Female Directors

Another day. Another controversy on social media. The director of Jurassic World, who recently got hired to direct Star Wars 9, is being criticized for saying that women don't direct blockbusters because... wait for it... they don't want to. How is that a controversial statement? There's truth to it. Ava DuVernay, who directed Best Picture nominee, Selma, recently turned down Black Pantern. Angelina Jolie, a major movie star, has now directed two movies - the second one is being released in November - and neither is a blockbuster. Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight, turned down the sequels. Kathryn Bigelow, who has LOTS of action movie experience, followed the Best Picture WINNER, The Hurt Locker, with Zero Dark Thirty. Back in the 1990's, Penny Marshall was an A-list director thanks to box office hit, Big, and Best Picture nominee, Awakenings. She didn't follow those with an action movie or big studio comedy. No. She made A League of Their Own. So women HAVE been given opportunities to helm major blockbusters and they all turned them down. And the ones who COULD have been offered those jobs, fucked it up. Have you heard of Mimi Leder? She directed The Peacemaker, which was an underwhelming success at the box office, and Deep Impact, which got over-shadowed by Michael Bay's Armageddon. Have you heard of Rachel Talalay? She directed Freddy Krueger 6 and Tank Girl and they both were box office flops. So... maybe this issue is more complex than a simple Twitter hashtag. If you need further prove of that, Universal, which made Jurassic Park, and LucasFilm, which is making Star Wars 9, are run by women. Don't you think women want to support other women? But how can they if women aren't applying for the positions... or simply don't qualify. That's the reality of it. For every women who wants to be 90's Kathryn Bigelow, there's a hundred guys who wanna be the next James Cameron.