Cannes 2024: Greta Gerwig says MeToo sparked “substantive change” in Hollywood
As the Cannes Film Festival got underway in France, Greta Gerwig, the president of this year’s competition jury, explained the “substantive change” the MeToo movement has had on Hollywood during a press conference on May 14th.
In 2017, women across the film industry began sharing their experiences of facing sexual assault and misogyny while at work. The movement led to this vital topic becoming an all-important conversation across Hollywood, as well as leading to powerful figures such as movie producer Harvey Weinstein being jailed.
While the initial wave of MeToo largely happened in Hollywood, over the last twelve months, the French film industry has been through a similar set of circumstances. Notably, it was recently announced that French actor Gerárd Depardieu will face trial later this year over the alleged sexual assaults of two women while on-set in 2021. Depardieu denies the accusations.
Now, at the press conference, Gerwig said (via Variety): “I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good.”
The Barbie director continued: “I have seen substantive change in in the American film community, and I think it’s important that we continue to expand that conversation. So I think it’s only moving everything in the correct direction. Keep those lines of communication open.”
When asked to elaborated on the progression, according to the New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan on X, the filmmaker said: “The one I always think of is the rise of intimacy coordinators. That is not something I had starting out. I think of it the exact same way I think of a stunt coordinator or a fight coordinator. It’s an art.”
In contrast, Spanish director J. A. Bayona, who is also sitting on the jury, stated at the press conference that issues relating to sexual assault are not exclusive to solely the film industry and claimed they should instead discuss art. Bayona told those in attendance: “I feel this issue does not affect cinema in particular. It’s much more widespread, and we’re here to focus on the films.”
With the growing MeToo movement dominating film conversation in France over recent months, despite Bayona’s wishes, it is certain to be the main talking point of Cannes Film Festival as the industry descends on the European country.
The festival begins on May 14 with the world premiere of Quentin Dupieux’s Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act). Other notable films to be shown at Cannes include Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, George Miller’s Mad Max: Furiosa and Kevin Costner’s grand western epic Horizon: An American Saga.
Ahead of the premiere of Megalopolis, Coppola has claimed the upcoming movie starring Adam Driver is “the best work I’ve ever had the privilege to preside over” over the course of his iconic career.
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