Question. Is there something wrong with this picture?
You may have heard about the annual BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award. You may also know that I’ve been banging on about under-representation of female leads/directors/dolly grips in cinema for quite some time now. Unfortunately BAFTA and I have had a head-on collision.
Firstly, I do not have a problem with the Rising Star award per se. Previous winners are Tom Hardy, Kristen Stewart, Noel Clarke, Shia le Boeuf and Eva Green. Quite a list, and most of those have deserved it…
However in a silly season of under-appreciation of females by British industry (The BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year shortlist featured not one female in its 10-strong list, with at least two glaring ommissions). This year we have a strange motley crue of nominations for the Rising Star award. From the sublime (Tom Hiddleston) to the ridiculous (Chris Hemsworth) to the down right random (Adam Deacon). The Rising Star award is still a great forum for honouring new talent, but I feel that some important talent is being overlooked.
The full short list of 5 this year are as follows (with their 2011 filmography):
Tom Hiddleston (War Horse, Thor, Midnight in Paris, The Deep Blue Sea, Archipelago)
Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Red Dawn)
Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids)
Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn, Black Death)
Adam Deacon (Anuvahood, Everywhere and Nowhere)
To me it seems that based on body of work alone, Hiddleston should be a shoo-in. But then what about Deacon? An amazing actor who isn’t being pushed forward enough and does not have Hiddleston’s star power. Could this award improve his career just like it did for Noel Clarke (I’d argue all the previous winners bar Clarke had sufficient star power before they won the award)?
But what if I suggested someone else. Someone who could potentially be better than all of the nominees. Someone who made The Help, Take Shelter, Tree of Life, The Debt, Coriolanus, Wild Salome and Texas Killing Fields last year. I ask another question, why the hell isn’t Jessica Chastain on the shortlist?
Is it because she is too famous (she is only as famous as Hiddleston)?
Is it because she isn’t industry-good-enough (this hasn’t stopped Hemsworth)?
Is it because some of those films aren’t that well-known (unfortunately virtually noone has seen Deacon’s work)?
Is it because she’s a redhead (hasn’t stopped the lovely Redmayne)?
Or is it because she hasn’t yet been funny (let’s wait and see how O’Dowd is in a serious film)?
Without a decent alternative, I am drawn to think the unthinkable, that she has been left out of the list because she is a woman. Not just because of her gender, but because female actresses are seen by the (fame-and-money-driven) film industry as not sufficiently high-profile and that they cannot carry a movie in the same way as their male counterparts do. Chastain is but one example. What about Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer?
Kristen Wiig as writer and star is the single reason why Bridesmaids made $288million (and rising) on a budget of $32.5million. If it wasn’t for Wiig Chris O’Dowd would not have made this list, and further, she is uproariously funny! Where is her nomination BAFTA?
The film world is famously anti-female. Look at Meryl Streep. Consistently giving us the most thought-provoking and diverse performances in modern cinema, she has been nominated for an Oscar 16 times (and I hope will be again for The Iron Lady) but is famous for saying that she thought at 40 she would have to give up if all she was offered were roles as a ‘witch’. Almost every critique of The Iron Lady has been derogatory towards Maggie Thatcher and the film’s screenwriter Abi Morgan, with little time spent on what a magnificent portrayal Streep gives. Lest we also forget that Streep was in the most financially successful movie ever made (Mamma Mia) when she was 57 years of age.
But things are looking up. Females are garnering power and awards institutions must reflect this change. 2011-2012 has brought us The Iron Lady, The Help, My Week with Marilyn, Bridesmaids and Margaret, films full to bursting with top notch female characterisation, and, crucially, made for an audience of either gender.
Back to BAFTA. Now there is an argument that any Rising Star nomination for a female would be token. The idea of positive discrimination in the film business is something I have mixed feelings about. But in this situation, it just wouldn’t apply. The rising star should be the person who has delivered a first class body of work over the last year. To me, that can only be Hiddleston or Chastain.
Simon Pegg is on the Rising Star judging panel (made up of an unprecedented 7 guys and 6 gals), but he has just tweeted that he wasn’t responsible for making the decision as to the final 5. So what I want to know is who was?
Male, female or alien, gender shouldn’t apply here, but I am afraid it does.
I don’t care what your gender is. Do you like (or, have you heard of, or would you like to know about) Kathryn Bigelow, Halle Berry, Abi Morgan, Diablo Cody, Phyllidia lloyd, Andrea Arnold, Helen Mirren, Taraji P Henson, Dakota Fanning, Emma Stone, Kathleen Kennedy, Drew Barrymore and Carey Mulligan?
If so, and you want to see more of them, then take a stand. Write about it on your blog, Tweet your feelings to the world, email your local film columnist, watch more films made by and starring women, talk to your mates, read about female filmmakers. Read this article and this one.
Because, we the viewer have the greatest power. We are the real awards voters. We vote with our cash and we vote with our feet. We’re the iron giants – the iron ladies and men of the film world, and we deserve the best on our screens, irrespective of gender.
