Actress and activist Charlize Theron has spoken out about how no female directors were nominated for this year's Golden Globe Awards calling it "really, really tough" and "really, really ridiculous."
In a controversial but not unexpected twist, female directors were completely shut out when it came to nominations for the 77th annual awards show which were announced on Monday in Los Angeles. Only five women have ever been nominated for best director over the last 70 plus years.
Theron, who was nominated for playing Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in the movie Bombshell, told Amy Kaufman at The Los Angeles Times that she was with her children when she first found out about her nomination.
"My 7-year-old called me out and was like, ‘Mom, why are you smiling?’ I was like, ‘It’s not a boy, calm down!’” the actress said. “I had to explain that I hadn’t won it yet. ‘So, wait, you might not win it?’ And I said: ‘No, there’s a really good chance I might not win it. But your mom still did really good," she said.
She went on to speak about the lack of female directors nominated and called it "really, really tough."
"I think it gets really frustrating when we have to remember that women directors, especially, are just trying to get their numbers up. They represent 10% of our directors in the industry, and when you have a good year like we had this year with such great work, it is incredibly frustrating. No woman wants to get nominated because it’s the right thing to do. It’s really, really ridiculous. It’s not cool. It’s really hard, and I think it’s unfair, and it’s why we can’t stop this fight. We gotta keep making noise until we’re heard and these stories get recognized," she said.
Directors who made the all-male shortlist for the 2020 awards include Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, Sam Mendes for 1917, Todd Phillips for Joker and Bong Joon-ho for Parasite.
