Thor: Love and Thunder Star Natalie Portman Calls Out Lack of Nominated Female Directors With Oscars Outfit

Natalie Portman made quite the entrance at this year’s Oscars with her choice of couture. The [...]

By Aaron Perine

Natalie Portman made quite the entrance at this year's Oscars with her choice of couture. The Oscar-winner walked the red carpet with a Dior gown embroidered with the names of female directors. Now, it is helpful to point out that there were no women nominated for Best Director at the 2020 Oscars. Even more revealing is this all comes after her moment of calling out the room at the 2018 Golden Globes for not nominating any female directors. With two years behind that speech, she felt like it was time to make another statement, even though the effect of having the names sewn onto the cape is very subtle.

When asked about the choice of attire, the star told the Los Angeles Times, "I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year in a subtle way."

For reference, this year's Best Director nominees are Todd Phillips (Joker), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Sam Mendes (19170, and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite). To compound the frustrations that many feel, Greta Gerwig's Little Women is the only film directed by a woman to get a nomination for Best Picture. So, there is a ton of consternation that ladies can't seem to get a seat at the table, even when their work can be recognized for the biggest prize of the night.

Best Director has been something of as Alfonso Cuarón won for Roma last year, Guillermo del Toro took home the prize for The Shape of Water, and Damien Chapelle became the youngest winner in the category's history back in 2016 for La La Land. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to ever win the award for 2009's The Hurt Locker. A woman hasn't even been nominated since 2017 when Gerwig got the nod for Lady Bird.

During the Oscar nominations, The Lovebirds star Issa Rae slyly noted, "Congratulations to all these men." Portman's tribute might not be the last time this issue gets mentioned tonight. Even if it doesn't she's started the conversation back up and that has been the goal all along.

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(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

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