Natalie Portman Admits She’s ‘Only Made a Few Films With Women’ After Calling Out Hollywood Sexism

Actress Natalie Portman attends the photocall of the movie 'Jackie' presented in
TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images

Actress Natalie Portman, an A-list star with her own production company, admitted that she has “only made a few films with women” in response to Rose McGowan’s critique of the Black Swan actress’s feminist fashion statement at the Oscars, where she donned a Dior cape featuring the names of women who directed films in 2019 but were not nominated.

McGowan on Tuesday slammed Portman’s political fashion statement as a type of activism that is “deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work.”

Natalie Portman arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

“I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust,” she wrote in a social media post. “I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.”

Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream…

Posted by Rose McGowan on Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Portman responded to her fellow feminist in a statement on Wednesday, agreeing that it is “inaccurate” to call her “brave” for wearing the garment and admitting that she has “only made a few films with women” herself.

“I agree with Ms. McGowan that it is inaccurate to call me ‘brave’ for wearing a garment with women’s names on it,” Portman said in a statement, according to Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

“It is true I’ve only made a few films with women,” she continued. “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.”

The Thor actress continued defending herself and her mission, noting that “female films have been incredibly hard to get made at studios, or to get independently financed” and mentioning her supposed role in “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,” she said. “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.”

Despite Portman’s insistence that she has tried to advance female directors, only one of her feature films was directed by a female.

As Breitbart News’s John Nolte detailed:

Natalie Portman is 38-years-old, she’s been an A-list star for at least 20 of those years, and she won the Best Actress Oscar ten years ago, which gave her the power to pretty much do whatever she wanted.

According to IMDB, since becoming a star, she’s appeared in some 35 feature films, only one of which — one! — was directed by a woman. Two, if you count Portman directing herself.

What’s more, Portman’s produced seven feature films, all of which were directed by … guys.

Rose McGowan is 100 percent correct.

The idea that Portman, an A-list star with a Best Actress Oscar, does not have the power to boost, hire (especially as a producer), or demand a female director, is ludicrous.

What’s more, her upcoming Marvel film, Thor: Love and Thunder, will also be directed by a man.

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