Rose McGowan’s long Facebook post, in which she called Natalie Portman’s Oscars cloak “deeply offensive” has gotten a response from the actress. The names of female filmmakers whose work was not nominated by the Academy were embroidered on the cape.
McGowan shared her views, writing, and photos on Facebook “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.”
McGowan opened her post with, “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.”
Portman has now responded with a statement, saying that she should not be labeled “brave” for what she wore.
“I agree with Ms. McGowan that it is inaccurate to call me ‘brave’ for wearing a garment with women’s names on it,” Portman told CNN. “Brave is a term I more strongly associate with actions like those of the women who have been testifying against Harvey Weinstein the last few weeks, under incredible pressure.”
“The past few years have seen a blossoming of directing opportunities for women due to the collective efforts of many people who have been calling out the system,” she continued. “The gift has been these incredible films. I hope that what was intended as a simple nod to them does not distract from their great achievements.”
McGowan claimed that Portman had not worked on many films directed by women, which Portman refuted.
“It is true I’ve only made a few films with women,” Portman acknowledged in a statement. “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.”
“As Stacy Smith of USC has well documented, 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.”
The final names of a few female filmmakers who were missed in the best director category at the Academy Awards were stitched on Portman’s cloak. Among the actresses she chose were Greta Gerwig for “Little Women,” Lorene Scafaria for “Hustlers” and Lulu Wang for “The Farewell,”
