Television and Film at moment receded from the tion, at this point it is just a “Selma,” at Palm Springs High School, in Palm Springs, Calif.
San Diego State University. spotlight amid questions of promise,” she says of the In one of the exhaustive and damning reports on diversity in
The Center’s latest annual racial diversity. But it’s all Academy’s move. And of Hollywood, a new study finds that the films and television
study found that women part of the larger picture. the EEOC investigation, she produced by major media companies are “whitewashed,” and
comprised just 9 percent “Yes, there will be some says, “any hiring goals that that an “epidemic of invisibility” runs top to bottom through the
of directors on the top 250 parts of the issue that will may result will need to be industry for women, minorities and LGBT people.
films in 2015, the same as in be resolved first, and some mandatory, and there will
1998. Studies have shown later,” she says. “But the need to be significant over- Associated Press
similar disproportion for fact that discussion is hap- sight. That would be a tall
women in other key be- pening at all is stunning. order and a move without of women in other roles. will host the Oscars on Sun-
hind-the-camera roles. It’s a real revolution in Hol- precedent in the film indus- “On films with at least one day. “Black women get
But is the tide turning? lywood.” try.” female director, women paid less than everybody
While recent attention A few recent develop- Lauzen’s report, “The Cel- comprised 53 percent of in Hollywood,” he recently
has focused intensely on ments have provided luloid Ceiling,” found that writers,” Lauzen says. On told Essence magazine.
the #OscarsSoWhite cam- cause for some hope. The in 2015, women comprised films with male directors, “Everybody’s talking about
paign sparked by the lack first, of course, is the pledge 19 percent of all directors, women accounted for Jennifer Lawrence. Talk
of racial diversity in the by the Academy of Motion writers, producers, execu- only 10 percent of writers. to Gabrielle Union ... talk
Oscar nominations, some Picture Arts and Sciences tive producers, editors, and Films with female directors to Nia Long. Talk to Kerry
women in Hollywood are to double the number of cinematographers on the and writers also tend to Washington. They would
heartened — albeit cau- women and people of top 250 domestic gross- have higher percentages love to get to Jennifer
tiously — by recent devel- color among its member- ing films — an increase of of female characters, and Lawrence’s place, or just
opments that should ben- ship ranks by 2020. There is 2 percentage points from especially female protago- be treated with the same
efit women and minorities, also an EEOC investigation last year, and the same as nists. amount of respect.”
both behind the camera under way into possible in 2001. Some high-profile Hol- What will it take to change?
and in front. discriminatory hiring prac- It also found that women lywood actresses have Lauzen says the issue is the
“What we’re seeing is an tices of women directors, in certain roles more tra- found they needed to mindset at the top.q
undercurrent of anger over prompted by the Ameri- ditionally identified with
the lack of inclusion in Hol- can Civil Liberties Union. males — such as directors
lywood,” says Janice Min, More recently, Ryan Mur- and cinematographers —
a veteran industry observ- phy, one of the more increased steadily as more
er who oversees both The powerful figures in televi- films (the top 500, say, in-
Hollywood Reporter and sion, said he aims to have stead of the top 100) were
Billboard. “That conversa- 50 percent of all director examined, suggesting that
tion can only have benefi- slots on his shows filled by on the biggest-budget
cial effects on women.” women, people of color films, “hiring decisions for
Min notes that the recent and members of the LGBT these roles may be most
focus on unequal pay for community. “I personally susceptible to mainstream
women — sparked by Pa- can do better,” he told the film industry biases.”
tricia Arquette’s fiery Os- Hollywood Reporter. A bright spot, Lauzen notes,
car speech last year, then Still, cautions Lauzen, there is that films with at least one
intensified by high-profile is a huge gap between talk woman director also em-
and action. ploy greater percentages
