Jessica Chastain’s speaks out for diversity at the Critics Choice Awards

Ryan, I shouldn’t even dignify you with an answer. You’re too far out now. I can’t reach you, because you have decided that you want to take me down on this one. Fine. So be it. I was answering Steve50. This is my LAST answer to you.

One thing: Where have I said that I think Chastain is full of shit? Where? Please, point me to it. On the other hand, I have repeatedly stated that I have a lot of respect for her as an actress and that I (of course!) agree with what she’s saying. I’ve said so several times, but you refuse to budge an inch. If anything, what I proposed was for her to say a lot MORE than just the usual platitudes in order to really earn the praise she’s now getting. It feels vastly premature to me.

Does she annoy me? Chastain? No, the whole set-up annoys me. The Critics’s Choice Award. The MVP Award. All that self-congratulatory BS annoys me. But Chastain? No, I find her dignified and intelligent. But brave and amazing and inspirational because of THAT speech? No, not quite. I’m sorry. You admitted as much yourself: Maybe brave isn’t the proper word.

But, ok, keep on living in your fantasy world where a movie star is brave and gorgeous for saying out loud what everyone knows to be true? Let’s see how she will suffer in the coming years, shall we? Maybe she will only earn a fraction of what she does now, you think? What is that? Will she have to settle for 10 mio. bucks? Oh, the poor girl. Well, at least she’s some peoples’ idea of brave… that’s something when she lies in the gutter humiliated and poor, because some industry types (presumably older white men) found her annoying, whereby magically all her good fortune dried up.

“They are also the ones who are criticizing their own industry – their bread and butter – and for that, they should be considered brave.”

Steve50, I respect your opinion very much. I’ve always found you well-articulated and to the point. But that is some BS, my friend. If some poor, struggling C-list actress said it to her racist boss who keeps ignoring colored actors working on his productions, yes, it would be kind of brave. Chastain, on the other hand, is a multi-millionaire with a global following, she can say whatever she well damn pleases and that won’t make her poor or unemployed or less of a big star (on the contrary, it only raises her profile further). Do you think she risks going broke one of these days because of what she said the other night? No, I didn’t think so.

Chastain is a cool actress. Definitely. AND I like lots of stuff she’s been saying publicly for a long time now. I like how she addressed Russell Crowe lately. I agree with everything she said the other night as well. That’s the only problem I have, really. That, at some point, I need more from people like her than stating obvious things that any right-thinking person would agree with beside you and me. I called out some commenters for saying she’s brave and inspirational. When I think she is merely articulating common sense in a very common sense kind of way. I used a smidgen of sarcasm. And now I’m reviled!? Great.

You tell me this is a movie site, and now you want to talk about middle school teachers? You incessantly DEMAND to talk about middle school teachers? For what reason? I don’t know how what some middle school teacher (potentially) says about the state of racism or misogyny or lack of diversity changes the fact that whatever Chastain said is not exactly brave? I fail to see the connection.
But, yes, for the record, I think we need to appreciate public employees a lot more than most of us do. They are the backbone of a society, something that Hollywood will never be. They matter more than words uttered at some podium at yet another self-congratulatory industry gathering.

Donate ten million dollars?? YES, please. That would be a very fine start. Not to the movies, though, to the REAL world, outside the comfort of the industry bubble. I’m sure she can find a worthy cause. Middle school teachers’ union, maybe?

Jessica Chastain is the most overrated actress of the last 20 years!

Jesus, I am not saying anywhere that Chastain shouldn’t have said the things she said, I’m calling attention to the fact that calling her ‘brave’ is an abuse of a word that deserves better. And I’m trying to explain why. Not just cussing at people. If anything, she should have said more and she should do something that makes her general statements meaningful and specific, rooted in concrete action. But I’m an idiot for saying that? Sure thing. Talk about diversity….!

jessica is my favorite actress just for this. didnt know her personality but look, she is not a robot and can actually process and interpretate the world around her outside of movies as well. bravo.

