Oscars 2020: Points Have Been Made About Natalie Portman's Red Carpet Fashion Statement
Natalie Portman made headlines over the weekend when she arrived at the Oscars in an outfit that made a very pointed fashion statement.
As she walked the red carpet, many noticed that the lining of Natalie’s jacket was adorned with the names of female filmmakers who have released movies in the last 12 months, after the Academy recognised only men in the Best Director category this year.
However, after her ensemble began to draw increasing amounts of attention, Natalie’s own track record with female directors was called into question.
Many social media users pointed out that Natalie is actually the head of a production company, Handsomecharlie films, which has only released one feature-length film directed by a woman in more than a decade.
The film in question was A Tale Of Love And Darkness. The director? Natalie Portman...
Natalie Portman’s production company has only ever hired 1 female director (her name was Natalie Portman) https://t.co/DRUVM1oezW
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) February 11, 2020
i wonder if this means her production company will finally produce a film with a female director https://t.co/5J9bEANXD0
— KATE 🔜 #SXSW (@OhMyMithrandir) February 10, 2020
What I find funny is that Natalie Portman has hired 0 (zero) women to direct the movies made using her own production company. I think there's about 7 films under her company, she hired male directors for all of them. Hollywood hypocrites are fun. https://t.co/qcI5BFJR1S
— nathan coker (@ncavalanche) February 10, 2020
Amazing gesture! If only the production company she owns and runs would hire female directors other than *Natalie Portman*, then it might not be seen as quite so performative https://t.co/g6RgDQXuKI
— a pile of cursed bones reanimated by an evil spell (@ON_Morgan) February 10, 2020
Handsomecharlie Films, Natalie Portman's production company, has yet to produce a film by a female director other than Natalie's movie ' A Tale of Love and Darkness' and her short film ' Eve.' https://t.co/kjoE4E2qZL
— Elizabeth 🔜 #SXSW (@lizzylynngarcia) February 10, 2020
Natalie Portman's production company has never employed a female director since its creation in 2007, but I guess it is feminist to get a Dior cape customised
— egg on branch (កល្យាណ) (@ka_bradley) February 10, 2020
I am so sick of performative (white) feminism being applauded, especially when Natalie Portman has a production company and it has only ever hired one (1) female director: HER https://t.co/y7Auqnxk23
— cheers man (@shmcdnnII) February 10, 2020
HuffPost UK has contacted Natalie Portman’s rep for comment.
In her acting career, Natalie has worked with a handful of female filmmakers, including Planetarium director Rebecca Zlotowski, Shirin Neshat and Vanita Shastry, who directed a section of the film The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards.
During the Golden Globes in 2018, Natalie also made a point of calling out the lack of female filmmakers that had been nominated when she and Ron Howard presented the Best Director award.
Introducing the five people nominated, the Jackie actress said: “And here are the all-male nominees.”
In 92 years of the Academy Awards, only five women have ever been nominated for Best Director, the most recent of which was in 2017, when Greta Gerwig was recognised for Lady Bird.
Kathryn Bigelow remains the only woman to have ever triumphed in this category, which she did in 2009 for The Hurt Locker.
Check out all the red carpet photos from this year’s Oscars below...
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Renée Zellweger
Florence Pugh
Margot Robbie
Billie Eilish
Cynthia Erivo
Saoirse Ronan
Olivia Colman
Brad Pitt
Regina King
Billy Porter
Charlize Theron
Sandra Oh
Timothée Chalamet
Laura Dern
Sigourney Weaver
Rebel Wilson
Natalie Portman
Joaquin Phoenix
Scarlett Johansson
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig
Chrissy Metz
Aurora
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino
Beanie Feldstein
Kaitlyn Dever
Tonya Lewis Lee and Spike Lee
Janelle Monáe
George MacKay
Penelope Cruz
Antonio Banderas
Alison Balsom and Sam Mendes
Kristen Wiig and Gal Gadot
Brie Larson
Adam Driver and Joanne Tucker
Elvira Lind and Oscar Isaac
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
