Chloe Zhao
Number of Female Directors Working on Top-Grossing Films Decreased in 2021
The number of female directors who worked on top-grossing films decreased in 2021, a new report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University reveals. According to the study, women accounted for 17% of the directors of 2021’s top 250 films, down from 18% in 2020. Zeroing in on last year’s top 100, the number gets even smaller, with 12% of directors being women. In 2020, women directors comprised 16% of the year’s top 100 films. Dr. Martha Lauzen, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, said that in light of the success of directors like Chloe Zhao and Nia DaCosta, studying the numbers was integral to gaining a more realistic understanding of women’s progress in the male-dominated film industry. ...
Marvel’s Eternals Banned from Theaters in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar
On the off-chance that you live in either Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, or Qatar, don’t go trying to see Eternals in theaters. Marvel’s latest blockbuster has been pulled from the big screen in those countries, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The apparent ban is believed to have been made over the film’s inclusion of a same-sex couple and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first openly gay superhero. News of the ban emerged after Eternals was quietly removed from various theater websites in each of the aforementioned countries before its intended release on November 11th. (It hits American theaters tomorrow, November 5th.) THR reports that Disney was not willing to acquiesce to “a series of edit requests” made by local censors, resulting in it being pulled from those countrie...
Splat! Eternals Becomes First Marvel Movie Certified Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes
Marvel had been on a 25-movie streak of good reviews, and you might’ve thought that streak was as inevitable as Thanos. But the critics have spoken about the new film Eternals, and now more than Thanos has snapped. Eternals has dipped below the 60% Fresh mark on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, becoming the first flick in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to earn the dreaded green splat. Rotten Tomatoes is a far-from-perfect website, though it’s influential enough that even people who hate it have to reckon with its scores. It sets 60% as the red line between fresh and rotten, and as of this writing, Chloé Zhao’s Eternals sits at 57%, far below the previous worst-reviewed MCU entries The Incredible Hulk (67% fresh) and Thor: The Dark World (66% fresh)...
Chloe Zhao Becomes First Woman of Color to Win Best Director at the Oscars
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-26T00:59:56+00:00“>April 25, 2021 | 8:59pm ET Chloe Zhao has made Oscar history by becoming the first woman of color to ever to win Best Director. The 39-year-old Zhao, who hails from Beijing, took home the award for her stunning film Nomadland, which follows a woman (played by Frances McDormand) as she embarks on a new life as a van-dwelling nomad, traveling the American West. Zhao’s Oscar nomination alone was historic, as she was the first woman of color ever up for Best Director. In winning the award, she enters the history books alongside Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) as the only two women to win in the category. Zhao was a heavy favorite entering the night, as she had pr...
2021 Golden Globes Winners: The Complete List
The 2021 Golden Globe Awards took place on Sunday night after being delayed for nearly two months due to COVID-19. Now in its 78th year, the Golden Globes honor the best in film and television as determined by the Hollywood Foreign Press. Film was scattered, but as expected. Nomadland and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm predictably ran away with their respective top honors, Minari won the only nomination it (tragically) could, Daniel Kaluuya matched the award seasons buzz with his Best Supporting Actor win for Judas and the Black Messiah, and Soul nabbed both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Television belonged to Netflix with essential wins for both The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit. The former ruled over Best Drama, Best Actor for Josh O’Connor, Best Actress for Emma Corrin,...
Nomadland’s Chloé Zhao Becomes Only Second Woman Ever to Win Best Director at Golden Globes
Nomadland filmmaker Chloé Zhao made history during the 2021 Golden Globes, becoming only the second woman to win the award for Best Director. She’s also the first Asian woman to claim the honor. Zhao, a 38-year-old native of Beijing, China, won for Nomadland, which follows Fern (played by Frances McDormand) as she embarks on a new life as a van-dwelling nomad, traveling the American West. Nomadland also won Best Motion Picture – Drama during tonight’s Golden Globes. Prior to Zhao’s victory, Barbra Streisand had been the only woman to ever win Best Director at the Golden Globes. Streisand earned the prize in 1984 for Yentl. In fact, over the course of the Golden Globes first 77 years, only five women total had been nominated for top filmmaker: Streisand, Ava DuVernay, Jane Campion...
2021 Golden Globes Predictions: Who Will Win, Who Shouldn’t Be There, and Who’s Missing
Every year, we say we’re not going to watch the Golden Globes. “They’re pay-for-play opportunists who trade awards for access,” we plea in the mirror. “Remember Pia Zadora?” And yet, just like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III, they pull us back in. Maybe it’s the pandemic insisting upon things to look forward to amidst the threat of impending doom. Or, more likely, we just love TV and the people who make it too much to not want to root for them to get recognition — no matter how dubious the award. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an enigmatic collective of 93 non-American journalists who nonetheless live in LA, give out their trophies every year, and the picks are virtually impossible to guess. Sometimes, it’s recognition of the best work in film and TV that year. Other t...
Frances McDormand Walks Right Into the Oscars With Nomadland: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival . The Pitch: Based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 non-fiction novel, Nomadland follows 60-something Fern (Frances McDormand) over the course of a year as she moves from place to place, working odd jobs and living in her van. Throughout her journey, Fern comes across a multitude of communities: some who accept her as she is, others who try to pin her down and keep her stationary. These series of experiences offer a character study of a head-strong, mature woman working through her grief and searching for herself. Authentic Experiences: Over the course of four features, director Chloé Zhao has repeatedly returned to stories of marginalized people, living on the fringes of conventional society. She favors stories of...