Listen, I was NOT AT ALL trying to tell you what to post or not, or what to admire or not, was I? NO way. But this is not a one-way street exclusively, is it? We are allowed to discuss things here, right? I can’t fathom why it’s conceived as a problem that someone says something other than ‘wow, she’s amazing’. Why are we trying to close down a conversation that could be broader and more inclusive?

First of all: I do agree about the relevance of this. This is relevant stuff on a film site, I’m not arguing its relevance. This is relevant, because it has created a stir. Very good. Next.

I’m arguing why people seem to worship an actress for saying something that is an expression of the most fundamental common decency imaginable. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, Hollywood is a microcosm of deeper societal issues, and, yes, everything that Chastain addresses, should be addressed on a daily basis. Every time we sense injustice is being done, we should speak up. But it’s so easy for her to go up and say those things. She’s got admirers, she’s got money, she’s got a platform that she can use all that she like. She can manage the ridicule if someone points a finger at her (I’m not sure many will, who inside the industry would dare speak against her message?) Do you think she’ll be unemployed because of her ‘brave’ stance? I don’t. I think it only raises her profile considerably.

Can I find clips of middle school teachers delivering this message? No. Which proves my point. Because THAT is a problem.

But, Julian, you’re not HELPING. She is. She doesn’t have to, but she has a podium and a moment that is shared across the globe via the web and you’re still making it sound negative. It’s not. She’s not. But you are. STOP.

And the prize for the Best Newspaper Front Page about the Oscars goes to …

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/oakland-tribune-oscar-best-caucasian

Why is comparing the film “Selma” to other “snubs” insulting and ridiculous? Because of race? What if we’re talking purely from a film lovers point of view, not one of a political crusade activist?

Did I compare MLK in “Selma” to Jennifer Aniston in “Cake”? No. Did I compare the themes and situations in “Selma” to Miles Teller’s plight in “Whiplash”? I did not.

So much rhetoric and vitriol and malice and ignorance. These nominations are lame, I agree; however, I feel that way for different reasons.

#SoWhiteOscars #SoWhiteRazzies

What a refreshing change to hear somebody make an actual speech! Not just thanking their lawyer and their agents in seventeen countries and their first grade Maths teacher. And as for Fonda and Redgrave; certainly the latter did nothing but divide and anger people with her rant upon winning the Oscar in 1979. I would much rather her, and us be part of the solution, not the problem!

Yes, way to go, Jessica! It’s not her “fault” that she’s white and beautiful, and therefore privileged. She should be aware of that fact, and I’m pretty sure she is. It doesn’t mean that she can’t speak up for diversity. I don’t know if it was brave or not, but she spoke honestly and beautifully, and that’s more than enough.

As for Oscars being irrelevant, I’ll tell you something. No thing of such scale is culturally irrelevant. I live in Poland and I’ve been watching the Oscars since 2003. This means that since I was 12 years old I’ve been staying up all night and watching this fucking show. When I got older I started inviting friends over to watch it with me. Now see it as we see it: we watch a show that starts at 2 a.m., even though we go to school or work the next day, we watch it even though most of the films being celebrated are American and we rarely see anything that even barely resembles or reflects our own reality, we watch it even though we haven’t even seen these films yet. We watch it because it’s the Oscars and because they award the best. My friends often don’t follow the race as closely as I do, so they don’t really know how campaigning or advertising works, or how important is sending screeners etc. So they would sometimes tell me: “I don’t understand it, how THIS could be awarded Best Picture?!”. So see it as they see it, naive or not: when somebody hands out awards for “the best”, IT MEANS SOMETHING. Words mean something, they still do in my world.
So if an event of that scale is just a show, then it’s not okay. The fact that the reality is what it is doesn’t mean that we have to accept it. If we want something else, if we need something to change, we have to ask for it. If we want it, we have to fucking say it.

She seems like she really thinks she’s the bees knees and wants to lead her own freedom march somewhere. But you know she’s the kind of person who benefits from the situation. She’s lily white and very attractive. That puts her at the top of the heap. She should know this.

