Natalie Portman: Caped Crusader
While some at last night’s Oscar’s used their mouth words to make a political statement, Natalie Portman opted to use her cape words instead. The Huffington Post claims that Natalie “dragged” the academy by wearing a custom Dior cape with the names of several female directors who made movies in 2019 but were not nominated for an Oscar this year, embroidered onto the lapel. I’m not sure dragged is the right word, it was more of a polite finger wag. Natalie made a similar statement using her mouth when she announced “and here are the all-male nominees” back in 2018 while presenting Best Director at the Golden Globes. While some applauded Natalie’s Calligraphy Heard Around The World, others are calling her a hypocrite because her own production company, Handsomecharlie Films, has only ever hired one woman to direct any of the 11 films on their slate. But you won’t find that woman’s name on Natalie’s cape, because that woman is herself. (via Insider)
According to The Huffington Post:
Natalie Portman has continued her crusade of calling out Hollywood for not recognizing women, wearing a cheeky outfit to address the controversy at the Oscars.
On Sunday, the actor rocked a custom embroidered cape by Dior featuring the names of female directors snubbed at the 92nd Academy Awards.
Here’s Natalie explaining what the cape means to her.
Natalie Portman embroidered her Dior cape with all of the female directors who weren't nominated for #Oscars. Check out her explanation here. pic.twitter.com/kyyo2wVMZf
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 10, 2020
Sorry, HuffPo. Not a drag. Not enough fire. Let’s cross Natalie’s name off the list of possible actresses to play Julia Sugarbaker in the (I’m sure) upcoming Lifetime Movie Designing Women: The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia. Here’s the names on her cape since Natalie didn’t tell us. (via Insider)
The gown featured eight names in total: Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), Mati Diop (“Atlantics”), Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Melina Matsoukas (“Queen & Slim”), Alma Har’el (“Honeyboy”), and Céline Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady On Fire”).
Here’s a sampling of the reception Natalie’s cape received from the 4 Tastes of Twitter: Sweet Twitter, Salty Twitter, Sour Twitter and my personal favorite, Bitter Twitter.
Sweet:
I freaking love Natalie Portman! https://t.co/8O5gXZqrpn
— Becky Crook (@beckyc_89) February 10, 2020
Salty:
Natalie Portman's production company has never employed a female director since its creation in 2007, but I guess it is feminist to get a Dior cape customised
— egg on branch (កល្យាណ) (@ka_bradley) February 10, 2020
Sour:
What I find funny is that Natalie Portman has hired 0 (zero) women to direct the movies made using her own production company. I think there's about 7 films under her company, she hired male directors for all of them. Hollywood hypocrites are fun. https://t.co/qcI5BFJR1S
— nathan coker (@ncavalanche) February 10, 2020
Bitter:
I am so sick of performative (white) feminism being applauded, especially when Natalie Portman has a production company and it has only ever hired one (1) female director: HER https://t.co/y7Auqnxk23
— cheers man (@shmcdnnII) February 10, 2020
Here’s a list Handsomecharlie’s films and their directors, past and present. (via Insider)
- “No Strings Attached” — Ivan Reitman
- “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” — Burr Steers
- “Jane Got a Gun” — Gavin O’Connor
- “Hesher” — Spencer Susser
- “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” — Don Roos
- “A Tale of Love and Darkness” — Natalie Portman
- “Eating Animals” — Christopher Dillon Quinn
- “Eve” — Natalie Portman
- “Foxy Trotter” — Chris Prynoski
- “Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry” — Announced, no director attached as of yet.
- “Best Buds” — Announced, no director attached as of yet.
Here’s hoping Natalie can have some of those names that are embroidered on her cape inked onto a contract sometime in the near future. While you’re here, here’s Natalie palling around with Thor: Love and Thunder director and all around dream boat, Taika Waititi, and, I presume, somebody’s nephew who got a gig parking cars.
Pics: Wenn.com