Natalie Portman Drags Oscars By Wearing Cape Embroidered With Names Of Snubbed Women

Natalie Portman has subtly thrown shade at the Academy in her outfit choice for the Oscars.

The Academy Award winner wanted to point out the lack of women nominated in the Best Director category, but instead of outright saying it to the reporters on the red carpet, she let her cape do the talking.

The cape was emblazoned with the first names of the women she thought should have been given the honour of being nominated for their projects last year.

PA

Some of the names include Lorene Scafaria, director of Hustlers; Lulu Wang, who directed The Farewell; and Greta Gerwig, who was widely expected to get a nomination for her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel Little Women.

In addition to those women were Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Mati Diop (Atlantics), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Alma Har'el (Honey Boy), and Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).

Ms Portman has taken aim at the Academy for instead nominating Todd Phillips for Joker, Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Bong Joon-ho for Parasite, Sam Mendes for 1917, and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In the Oscar's 91-year history of giving out a Best Director award, there has only ever been one female winner: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.

Summit

In addition to Kathryn, there have been just five women nominated: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion for The Piano, Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation and Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird.

Portman told the Los Angeles Times: "I wanted to recognise the women who were not recognised for their incredible work this year in my subtle way."

The Academy has been frequently criticised for its lack of diversity in its awards selection process. In 2015, the selections were met with a severe backlash, with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trending around the world.

Nearly all the nominees were Caucasian, leading many people to ask why there weren't more women and people of colour included on the list.

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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