Antoinette, this is a fucking ridiculous statement. Jessica Chastain is also a woman. That hardly puts her at the top of the heap in Hollywood, and her call was for more diversity, not just for more racial diversity. And what is she to do? Just sit back and wait for a black person to make these same comments? This is all she can do, as a lily white human being who can’t change her skin colour. I’m a staunch feminist – should I just stfu about my feminist opinions because I’m not a woman? And anyway, Jessica Chastain is the type of person who could make people sit up and listen, because she is white. To change the system, you need to invest in the system and become an integral part within it.

No, David, not “enough of Jessica Chastain” already. Enough of comments like yours would be more like it. Jessica Chastain very clearly clarified her remarks that you so inaccurately describe as “calling out Meryl Streep” — she did nothing at all of the sort, and was outraged at how the interview was contrived to create false controversy for sleazy Page 6.

http://www.eonline.com/news/586509/jessica-chastain-clarifies-her-meryl-streep-quotes-says-we-need-more-roles-for-women-in-film

Chastain’s tweet:

“Page Six gets it terribly wrong. The headline is upsetting and against my thinking. I would never want to take roles away from a great actress. My point has always been: Why can only one great actress of a certain age get roles in film? We need MORE roles in film for the many OTHER great actresses. It speaks to the lack of diversity in our industry.”

You are the one taking things out of context, not Jessica Chastain. Pay attention.

Ryan – you think millions of people watched that? On A&E?
I didn’t grow up in the U.S. so maybe some of this is all lost on me.

Beautiful speech.

I think Al Sharpton would be a great fit for this so called “awards” blog! he and his agenda would just fit here….

It’s insulting that most mentions of racists describe them as “old white men” – You want to see racists? Go to a high-income suburban high school. I stop reading the instant I see that fucking phrase.

Again, last year 12 Years a Slave won best picture with a black producer/director and a mexican director win. Suddenly that never happend it seems.

You have just ruined somebody’s day, Ryan.

That speech took guts and it was brave and honest.

RACE, GAY, MINORITIES, ETC.

I disagree with those who say AMPAS isn’t the problem. Sure, its not THE problem, obviously its also Hollywood itself, which is a reflection of the conservative just as much, I say more, of the liberal/middle factions of America. But AMPAS has a lousy record. If there were no people of color and other minorities to nominate, that’s one thing. But here, as almost every year, we have plenty of minorities equally/more worthy of the whites who take their slots at the Oscars.

It started back in 1930, when King Vidor’s all-black masterpiece “Hallalejah” was ignored outside the directing category (the directors have traditionally done the best in nominating overall, IMO). Thru the years, the Critics and even Globes/BAFTAS have recognized the excellence of films like Do the Right Thing (LA Film Critics Best Picture 1989) thru Brokeback Mountain (everybody but the Oscars Best Picture 2005), with many in between. Great films like Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep” and “To Sleep with Anger” never quite won in their respective years, but they made top 5 in Best Picture/Director/Actor voting etc. at places like the New York and National Society of FIlm Critics, yet at the Oscars, these films, and many others, were never even in the discussion. It was the Ernest Borgnine/Tony Curtis (and “all their friends”)/”John Wayne would roll over in his grave” thing year after year after year. And sure, they’d occasionally throw nominations at minority-based films when the HAD to, but the gays were played by obvious straights (e.g., Tom Hanks’ in Philadelphia), but when it came to Best Picture, well, again, even Brokeback lost, an incident that seriously tarnished the Academy’s reputation, to this day. Now if nobody else recognized these films, that would be one thing, but many, many did, sometimes EXCEPT the straight white old boys conservatives club. And while nobody knows the order of finish, Do the Right Thing probably wasn’t even in the Top 7 in 1989, with Crimes & Misdemeanors and Henrvy V taking director nominations. If they nominated 8 or 9 back then, I still wonder, with When Harry Met Sally also a major white contender, and then the “black” contender, “Glory”, with a wonderful black cast, but clumsy direction from white director Ed Zwick (don’t mean to malign him, I think he’s wonderful, but a bit out of his element I think on “Glory” -one can only wonder how that film would have turned out if someone like Burnett or John Singleton directed) and a flat-out bad performance by Matthew Broderick. Anyhow – Do the Right Thing is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made (Sight and Sound Top 150, and Top 50 English-language, AFI Top 100, etc.) – and was revered upon its release by the critics – but what was the Academy’s excuse?

