Said Foster, who was promoting her movie The Beaver, the dearth of lady directors has to do with a pervasive (and shallow) executive idea of "risk aversion."
"I don't think it's a plot and these guys sat around and said let's keep these women out," Foster said. "I think it's like race psychology. When a producer hires a director, you're hiring away your control completely. You're bringing on somebody that will change everything. When you give that amount of power up, you want them to look like you and talk like you and think like you and it's scary when they don't, because what's gonna happen? I'm gonna hand over $60 million to somebody I don't know. I hope they look like me."
When it was mentioned that many studio executives do, in fact, look like her -- a 48-year-old white female veteran of the industry, Foster nodded. "And name the lists that come out of the female studio executives: guy, guy, guy, guy," she said. "Their job is to be as risk-averse as possible. They see female directors as a risk."
This is the kind of news that makes me extra-excited for director Lorene Scafaria's upcoming comedy with Steve Carell, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and angrier about Sigourney Weaver's offhand remark that The Hurt Locker won Best Picture because director Kathryn Bigelow "had breasts." Still stings, Ripley. Still stings.
[UPDATE: Foster chats with Movieline about her role in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium and her interest in exploring genre filmmaking.]
ยท Jodie Foster: Even female execs 'see female directors as a risk' [LAT]