Colin Treverrow and the “Plight” of White Male Director
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Y’all who knew that when Spagettit and I did the latest podcast that someone would come along and prove why I got so passionate. The Los Angeles Times did an article on studios working with unproven directors and the successes and failures, given Jurassic World and Fantastic Four. It’s an interesting read, but I want to focus on something that irked my soul. Consider the following:
Many have criticized the studios for what they regard as a double standard when it comes to hiring Many have criticized the studios for what they regard as a double standard when it comes to hiring up-and-coming directors, arguing that female filmmakers with similar resumes haven’t been offered the same opportunities as men. But Trevorrow, for one, believes that’s not entirely the case.
“Obviously it’s very lopsided, and hopefully it’s going to change as time goes on,” the director said. “But it hurts my feelings when I’m used as an example of white, male privilege. I know many of the female filmmakers who are being referred to in these articles. These women are being offered these kinds of movies, but they’re choosing not to make them.
“I think it makes them seem like victims to suggest that they’re not getting the opportunities and not artists who know very clearly what kind of stories they want to tell and what films they want to make. To me, that’s the reality.”
A few weeks after Trevorrow made this statement, “Selma” director Ava DuVernay passed on directing Marvel’s “Black Panther,” saying, “We had different ideas of what the story would be.”
For the purpose of this, I’m going to tip toe past that shade thrown at Ava DuVernay cause I want this to be a clasy affair. There has been much discussion regarding the hiring of women and people of color to helm big budget franchises (for the purpose of this we’ll focus on the women). I think that the last (and maybe only?) superhero film to be directed by a woman was Punisher: War Zone by the wonderfully outspoken Lexi Alexander. Patty Jenkins and Michelle MacLaren are going to be directing big budget films in the future and DuVernay did meet with Marvel so things are looking up.
However, lets just look at this for a second, all three of those women were way more successful than Treverrow was when he got the Jurassic World job. DuVernay (part of the Sundance 2012 class with Treverrow) directed Selma to a Best Picture nomination, Patty Jenkins directed Charlize Theron to an Oscar, and Michelle MacLaren is TV’s most reliable director because of her work on Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. So before we even get into hot women “wren’t interested” we have to first recognize the imbalance. Treverrow got the keys to the Jurassic kingdom after Safety Not Guaranteed, one film. So you can already see the leg up.
The main thing I want to get into is what Treverrow says about himself. The comments he made above weren’t the best, but luckily we have Twitter, right?
Colin can claim these critiques being unfair and be mad that his name constantly being brought up as a part of the problem, which he alludes to in the tweet above. However, Mr. Treverrow YOU STILL GOT HIRED TO DIRECT JURASSIC WORLD AFTER ONLY MAKING ONE INDIE FILM THAT BARELY REGISTERED AND GOT HIRED TO DIRECT A STAR WARS MOVIE. How do you, Mr. Holding the Keys to Two Huge Franchises, feel like you are a victim? [Also LOL at the “top female filmmakers” as if you are a top male filmmaker, if you don’t get the fuck…] No one is saying that you have to turn down the franchises you are getting but to sit here and act as if your race and gender has nothing to do with how you got those jobs is foolish. I mean didn’t you get put up for this job because Brad Bird (a white man) talked to Steven Spielberg (another white man) about how you reminded him of himself? That familiarity and connection would absolutely not be there if not for your gender and race, so you can cut the shit.
Which brings me to the larger issue, is that white male filmmakers are always considered at the top of lists and at the forefront of making these movies by a large margin. And with respect to Treverrow, this is a system wide problem. Josh Trank completely shit the bed with Fantastic Four but I strongly doubt he’ll never get another big budget film. There’s umpteen white directors who get countless chances to try and fail, but meanwhile women filmmakers don’t even get the chance to direct one. We can’t hide behind the guise of “the stories women want to tell aren’t big blockbusters” when we vitally need those voices in those franchises.
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