I like Bradley Cooper a lot. I just saw him in The Elephant Man, he was brilliant. And he did a fine job in the unfortunately overrated “American Sniper”, he was the best thing about it IMO along the Sound mixing and editing. But sorry, his performance was not that complex, just not in the same league as Jake Gyllenhaal’s original turn in Nightcrawler, nor Ralph Fiennes quietly heartfelt and clever turn in Grand Budapest…and David Oyelowo – whatever else one might say were Selma’s flaws – WAS Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And I know that not on account of film footage (“Montgomery to Memphis” etc.), but I know octogenarians who were with Dr. King, who knew him personally, and who were a bit disappointed by “Selma” on account of purported historical inaccuracies. But all of them were extremely impressed by Oyelowo, they said he did Dr. King justice, and heck, that’s pretty amazing. But obviously Clint’s friends and the conservatives placed Cooper on their ballots more than Oyelowo, which means they didn’t bother to see “Selma”, or if they did, to ask the basic question, did Oyelowo get it right? He did, and he should have been challenging for the win.

Also, I hope nobody tries to defend the Academy with films like “Driving Miss Daisy”. Aside from being good but far from great art, they are obviously “see, we don’t hate blacks awards” from whites under pressure…pick the white-washed film, and don’t even nominated “Do the Right Thing” that same year. Oyelowo was robbed, and Ava certainly deserved a nod at least over Bennett Miller and Tyldum. Unacceptable.

I readily admit there’s a lot more too it. The Academy can’t handle inventive edgy films like “Nightcrawler” (Jake was royally robbed too. At the end of the day, its a series that stem from the inherent conservatism disease. At business firms, people are often required to retire at the age of 70 years old, to make room for new, younger employees. Its long past time that the Academy did the same. Now of course, I can and perhaps should be accused of agism in that statement, my octogenarian friends in the Academy voted not with Clint and company but for true change. But if the rules are even across the board, then who can complain? Everyone, of course, that’s the nature of the beast, and an unwieldy beaast it is, more and more each year.

P.S. Everyone keeps saying the Academy isn’t racist on account of “12 Years a Slave”. I disagree with that contention too. The Academy was actually the first film in many years that probably deserved its Best Picture Oscar, and should have been a juggernaut. If there was no such thing as racism, I think 12 Years would also have won Actor and Director. Yes, a minority won director, Alfonso Cuaron, but I think many saw him as an alternative to the much edgier, much more “threatening” McQueen (the brilliant “Hunger” and “Shame” were completely ignored, despite numerous critics prizes). Frankly its a happy minor miracle that 12 Years squeaked out its win, but I think that’s because the Academy was afraid of loud accusations of racism if it didn’t win. After all, how else could “Selma” could have gotten just two nods including Picture if there wasn’t that underlying fear?? Yes, 8 nominees, but members can only put 5 on their ballot. Director, Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actress, etc. not good enough, yet the overall film was without ANYTHING else? We’ve really never seen anything like that before, not since Grand Hotel won with no other nominations back in 1932, but the nomination process was much different back then. Alas, not enough else has changed.

Jessica Chastain is the face of diversity. Gingers are probably the most minor minority. We need to protect their rich heritage. And no I’m not ginger but I appreciate their esthetic contribution to the human race.

Yup. That’s exactly what I said. *rolls eyes* How many gay people have wanted to play only gay characters? Just keep segregating things. That’s the answer. No more gay roles for straight people and no more straight roles for gay people. White people can only play a character who is from the country of their ancestors and if Henry Louis Gates finds out a black actor ‘s DNA is mostly European then that actor is freakin’ screwed. I’m going to start a petition to Warner Bros. because I’m not 100% sure Affleck is part bat. Although he does have those tiny eyes.

