Charlize Theron Slams "Incredibly Frustrating" Golden Globes After Female Director Shut Out

Charlize Theron is speaking out about the lack of female representation in the Golden Globes Best Director category. See what she had to say.

By Vannessa Jackson Dec 09, 2019 7:52 PMTags

Who runs the world?! Girls! 

Unfortunately, many are accusing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association of not getting the memo when it comes to the upcoming awards show. On Monday, the nominees for the 2020 Golden Globes were announced, and while there was the usual rumblings of snubs and honors, many were upset about the lack of female representation in the Best Director category. 

Among the director nominees were, Bong Joon-ho for Parasite, Sam Mendes for 1917Todd Phillips for JokerMartin Scorsese for The Irishman, and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Many people were quick to express their dissappointment in the oversight, including Bombshell actress Charlize Theron who spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the upsetting announcement. 

"It's tough. It's really, really tough," she shared about the lack of representation for female directors. "And I think it gets really frustrating when we we have to remember that women directors, especially, are just trying to get their numbers up. They represent 10% of our directors in the industry, and when you have a good year like we had this year with such great work, it is incredibly frustrating."

Watch
2020 Golden Globe Film Nominations - Drama

"No woman wants to get nominated because it's the right thing to do," she continued. "It's really, really ridiculous. It's not cool. It's really hard, and I think it's unfair, and it's why we can't stop this fight. We gotta keep making noise until we're heard and these stories get recognized." 

On the topic of her own film Bombshell having a strong female empowerment theme, but being directed by a man, Charlize believes there is room for everyone to tell stories that place them in another persons shoes. 

"I do still feel strongly about this: Saying there needs to be more opportunities for women does not necessarily negate what it means for men to be part of our storytelling as well," she shared. "I believe women should have more opportunities, but I don't want to believe that women are the only ones who can tell women's stories and men can only tell men's stories. I don't think Ava DuVernay would be happy about that. She makes movies about the acquitted Central Park Five."

Watch: 2020 Golden Globe Awards: Nominations List

Charlize's sentiments are echoed by dozens of other women across the industry, however, the HFPA is standing by their choice. "What happened is that we don't vote by gender," HFPA president Lorenzo Soria told Variety. "We vote by film and accomplishment."

Some notable female directors that were arguably snubbed this year were Lulu Wang for The Farewell, Greta Gerwig for Little Women, Lorene Scafaria for Hustlers, Alma Har'el for Honey Boy and Olivia Wilde for Booksmart.  

See the complete list of 2020 Golden Globe nominees here.