William Friedkin: The lack of diversity in Hollywood is not because of prejudice
This totally milquetoast-looking dude is director William Friedkin. Friedkin is considered a genius filmmaker in many quarters, having directed such classics as The Exorcist, The French Connection, Rules of Engagement, and on and on – you can see his IMDB here. Friedkin turned 80 years old this year, which means he’s pretty much representative of the Motion Picture Academy these days: old, white, male, with his best work several decades past. The reason we’re talking about Friedkin is because he gave an interview to Cinephilia Beyond this week which has raised a few hackles. In between some blunt assessments about the state of filmmaking today, the proliferation of comic-book movies and the rise of streaming services, Friedkin offered his take on the issue of gender and racial diversity in Hollywood, specifically for directors. He went on and on and it’s like a case study of a dude mansplaining meritocracy for white dudes.
I’ve been in Hollywood for fifty years and I have never met an executive of a television or movie company, or a talent agency, that was prejudiced against people of different colors or against women. I’ve never met anyone. Now, why there are more men directing films than women, I can’t answer that. But it’s not because of prejudice. I think the very best director of action and other films is a woman named Kathryn Bigelow. She’s a great filmmaker, period. It’s a question like why there are more white basketball or football players in America. Most of them are black, or from another country. Why is that? The only answer to that is that they compete and that they’re better! Wherever women can compete, they get the jobs. I don’t know anyone who’s prejudiced against African-Americans or women, I’ve just never seen it. Why is that there are more black athletes? Because they’re better. So what should we do? Should we get some legislation or pass some rules that there have to be more white players? No, you can’t do that! Why are the greatest painters that ever lived mostly white men? I don’t know! Women are free to paint. But you cannot pass diversity laws in an art form.
…I’m not a woman, or an African-American, so I can’t speak to that experience except to say that I know it’s an open playing field. And today there are many, many women in the entertainment business here who are in charge of everything. You know, my wife was the head of a studio thirty years ago, and ten years ago she ran two studios. Why? Not because she was a woman, but because of merit.
…I have never heard of a man running a studio, talent agency or a network saying, oh, I don’t want to hire a woman for that job. But women have to put themselves forward. I mean, just today, or yesterday, a law was passed in America saying that women will now be present in all areas of combat in the military. There will be women on the battlefield, if there is one, equal to men. So that, among many other things, means there has been progress for women… If you’re good enough, you’re gonna work. All this other stuff to me is just smoke screen.
…I had people work on my films who are African-American, who are women, and not because they are African-American or women, but based on what I thought was their merit. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t do that. Anyone who would do that, anyone who would deny a talented woman, or a talented member of a racial minority, a job, is just an a–hole, and not fit to be in a position to hire. Are there assholes in every business in every industry, in every country? You bet. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be cured by some kind of diversity rule.
First of all, I don’t know of anyone who is seriously asking for any kind of legislation to be passed to “force” studios to hire more women or more people of color. What we’ve been asking for is awareness of the problem and the promise to work towards creating a Hollywood that is more diverse across the board, with directors, writers, actors and producers coming from many different backgrounds and races, etc. As for the meritocracy argument… merit only works with access and opportunity, and we’ve seen time and time again, old white men are the keepers of 99% of the access and opportunity in Hollywood. They’ve created a self-sustaining bubble, a circular argument that says “art is merit-based, I know that from my years of working with mostly white men who do a good job, and if women or African-Americans could do a good job, I would have heard about it and they would have been hired, therefore there are no quality women or African-Americans to hire for this position.”
Just know, as we’re getting knee-deep into the Oscar season: this year’s prospective Best Director nominees are yet another example of the utter sausage party of the Directors Guild. There are no “serious” female contenders for any director awards this year, and the directors of color (like Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler) will likely not be considered for anything (Spike because people hate the message of Chi-raq and Coogler because people think he just made a really good Rocky remake). The only non-Caucasian director nominated this year will probably be Alejandro Innaritu. And last year, when the Academy and DGA had the chance to nominate Ava DuVernay BASED ON MERIT, they declined to do so. Why? Because many of those same old white men were pissed that she openly discussed her own experiences as an African-American woman in the industry, and she dared to talk about hot-button, modern racial issues.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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