Gayface? Seriously? I mean if it wasn’t for “straight” people feeling like they could play gays then there’d have been no movies about gay people. Because until very recently gay actors and actress didn’t come out. I’m trying to imagine MAKING LOVE starring Boy George and Bea Arthur, but I can’t. *breaks brain*

An “MVP” award? They just keep making stuff up don’t they?
Chris Pratt was in Zero Dark 30?
She had on a lovely lovely dress. Brave speech.

*gets brave*

BOYHOOD is the whitest movie of all time!

Yes, Fonda and Redgrave were brave, but their issues had clear moral divides that were/are openly discussed by everyone and some of which were eventually dealt with.

The difference here is that the white male majority don’t see the issue. They vote for their cronies, which are other white males, or for roles with which they can personally identify, which are other white males. That’s why the most complex stories do not centre on women or African Americans or any other diverse group.

Imagine if Birdman had a female lead dealing with the complications of fame instead of a male. Oh wait, wasn’t that called The Congress and wasn’t it kept entirely out of the conversation by the white male blogger/pundits and the white male voting block?

Why do non-white actors only achieve recognition when playing historical characters. Where’s the all-black Shakespeare? Where in Hollywood the hispanic equivalent of The Grand Budapest Hotel? We get tempest in a teapot called The King’s Speech, but when will we see something about Russell Means or The Spirit of Crazy Horse? When will we get a film about Oscar Micheaux – we’ve had plenty on Welles and Hitchcock. Maybe give it an 8 1/2 twist.

If you don’t know who Russell Means or Oscar Micheaux are, or you cannot visualize and all-female military film (Israel has – ever heard of Zero Motivation), then you are part of the problem. That accusation goes from studio head to ticket buyer – Oscar voters just happen to be, by choice, the most visible.

The self-promotion exercise that is the Oscars magnifies something grreater that is wrong with the industry, so when they say “look at me” during awards season, I find myself saying more and more, “give me something different to look at.”

Imagine how rich our films would be if the existing barriers were gone. Chastain is right in her assertion, and she is very brave to make it loud and clear.

C’mon this is ridiculous! (and I say this being a 100% fan of Chastain’s work) Are we really THAT dumb to see bravery or ferocity in this speech when it is basically the most populist and demagogue one we’ve heard in ages?!?!? Give me Jane Fonda or Vanessa Redgrave in the ’70. THAT was brave. Even Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Globe speech had more significancy, or Chastain’s herself when she won her Globe (see, I’m not a hater). This, I’m sorry, is just cheap cheap cheap populism.

Beautiful speech! I’m glad that Jessica can say what she wants in a non-Jennifer-Lawrence-I-love-chips kinda way. This was great.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-01/15/23/enhanced/webdr04/anigif_enhanced-31404-1421383283-2.gif

”Diversity? How about just best?” Who said that ”diversity” and ”just best” are mutually exclusive? Choosing ”the best” is always going to be a subjective call, but a movie CAN be ethnically diverse AND judged the best.

Jessica had 4 movies in 2014 in which she was great and somehow she wasn’t in the best actress race. Blame the pundits, bloggers, critics – basically online voices because that is who the people pay attention to, read and make assessments, biased or preconceived notions. Most great actresses suffer from not being talked, written or praised about online about their work. A medicore actress can be a contender if constantly talked or praised about and while another deserving one who’s not as polarizing will be unmentioned so no one is aware or really paying attention to great work.
Common, Jessica has delivered since 2008, Amy Adams has delivered but why is it that Jennifer Lawrence is the one with the Oscar?

Two years ago she had the balls to subtlety call them out on ignoring Kathryn Bigelow for the Oscar nom, at Critics Choice and the Globes.

She is remarkably fresh, still, for someone who is no longer a newbie in the business. Shame not enough people saw her film Most Violent Year and she was passed for the nomination. I think Chastain is brave in the way that actors don’t get credit for, in following great directors and standing up to industry norms. Instead, the media hypes celebrities who stage publicity “events,” such as humanitarian work (cameras are always there) or taking on multiple commitments like movies and theater. I really feel with Chasten it’s coming from a genuine place.

… but not in lieu of merit