Cate Blanchett discussed gender imbalance on set: “62 men and I’m the only woman”
Cate Blanchett has discussed the issue of gender imbalance within the movie industry and how she has created a rule to address the issue while promoting her latest movie, The New Boy.
Speaking with her production partner Coco Francini at the Cannes Film Festival, Blanchett explained her past experiences of witnessing gender disparities firsthand. “We’ve both had experiences where we walked on set and done the headcount and you wonder why you sort of slightly feel alienated and annoyed somedays,” Blanchett said.
Adding: “I realize that I’m the only woman in the cast…there at 62 men, and yep, I’m the only woman. This ratio is bad…it’s really disproportionate. And it means you’re always laughing at the same jokes. I do have a really good sense of humor, but it’s like, let’s change it up.”
So, she came up with a simple mandate to counter this with her Dirty Films production company: “You must interview a woman and you must interview a person of colour.” This small rule has resulted in Blanchett and Francini mostly hiring female filmmakers for their projects.
“I look forward to the day where we don’t even need to have interviews about women in cinema,” Blanchett added. Concluding: “We make films for an audience. We’d love for our industry to look like our audience, and we’re not there yet, but I think we are making progress.”
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