It’s Been 7 Years and Natalie Portman is Yet to Work With a Female Director After Her Hypocritical Golden Globes Speech

There has always been an animosity towards women in every field of work and filmmaking remains no exception. So, when Natalie Portman took the stage as the presenter of the prestigious Golden Globe Award for Best Director for a Motion Picture in 2018, she took a moment to point out that all nominees were males.

At the time, most people praised her for bravely calling out all those who were responsible for this kind of discrimination. However, it has been 7 years since then and it is starting to look a little hypocritical of her to have not worked with a single female director in all these years.

Natalie Portman has not worked with a single female director since her bold 2018 Golden Globes moment

Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, two of the most important women who played a huge role in making Barbie the biggest blockbuster of 2023, were not even recognized by The Academy. This caused a massive uproar among fans and artists alike who criticized the Academy for its decisions. Although this could not change the situation at the time, it showed that people are aware of the injustice these award shows do sometimes.

Unsurprisingly, this was not the first time that female directors and artists were not given the credit where it was due. In 2018, something similar happened at the Golden Globes where all the nominees for Best Male Director were males even though some pretty good movies by female directors were released that year.

In a video posted by the user popculture on X, Natalie Portman called this out with a witty remark as she said: “Here are all the male nominees,” before Ron Howard began listing the nominees. Greta Gerwig was notably missing from the list although her film Lady Bird won the Golden Globe for Best Movie – Musical or Comedy.

The video resurfacing on the internet has led fans to label the actress a hypocrite because she has not worked with a single female director in the past 7 years. Here is what some of them have to say:

And yet she never once working with any other female directors

— LOML (@NothingNewTSV) January 4, 2025

… she also hasn’t worked with a female director since then! the call is coming from inside the house babes

— luca (@LucaGuadagnegro) January 4, 2025

Since then, she hasn't worked with a single female director, which seems a bit hypocritical to me

— 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒐𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏🦇 (@kuroitsune) January 4, 2025

*Proceeds to work exclusively with male directors* 🫢

— Ksana (@bigarms4me) January 4, 2025

I thought her statement was bold at the time, but her actions since then don’t really back it up🤐

— 🤍 uwu tofu 🤍 (@uwuimatofu) January 4, 2025

Fans agree that Portman made a bold statement, but they also feel that she has not made a conscious effort towards supporting female directors since then. In fact, the last time she worked with a female director was in 2016 when she starred in Planetarium, directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, pledged to make at least one movie with a female director every 18 months in 2017 (via the New Zealand Herald).

Only 3 female directors have won the Golden Globe award for Best Director so far

The Golden Globes have been around since 1943 and in the past 81 years (excluding 2025), only 3 female directors have won the Golden Globe award for Best Director. The first woman to do so was Barbra Streisand who won it in 1984 for the romantic musical drama, Yentl.

Since then, Chloé Zhao has won the award for directing 2020’s Nomadland, and Jane Campion won for 2022’s The Power of the Dog. That said, it has to be noted that the Golden Globes have had several female nominations since it was first started.

2023 was another year when a single female director was nominated for the award. This year, two women Coralie Fargeat and Payal Kapadia have been nominated for their movies, The Substance, and All We Imagine as Light respectively. Both these movies are great in their own rights and either of these women winning the award would be a huge milestone.