Cate Blanchett criticises the lack of female representation in film
Actor Cate Blanchett has raised the issue of female representation in film, claiming that the recent efforts to correct the systemic issues in the cinema industry have not been “good enough”.
In a new interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Blanchett said, “You wonder why you slightly feel alienated and annoyed some days. Then you do a head count and realise, ‘Not only am I the only woman in the cast, but there are 62 men in the room and yep, I’m the only woman.’”
She added, “So you think this ratio’s bad, I’ll do it tomorrow. OK, 37 men and three women. Not good enough! It’s really disproportionate. And it means you’re always laughing at the same jokes.”
The actor noted that when she was working on Mrs America, she and the producers vowed to look for a female director. “We were just sitting round a table one day and we said let’s just make a list, let’s make our best effort,” she said.
“And without even drawing breath, we suddenly had a list of 70 women who were all completely qualified, capable and inspirational,” Blanchett added. “Just pushing people towards that goal brought out all these very qualified people that they just hadn’t met before.”
Blanchett feels that the move towards proper representation in film has been frustratingly slow, even if it is creeping along in the right direction. “But I think diversity is now top of mind,” she said. “You can feel sometimes people going, ‘OK, sigh, we’re having the diversity conversation now.’”
The actor then noted, “And that’s good! It means we’re having it a lot. And unfortunately we will need to keep having it, until all those rooms are as diverse as they should be.”
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