Natalie Portman made headlines over the weekend when she arrived at the Oscars in an outfit that made a very pointed fashion statement.
As she walked the red carpet, many noticed that the lining of Natalie’s jacket was adorned with the names of female filmmakers who have released movies in the last 12 months, after the Academy recognised only men in the Best Director category this year.
However, after her ensemble began to draw increasing amounts of attention, Natalie’s own track record with female directors was called into question.
Many social media users pointed out that Natalie is actually the head of a production company, Handsomecharlie films, which has only released one feature-length film directed by a woman in more than a decade.
The film in question was A Tale Of Love And Darkness. The director? Natalie Portman...
HuffPost UK has contacted Natalie Portman’s rep for comment.
In her acting career, Natalie has worked with a handful of female filmmakers, including Planetarium director Rebecca Zlotowski, Shirin Neshat and Vanita Shastry, who directed a section of the film The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards.
During the Golden Globes in 2018, Natalie also made a point of calling out the lack of female filmmakers that had been nominated when she and Ron Howard presented the Best Director award.
Introducing the five people nominated, the Jackie actress said: “And here are the all-male nominees.”
In 92 years of the Academy Awards, only five women have ever been nominated for Best Director, the most recent of which was in 2017, when Greta Gerwig was recognised for Lady Bird.
Kathryn Bigelow remains the only woman to have ever triumphed in this category, which she did in 2009 for The Hurt Locker.
Check out all the red carpet photos from this year’s Oscars below...
