Natalie Portman Reveals ‘All-Male Nominees’ Statement At The Golden Globes Was Planned
Natalie Portman has just revealed that her "all-male nominees" statement while presenting an award at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards was pre-planned.
Portman's 'All-Male Nominees' Moment
The Annihilation actress was tasked with presenting the award for Best Director along with director Ron Howard at the Golden Globes last month.
However, the actress used the opportunity to call out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's (HFPA) decision to not include a single female director in the category even though there were some worthy contenders for the honor.
Despite being dominated by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement, some of the biggest Golden Globes snubs this year were seen in the Best Director category.
The HFPA failed to include women behind some of the highest grossing and critically lauded films last year: Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird, Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman, and Dee Rees for Mudbound.
"And here are the all-male nominees," Portman announced the names of the nominees in the category with the damning statement.
Portman Says It Was Planned
In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, the 36-year-old actress revealed that the moment was premeditated and not something she said spontaneously. Portman also noted that she had a discussion over how to address the evident gender bias in the category with fellow women from the industry.
"I discussed with some of the women I've been working with that they had offered to me to present the director category, but I felt uncomfortable because it seemed to be excluding some deserving nominees," she said.
Portman also pointed out that she wanted to draw attention to the issue without disrespecting any of the directors who were nominated in the category because they deserved to be there and had nothing to do with the fact that no women were nominated for the award.
"You don't want to not recognize them. It's just, why aren't we recognizing the people who aren't part of this exclusive club? So one of the women recommended I say that, and it felt like stating something that was true," she added.
Portman's statement was met with a wave of gasps and sighs in the room, but the actress believes that it was necessary.
According to the actress, women's voices need to be heard. Otherwise, they won't be seen often on stage and will have to continue to work twice as hard for the same recognition that is given to the opposite gender.
