|
 Women in Hollywood felt some long overdue love on Tuesday when
Oscar nominations rained in for movies about their stories and
for the actresses and directors who bring them to life.
In the best actress category, Hawkins was nominated for "The
Shape of Water," McDormand for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri" and Robbie for "I, Tonya."
Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed best picture nominee "Lady
Bird," a story about a teenage girl brimming with self
assurance, got rare female directing and screenplay Oscar
nominations. Actresses Saiorse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf were
also recognized for "Lady Bird."
"It's fantastic for women and given the year that we've had, I
think those nominations are popping out even stronger. They're
more apparent because of the year we've been through," Metcalf
told Reuters.
The nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences followed years of campaigning for equal pay and better
opportunities behind the camera, a movement that has been
boosted by women breaking their silence in recent months over
sexual abuse and harassment in the entertainment industry.
"The one clear trend in this award season is the empowerment of
women," said Tom O'Neil, founder of awards website GoldDerby.com.
"It is rare that films with a female point of view do well in
the best picture race, but this year we have four movies that
are front-runners - 'Lady Bird', 'Three Billboards,' 'The Shape
of Water' and 'The Post'," he said.
Only one woman - Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker" in 2010 -
has ever won a best director Oscar. On Tuesday Gerwig brought
the number of women nominated in that category to five.
[to top of second column] |
However, the superhero film "Wonder Woman," a box office hit, and
its director Patty Jenkins were snubbed. That was in keeping with a
tradition of generally cool treatment of action and sci-fi movies at
the Academy Awards.
Award shows in the run-up to this year's Oscars have been dominated
by women's issues.
Actresses turned out dressed in black en masse for the Golden Globes
this month to signal support for victims of sexual misconduct in the
entertainment industry and beyond. At the Screen Actors Guild awards
on Sunday, all the presenters were women.
To be sure, the movies now vying for the most prestigious honors in
the film industry were filmed before multiple allegations of
impropriety against producer Harvey Weinstein triggered the #MeToo
social movement and led to the downfall of dozens of powerful men in
U.S. entertainment, business and politics. Weinstein has denied
having non-consensual sex with anyone.
But the movement created an environment where attention was ready to
focus on movies about women of all varieties.
In the past, "the stories that we have seen in general have been the
stories of white men, and we are tired and done with it," said
Melissa Silverstein, founder of the Women and Hollywood blog.
(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Frances Kerry)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
