He announced he is convening a Hollywood Summit in February to highlight those studios and others in the film industry who aren’t “living up to their obligations”. “You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it”, she told Deadline in a statement, adding that when it comes to tackling the Academy’s make-up, “We have got to speed it up”.
Advertisement
This isn’t the first time that outrage has erupted over the the Academy Awards nominations being primarily white, with last year’s ceremony being accompanied by the hashtag #oscarssowhite. No matter how you feel about them, awards are one of the key ways to gut check what Hollywood itself thinks is important, with winning films often opening doors and setting the agenda for which kind of movies will be made in the coming years – and which ones won’t. In fact, in his lengthy post that lambasted the Academy’s oversights, Will Packer also praised the likes of Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, Will Smith, John Boyega, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tessa Thompson, Audra McDonald, Adepero Oduye, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ryan Coogler.
He said it is for precisely for these reasons that he met with Sony Pictures a year ago and why he will continue the fight to bring equality to the film industry.
Will Packer, one of the executive producers of Straight Outta Compton, has addressed the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees, calling it a “complete embarrassment” that those recognized were overwhelmingly white.
Though Straight Outta Compton was up for best picture at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the N.W.A. biopic was shut out of the best picture and acting categories in the Oscar race. One thing I will say, is that The Academy’s voting record is only part of the issue.
But it wasn’t just Straight Outta Compton that was overlooked by the Academy.
Advertisement
The Academy was under a microscope for this one… a lot of people thought this would clearly show if they were bias against black movies. And he predicted that the millennial generation, which he believes places special value on diversity, will not take that message lying down. The people supported the movie.
