Last night saw the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards come to a close, with the first big awards show of 2020 delivering top film honors to the World War I epic 1917, which was named the Best Picture – Drama, as well as its director, Sam Mendes, who took the Best Director trophy. But would the results had been the same if more female directors were included in the nomination mix?
With no female candidates up for Best Director honors in this year’s class of nominees, there have been plenty of hot takes as to what this says about the industry at large. And yet, director Greta Gerwig, the helmer behind the quiet, but fierce hit Little Women, has a pretty optimistic outlook as to what’s going on, as she shared the following remarks:
What I’m heartened by is how many beautiful films are directed by women. And what impact it’s making on the industry. They just came out with another Annenberg study that said there were more films directed by women than any other year. And it’s looking to improve again for 2020, and 2021. So I just try and focus on the glass half full of women.
While it’s true that Greta Gerwig, along with A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’s Marielle Heller and Hustlers’ Lorene Scafaria, have been several of the would-be nominees the public has been upset to see supposedly dishonored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the framing that she’s chosen to focus on is rather rosy.
Citing a recent study in her discussion with ET, Greta Gerwig has pointed out that more films will be directed by women in 2020 than any other year; with the trend looking to continue upward. And it’s not just a matter of quantity either, as huge tentpole films like Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 are pretty momentous occasions in the landscape of 2020 releases to come throughout the year.
Perhaps the greatest validation of Ms. Gerwig’s optimistic outlook is that it matches the sentiment that her Little Women stars Laura Dern and Saoirse Ronan have both expressed. Namely, the fact that while the awards snub is a temporary setback, it’s an important moment that should help inspire the movie industry on the whole to try harder. Here’s hoping the results are seen sooner rather than later, as we’re only a couple of weeks away from hearing the nominees for the Academy Awards announced on January 22.
On the plus side, Little Women has been putting up solid numbers throughout its early box office run, defying expectations and delivering better than expected results. You can see what the fuss is about, as the film is currently in theaters as one of the 2019 holdovers that should welcome a fresh and exciting 2020.
Though if you’ve already gotten to know the March sisters at a theater near you, you can always head over to our 2020 release schedule and see what new friends await at the multiplex in the near future.
