If it wasn’t for black male actors, women “would still be shut out” of Hollywood, according to award-winning actress Sally Field.
In a new interview with BuzzFeed, Field said issues such as gender pay disparities are being recognized more in the film industry because men are getting involved, and that black men, in particular, are broadening the conversation surrounding diversity.
“There’s a huge conversation about diversity happening across the boards -- which is what it always should have been -- that has to do with color and race and gender preferences and men and women,” Field said. “I think perhaps the fact it’s not just women now, that there’s others involved… I have to say, honestly, the fact men are involved. Thank God for African-American men. You go, boys! We’re right behind you. Because the women would still be shut out. It’s sad but true.”
In recent months actors David Oyelowo, Nate Parker, and Idris Elba have all publicly shared their thoughts on the need for diversity in TV and film. Field went on to tell BuzzFeed that she supports them and their advocacy.
“I’m standing right behind 'Beasts of No Nation.' I’m with them,” she said of the film that starred Elba. “Maybe that’s because of my generation of women, who kind of went, ‘I already feel beat up, so I am accepting it.’ I [didn’t] head right towards them and say, ‘Ef you and the horse you rode in on.’ Which, you know, might not have been a bad idea.”
Read more of Sally Field’s interview with BuzzFeed here.
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