Since women are pushing for seats on the Academy board in record-breaking numbers, we hoped that, after being faced with a whole lot of very warranted criticism, the Academy would show an effort to diversify its ranks with this year’s crop of newly invited members. Unfortunately, it looks like the Academy is committed to remaining stagnant. TheWrap reports that women make up only 25% of 2015’s 322 invitees. What’s also notable about the new class is that it includes fewer than 20 black members, about 14 Asian/Pacific Islander members and only a few members from Latin American backgrounds.
In 2012, the Los Angeles Times revealed that the Academy was 94 percent white and 77 percent male. Those numbers are actually pretty hilarious if you’re a fan of dark humor. The Oscars are staggeringly white and male — an exemplar of so much that is wrong in Hollywood. The media has noticed. The public has noticed. When will the Academy show some self-awareness and make much-needed and overdue changes? TheWrap reports, “When queried, the Academy said they had not tallied the number of women and minorities invited and declined to comment for this story.” But tallying is what it will take for them to see how skewed the numbers are.
Only three female directors were invited to join that branch of the Academy: Lynn Shelton (“Laggies”), Kelly Reichardt (“Wendy and Lucy”) and Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”). Female invitees in the acting category include Elizabeth Banks, Felicity Jones and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs stated, “This year, our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization.” But according to TheWrap, “[b]efore 2010, women typically made up between 20 and 25 percent of the people invited to join the Academy. The number jumped to almost 30 percent in 2011 and 2012 and topped 30 percent in 2013.”
To reiterate, women account for 25 percent of this year’s invitees. We can’t help but wish this list was dramatically more diverse and inclusive. We say this as ardent fans of movies, the Oscars and equality. We say this as optimists who believe the Oscars can and will change.
Here are the female invitees (adapted from a complete list of 2015 invitees provided by a press release):
Actors
Elizabeth Banks — “Love & Mercy,” “The Hunger Games”
Heather Graham — “The Hangover,” “Boogie Nights”
Felicity Jones — “The Theory of Everything,” “Like Crazy”
Jodi Long — “A Picture of You,” “Beginners”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw — “Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”
Rosamund Pike — “Gone Girl,” “Pride & Prejudice”
Emma Stone — “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Help”
Casting Directors
Lucy Bevan — “Cinderella,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Victoria Burrows — “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “King Kong”
Aisha Coley — “Selma,” “Beyond the Lights”
Patricia DiCerto — “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Mary Hidalgo — “The Lego Movie,” “The Incredibles”
Lucie Robitaille — “Incendies,” “The Barbarian Invasions””
April Webster — “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek”
Tricia Wood — “Woman in Gold,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”
Cinematographers
Rachel Morrison — “Cake,” “Fruitvale Station”
Costume Designers
Kasia Walicka Maimone — “Foxcatcher,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Francesca Livia Sartori — “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,” “When the Night”
Jany Temime — “Gravity,” “Skyfall”
Designers
Gae Buckley — “The Book of Eli,” “He’s Just Not That into You”
Suzie Davies — “Mr. Turner,” “The Children”
Bryn Imagire — “Cars 2,” “Up”
Dina Lipton — “Baggage Claim,” “Love Hurts”
Tatiana Macdonald — “The Imitation Game,” “The Invisible Woman”
Charlotte Watts — “Mr. Holmes,” “Mr. Turner”
Directors
Niki Caro — “North Country,” “Whale Rider”
Kelly Reichardt — “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Wendy and Lucy”
Lynn Shelton — “Laggies,” “Your Sister’s Sister”
Documentary
Mathilde Bonnefoy* — “CitizenFour,” “The Invisibles”
Geralyn Dreyfous — “The Square,” “The Invisible War”
Shana Hagan — “Misconception,” “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”
Pirjo Honkasalo — “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia,” “Atman”
Judy Irving — “Pelican Dreams,” “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
Pratibha Parmar — “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” “A Place of Rage”
Paula DuPre’ Pesmen — “Keep On Keepin’ On,” “The Cove”
Kim Roberts — “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
Ondi Timoner — “We Live in Public,” “Dig!”
Executives
Carolyn Blackwood
Lia Buman
Mellody Hobson
Film Editors
Nadia Ben Rachid — “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Kristina Boden — “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “Cake”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* — “CitizenFour,” “Run Lola Run”
Jinx Godfrey — “The Theory of Everything,” “Man on Wire”
Tara Timpone — “Friends with Kids,” “Bad Teacher”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Frida S. Aradottir — “August: Osage County,” “A Serious Man”
Victoria Down — “Big Eyes,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Frances Hannon — “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The King’s Speech”
Janine Rath-Thompson — “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Bridesmaids”
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou — “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “An Education”
Members-at-Large
Debbie Denise
Elissa M. Rashkin Loparco
Nicole Scalise
Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson
Music
Lisa Jaime — “Annie,” “Rock of Ages”
Laura Karpman — “States of Grace,” “Black Nativity”
Erica Weis — “Spy,” “The Heat”
Producers
Caroline Baron — “Capote,” “Monsoon Wedding”
Effie T. Brown — “Dear White People,” “Real Women Have Curves”
Pamela Koffler — “Still Alice,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Gina Kwon — “Camp X-Ray,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Bruna Papandrea — “Wild,” “All Good Things”
Lydia Dean Pilcher — “Cutie and the Boxer,” “The Darjeeling Limited”
Rebecca Yeldham — “On the Road,” “The Kite Runner”
Public Relations
Jennifer Allen
Dawn Baillie
Liz Biber
Mara Buxbaum
Michelle Hooper
Susan Norget
LeeAnne Stables
Ryan Stankevich
Bonnie Voland
Short Films and Feature Animation
Kristine Belson — “The Croods,” “How to Train Your Dragon”
Darlie Brewster — “Curious George,” “The Prince of Egypt”
Talkhon Hamzavi — “Parvaneh,” “Taub”
Kristina Reed — “Feast,” “Paperman””
Sound
Mary H. Ellis — “Vacation,” “Prisoners”
Stephanie Flack — “Jupiter Ascending,” “Ender’s Game”
Kyrsten Mate — “Tomorrowland,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Visual Effects
Ellen Poon — “Frozen,” “Inception”
Writers
Maya Forbes — “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Monsters vs Aliens”
Rita Hsiao — “Toy Story 2,” “Mulan”
Kessen Tall — “Timbuktu”
Associates
Victoria Belfrage
Sharon Jackson
Patricia Keighley
Elyse Scherz
Several individuals (noted above by an asterisk) have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches. These individuals must select one branch to join.
[via TheWrap]
