Hollywood’s Progress on Hiring of Female Directors and POC Has Stalled Out, Report Says
Hollywood’s Progress on Hiring of Female Directors and POC Has Stalled Out, Report Says
Dave Bautista relieved to leave ‘silly’ Marvel role behind: ‘I just want to be a better actor’
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🏆 The Headlines
Hollywood’s Progress on Hiring of Female Directors and POC Has Stalled Out, USC Annenberg Report Says — Since 2007, of the 1,600 films surveyed, only 21 movies, or 1.3% were directed by women of color
Progress made in gender and ethnic diversity in Hollywood productions that was propelled by #OscarsSoWhite seven years ago is showing signs of stalling out, according to the latest report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.
The new report published Monday found that the percentage of filmmakers from underrepresented ethnic groups among the directors of the top 100 highest-grossing films at the box office in 2022 was 20.7%, down from the 15-year high of 27.3% in 2021.
For female directors, their share in the top 100 was 9% in 2022, up from the mere 2.7% recorded back in 2007 but down from the 12.7% in 2021. For women of color, the progress is even worse, as only filmmakers from that group only accounted for 2.7% of directors in the top 100 last year. Of the 1,600 films surveyed going back to 2007, only 21 movies, or 1.3% were directed by women of color.
Dave Bautista relieved to leave ‘silly’ Marvel role behind: ‘I just want to be a better actor’ — Dave Bautista is keeping busy: he is currently starring in “Glass Onion”, has the M. Night Shyamalan film “Knock at the Cabin” coming next month and will appear in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in May.
Dave Bautista is keeping busy: he is currently starring in “Glass Onion”, has the M. Night Shyamalan film “Knock at the Cabin” coming next month and will appear in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in May.
But in a recent interview with GQ magazine, the 53-year-old former professional wrestler says he doesn’t care about being a movie star on the level of Dwayne Johnson — one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.
“I never wanted to be the next Rock,” he told the magazine. “I just want to be a good f---ing actor. A respected actor.”
Bautista, who has worked with a slew of A-list directors including Denis Villeneuve (‘Dune’), Rian Johnson (‘Glass Onion’), Sam Mendes (‘Spectre’) and James Gunn (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’), is careful about the roles that he takes.
For him, the most important thing is to get out of his comfort zone and continue improving his craft.
“I’m afraid of things,” Bautista said. “I’m nervous about things. But I can force myself to do things that make me uncomfortable, because I know I’m not gonna get anywhere if I don’t. I may cringe after the fact, but I’m not going to let that fear hold me back.”
In fact, Bautista says he feels “relief” that he will no longer be playing Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s “Guardians” franchise following the series’ upcoming installment, both because of the physical demands of the role and because he wants to work on more serious films
Atsuko Okatsuka on Finding Levity in Scary Situations and Her First Comedy Special: “I See Stand-Up as a Service” — The comic discusses her HBO Max special, 'The Intruder,' as well as the role her “unconventional upbringing” had in discovering her calling.
Even when she’s twerking produce into a grocery cart or dropping it like it’s hot, Atsuko Okatsuka has the unique ability to maintain a somewhat innocent sense of whimsy in everything she does. Her primary-colored comedy special, Atsuko Okatsuka: The Intruder, which premiered Dec. 10 on HBO Max, features perhaps the most heartwarming story of family bonding ever told in context of attending Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas.
Okatsuka’s family members — most notably her grandmother and her husband, actor Ryan Harper Gray — figure prominently not just in The Intruder (directed by one of the comic’s stand-up idols, Tig Notaro) but also in her robust social media presence, which spawned a worldwide viral sensation earlier this year with #dropchallenge, inadvertently started in January by Okatsuka.
The comedian spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how her “unconventional upbringing” helped shape her sense of humor as well as her motivations behind making people laugh.
There’s things like, “I’m the second Asian American female stand-up to have a special on HBO, the first being Margaret Cho, and it’s been 22 years, and I’m friends with Margaret now.” The general public [becoming] more aware of stand-up comedy probably has to do with all of the networks producing more specials over the last few years. Then you start seeing more different voices doing stand-up too, and that’s also helped. But also the Internet has really helped: “Well, if the industry is not ready yet, I’ll just talk to my fans immediately from my phone.” That’s really how I was able to get to a place where I was saying, “I’ve been doing stand-up for 13 years, I’m ready to tour.” I just didn’t know if I had the numbers, I didn’t know if I believed that people would show up to see me, and once people started showing me that they would online, that’s when I launched my first tour. I went out on my first tour just last year and it was during the second half of that year that HBO came and saw it. So many things had to happen for me to be even the second Asian American female stand-up on HBO with a special: I had to believe in myself, the industry had to believe in us a little more and unfortunately Instagram had to exist because that’s where I showed my face to people and kept doing jokes on there. So it was the culmination of those things. Where it’s headed? I hope that I do make it easier for the third Asian American to get a special on HBO.
🎬 Industry Insider
Mindy Kaling’s Adult ‘Velma’ Series Gets January Release on HBO Max (Variety)
‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ receives Netflix’s worst audience score of all time (Rotten Tomatoes)
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