Emma Stone took the opportunity to call out the underrepresentation of female filmmakers at this year’s Oscars, as she took to the stage to present the award for Best Director.
A year on from bagging her first Academy Award for her performance in ‘La La Land’, Emma was invited back to present the award for Best Director, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a swipe at the male-dominated category.
Prior to reading out this year’s five nominees, Emma remarked: “These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces this year.”
Her remark did not go unnoticed by Oscars viewers, with many praising the actress for speaking her mind about the lack of women nominated in the category:
However, others have pointed out that Emma’s comments were disrespectful to nominees Guillermo del Toro, who spoke about his own experiences as a Mexican immigrant during the show, and Jordan Peele, the first black writer to win Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars for ‘Get Out’.
During the ceremony, Sandra Bullock made similar comments, when presenting the award for Best Cinematographer, singling out “trail-blazing woman” Greta Gerwig, who was the first female nominee in the category in 90 years of Academy Awards.
Earlier this year, Natalie Portman won praise from Golden Globes viewers, when she highlighted the fact that no woman had been nominated in the Best Director category that year, despite great efforts from Greta Gerwig and Patty Jenkins, among many others.
Check out the full list of this year’s Oscars winners here.