Natalie Portman Responds to Rose McGowan's Criticism of Her Academy Awards Cape
Actress Rose McGowan called out Natalie Portman for hardly working with any female directors throughout her long career.
McGowan's critique comes after Portman wore a cape embroidered with the names of female directors during the 92nd Academy Awards, which nominated no women in the category of Best Director.
Portman then responded to McGowan.
After Natalie Portman arrived at the 2020 Oscars red carpet donning a cape with the names of female directors who weren't nominated for the Best Director category, actress Rose McGowan called her out for working with few women directors throughout her career.
"Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar 'protest.' The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery," McGowan wrote in a Facebook post. "Brave? No, not by a long shot. More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do. ... Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career- one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director- you."
McGowan continued, "What is it with actresses of your ilk? You 'A-listers' (🤮) could change the world if you'd take a stand instead of being the problem. Yes, you, Natalie. You are the problem. Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem."
Portman has worked with three female directors on major movie releases, according to USA Today. The directors include Mira Nair in 2008's anthology New York, I Love You, Rebecca Zlotowski for 2016's Planetarium, and Vanita Shastry for 2015's The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards.
Portman responded to McGowan's pointed criticism in a statement released to BBC.
"It is true I've only made a few films with women," she said. "In my long career, I've only gotten the chance to work with female directors a few times - I've made shorts, commercials, music videos and features with Marya Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat and myself."
She also noted that some film projects that would have been headed by women directors did not come to fruition. "Unfortunately, the unmade films I have tried to make are a ghost history," she said. "Female films have been incredibly hard to get made at studios, or to get independently financed. If these films do get made, women face enormous challenges during the making of them."
You can read both McGowan's and Portman's statements in full below.
Rose McGowan criticizes Natalie Portman.
Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot. More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do.
I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work. I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust.
I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.
Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career- one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director- you.
What is it with actresses of your ilk? You ‘A-listers’ (🤮) could change the world if you’d take a stand instead of being the problem. Yes, you, Natalie. You are the problem. Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem.
As I wrote in my book Brave, what goes on behind the screen, goes onscreen, goes into the world. And it’s a pervasive sickness that needs its own medicine.
What you do affects the world, Natalie. As does what you do not do.
I am singling you out because you are the latest in a long line of actresses who are acting the part of a woman who cares about other women. Actresses who supposedly stand for women, but in reality do not do much at all. Of course women in the world will keep buying the perfumes you promote, the movies you make, and think they’re buying into who you are. But who are you?
I was at a Women in Film event that you spoke at once, Natalie. You reeled off depressing statistics and then we all went back to our salads. I quickly realized you and the other women speakers (and that joke of an organization) are just... frauds. You say nothing, you do nothing.
There is no law that says you need to hire women, work with women, or support women. By all means, you do you. But I am saying stop pretending you’re some kind of champion for anything other than yourself.
As for me, I’ll be over here raising my voice and fighting for change without any compensation. That is activism.
Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.
Natalie Portman responds.
It is true I've only made a few films with women.
In my long career, I've only gotten the chance to work with female directors a few times - I've made shorts, commercials, music videos and features with Marya Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat and myself.
Unfortunately, the unmade films I have tried to make are a ghost history.
Female films have been incredibly hard to get made at studios, or to get independently financed. If these films do get made, women face enormous challenges during the making of them.
I have had the experience a few times of helping get female directors hired on projects which they were then forced out of because of the conditions they faced at work.
After they are made, female-directed films face difficulty getting into festivals, getting distribution and getting accolades because of the gatekeepers at every level.
So I want to say, I have tried, and I will keep trying. While I have not yet been successful, I am hopeful that we are stepping into a new day.
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