Nicole Kidman vowed in 2017 that she would support female directors as much as possible and work with as many as possible. At the time, she told Deadline, “I’m in a place, at this stage in my life, where I can support female directors over and over again. It’s a very conscious choice. I’m not gonna go for two or three years without working with a woman. I will seek them out and will continue to do it because that’s part of what I feel is important right now.”
So, she started picking female-led projects, like the recent Babygirl, which was directed and written by Halina Reijn and released last year. Because Kidman is such an impressively prolific actress, she’s worked with 19 female directors in the past eight years.
Her commitment is back in the news because she recently spoke about her decision with Time magazine after being named one of their Women of the Year. Films by women, Kidman said, had to be “perfect” or they faced judgment from the male-dominated film industry. “It can be changed,” she told the magazine, “but it can only be changed by actually being in the films of women.”
Kidman has more than done that. There’s no denying she puts her money where her mouth is. But in falling over themselves to praise Kidman, people are curiously slating another actress: Natalie Portman. In 2020, Portman wore a dress to the Oscars emblazoned with the names of female directors, and it didn’t take long for the statement to be slammed as “performative.” The subject of Portman’s dress now comes up every time Kidman’s committal does, with people comparing Portman negatively to Kidman, and occasionally other actresses as well.
If Portman is so dedicated to female directors, goes the refrain, why isn’t she working with female directors? Reddit’s Fauxmoi is all over that question.
But … she is? I keep hearing a rumor that Portman’s production company, MountainA, doesn’t hire female directors. This bugs me because it’s simply not true. MountainA has made three productions so far—two of them were directed by women. Angel City, a documentary about Angel City FC (which Portman co-founded) was directed by Arlene Nelson. Lady in the Lake, starring Portman and Moses Ingram, was directed by Alma Har’el. Among Portman’s next films is The Gallerist, directed by Cathy Yan.
There’s also the fact that Portman simply does less film work than Kidman. We don’t know what’s going on in the personal lives of either actress and how it might influence their work slate. There’s honestly no need to bring Portman up when talking about the accomplishments of Kidman—especially since the two of them are friends!
It’s also worth remembering that Kidman isn’t the only actress doing her best to work with female directors. Take Gugu Mbatha-Raw, for example. Many of her biggest films—Belle, Beyond the Lights, Jupiter Ascending, A Wrinkle in Time, and Misbehavior—were directed by women. There’s a nearly 50-50 split between male and female film directors on her CV. It’s great that Kidman is a figurehead for addressing gender disparities in Hollywood, but everyone has a part to play. There’s no reason to tear other women down while praising another.
