Rose McGowan went after fellow actress Natalie Portman in a scathing Facebook post on Tuesday, just two days after Portman appeared at the Oscars with the names of overlooked female directors embroidered into her Dior cape.
“The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot. More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do,” wrote McGowan, who has spent much of her time in the last few years speaking out against disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein as he faces criminal charges for sexual assault and other felony counts.
“I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work. I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust,” she went on. “I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.”
She also tore into Portman’s history within her own production company, Handsomecharlie Films: “Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career — one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director — you.” (Editor’s note: Portman worked with director Mira Nair in 2008’s “New York, I Love You.”)
A review of the company’s films proves that to be true. Portman has directed two of the company’s eight movies. The other six were directed by men.
“I was at a Women in Film event that you spoke at once, Natalie. You reeled off depressing statistics and then we all went back to our salads. I quickly realized you and the other women speakers (and that joke of an organization) are just… frauds. You say nothing, you do nothing,” McGowan wrote.
A representative for Women in Film — one of the longest-running organizations fighting for parity in the industry — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Representatives for Portman also did not immediately return a request for comment.
During Sunday’s pre-Oscars red carpet event, Los Angeles Times journalist Amy Kaufman tweeted a video showing that Portman’s custom outfit bore the names of Lulu Wang, Greta Gerwig, Lorene Scafaria, Marielle Heller, Alma Har’el and Mari Diop, and others. All of them are female directors who were not nominated for an award at the ceremony this year.
You can watch Portman explain her fashion — and political — statement below:
Natalie Portman embroidered her Dior cape with all of the female directors who weren't nominated for #Oscars. Check out her explanation here. pic.twitter.com/kyyo2wVMZf
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 10, 2020