Female directors remain a rarity in Hollywood

updated 5:11 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Female directors are flooding today’s theaters more than ever, with movies as diverse as the women themselves. Yet the struggle for equality, recognition and respect continues.

Moving beyond the traditional female arena of romantic comedies, these new films range from Kasi Lemmons’ critical smash “Talk to Me,” starring Don Cheadle as a sharp-tongued disc jockey, to the upcoming romance from hell “2 Days in Paris,” the culmination of actress Julie Delpy’s 20-year battle to reach the director’s chair.

Despite the recent bumper crop of films, however, the statistics for female directors remain dismal.

Of the roughly 13,400 members of Directors Guild of America, only about 1,000, or 7 percent, are listed as female directors. (Total female membership, which includes people on the directing team like assistant directors and unit production managers, is about 3,000 or 22 percent.)

No woman has ever won an Academy Award for best director, and only three have ever been nominated: Lena Wertmuller for 1975’s “Seven Beauties,” Jane Campion for 1993’s “The Piano” and Sofia Coppola for 2003’s “Lost in Translation.” A woman has never won the Directors Guild’s top honor, either, though six have been nominated.

“It’s discouraging. I think people get tired of hearing the same news,” said Robin Swicord, a longtime screenwriter (“Little Women,” “Memoirs of a Geisha”) directing for the first time with “The Jane Austen Book Club,” due out Sept. 21.

Slideshow   The week in celebrity sightings Pfeiffer has ‘Star’ power, Damon and Affleck together again, Borat’s babe sports baby bump and more. more photos

“But it hasn’t changed so much that we can quit talking about it,” Swicord continued. “I wish we could, and I also wish we could make our movies without people saying, ‘And she’s a woman director.’ Here’s Julie Delpy doing this wonderful comedy and here’s Judd Apatow doing his comedy and no one is saying, ‘And he’s a male director.’ ... We may end up being referred to as ‘women directors’ for a long time.”

Tremendous work, but little progress
This year has seen tremendous work from actress Sarah Polley, making her writing and directing debut at just 28 with the stirring Alzheimer’s drama “Away From Her.” Australian Cherie Nowlan gave us the family comedy “Introducing the Dwights,” and Zoe Cassavetes followed in the footsteps of father John Cassavetes with her first feature, the indie “Broken English.”

Shari Springer Berman co-directed the big-screen adaptation of “The Nanny Diaries” (out Aug. 24) with her husband, Robert Pulcini. Helen Hunt’s directorial debut, the romantic comedy “Then She Found Me,” premieres at September’s Toronto International Film Festival. Kirsten Sheridan’s musical, “August Rush,” is due Oct. 19.

Next March marks the return of Kimberly Peirce with her first film since 1999’s “Boys Don’t Cry”: “Stop Loss,” about a soldier returning from the Iraq war, which was inspired by her brother. And, of course, Valerie Faris co-directed the small gem “Little Miss Sunshine,” which was nominated for four Oscars and won two.

But one would think there would be even more progress by now, considering the great strides women have made in other professional arenas — including studio leadership. (Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider declined to be interviewed for this story; the pioneering former Paramount chief Sherry Lansing was traveling and unavailable.)

“Thirty-five years ago, the statistics were dismal in the executive ranks and now we’ve got women at the highest level of management at all the studios and all the networks,” said Jane Fleming, president of the nonprofit Women in Film. “You’ve got to hope that the creative arts will follow in the next 35 years.”

So why don’t female studio executives look out for female filmmakers?

“I don’t believe that women studio executives are deliberately not seeking out (female) talent,” said Fleming, who also runs a production company. “They’re all really busy — they’re doing the best they can. I think it’s the job of organizations like Women in Film to get people’s product in their hands, to have screenings, to get it out in the press that we’ve got young directors that we’re supporting. It’s about getting representation to fight harder for their clients.”

MORE FROM MOVIES

Movies Section Front

‘The Blair Witch Project’ 10 years later Meet the ‘Harry Potter’ characters ‘Beth Cooper’ doesn’t deserve your love ‘Brüno’ has laughs, but won’t shock like ‘Borat’ ‘Harry Potter’ stars felt pressure to ‘ace’ kiss Clooney to shoot film in Italian earthquake city Stars gather for ‘Harry Potter’ London premiere Baron Cohen fools all the people all the time Newsweek: ‘Bruno’ most depressing film of year Flicks for tykes, tweens and kids at heart Movies Section Front   Add Movies headlines to your news reader: