Natalie Portman Calls Out Golden Globes With "All-Male" Comment

By Kristy Puchko | Film | January 8, 2018 |

By Kristy Puchko | Film | January 8, 2018 |

2017 saw amazing films directed by women, including but not limited to: Lady Bird, Mudbound, The Beguiled, First They Killed My Father and Wonder Woman. Yet women have been entirely absent from much of the Best Director discussion this year, and entirely absent from that category at the 75th Annual Golden Globes Awards.

At an event where women and men were speaking out about the dangerous sexism in their industry, Time’s Up supporter Natalie Portman called that out. As she and Ron Howard announced the nominees for Best Director, the celebrated actress and advocate added some accuracy, shade, and food for thought.

Ron Howard: "We are honored … to be here to present the award for best director."

Natalie Portman, done with this shit: "And here are the all-male nominees." 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8JboypiADo

— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 8, 2018

Some will gnash their teeth about how women directors shouldn’t be nominated just for being women, because tokenism! Of course not. Literally no one is suggesting that. But let’s consider this nominees list:

Best Director - Motion Picture:
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Ridley Scott, All The Money in the World
Steven Spielberg, The Post

Dunkirk scored neither a screenwriting nomination, nor a single acting nomination at the Golden Globes, and it won nothing. The Post and All The Money In The World scored acting nods, yet won nothing. Meanwhile, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird got a screenplay nomination, and won Saoirse Ronan a Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, and took home Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Nonetheless, Gerwig didn’t get a Best Director nomination. Some might argue that it’s just different for comedy, to which I’d point out that no amount of bullshit award season politics will convince me that McDonagh’s four-time Golden Globes winning Three Billboards is not a goddamn comedy.

The new trailer for Natalie Portman's Annihilation is the best one yet. pic.twitter.com/7Cqriwl1OZ

— jackson ryan (rainmaker) (@dctrjack) January 8, 2018

Fuck this noise and the patriarchy-supporting “devil’s advocate” schtick. Give a shout out to the women in Hollywood who made movies that matter to you: share your favorite female-directed film in comments.