The issue here is equality of opportunity. It is a stark and clear fact that many of the male directors hired for high-profile, big-budget film franchise opportunities were, at the time, either no more qualified than their female counterparts, or demonstrably less qualified. If this were the case in a handful of examples, the argument that perhaps they were simply the best-suited for the job – in terms of vision and understanding – might hold water. In reality, when it happens as often as it does, it is actually a trend that highlights the institutional sexism inherent in mainstream filmmaking.
A case often cited in support of this argument is that of Joe and Anthony Russo, who were hired to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier after a couple of middling performance comedy films and the rest of their time spent directing episodes of sitcoms. The Russo brothers are not exceptional in this regard, however. Josh Trank, for example, directed five episodes of The Kill Point for television, before making the well-received independent film Chronicle. He was then handed the upcoming re-boot of Fantastic Four. Similarly, Rian Johnson went from Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper and three episodes of Breaking Bad, to being the director of two planned Star Wars sequels.
Thor: The Dark World is a fascinating case study. Award-winning director Patty Jenkins was initially hired to helm the sequel, which would have made her the second female director of a Marvel movie – the first being Lexi Alexander with Punisher: War Zone in 2008. However, Jenkins dropped out shortly afterward, due to ‘creative differences’ and was replaced by Alan Taylor. Taylor had spent the previous 20 years directing mainly television – including Oz, Homicide: Life On The Street, The West Wing, Six Feet Under, Lost, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Boardwalk Empire and Game Of Thrones. On the strength of his Thor sequel, he was hired for Terminator: Genisys.
For every Alan Taylor, there are countless female directors with incredibly similar experience – up to the point of being hired for giant movie franchises, of course. This is why it is important that the conversation about the lack of female directors becomes more visible now – because, with studios announcing their planned release slates for the next five years, there are dozens of franchise opportunities currently without a director.
At the moment, the big studios seem intent on hiring female directors for female-led stories only, so it is vital to publicly scrutinize the hiring processes being demonstrated. This doesn’t mean dispensing with appreciation for good filmmaking, just because it comes from a man – but it does mean asking why a woman wasn’t given the same opportunity. For example, while recently extolling the virtues of the undeniably well-crafted Daredevil miniseries on Netflix, how many people also bothered to highlight the fact that there were no females whatsoever involved in the directing of its 13 episodes? The same issue exists with series such as Bloodline. Both titles have been renewed, and would greatly benefit from a move to hire some female directors (and more female writers) – not least because it would mean the development of female characters other than those defined by the male gaze.
Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Inhumans, Shazam!, Cyborg, Green Lantern, the untitled sequel to Terminator: Genisys, the later two stand-alone Star Wars spin-off movies, Fast & Furious 8, James Bond 25, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Silver Chair – these are just a few of the franchise instalments either currently up for grabs, or imminently due to begin development. The simple fact is that if equality of opportunity actually existed in mainstream filmmaking, there would be as many female directors under consideration for those films as male directors – and as many winning the job. But there aren’t.
The greatest fallacy of all is that gender equality is difficult to achieve, and that we just need to ‘be patient’. It’s a fallacy, because all that is needed is for studios to hire directors that are female. That’s it – and they’re not difficult to find. Here, for example, are 12 female directors currently working in television, who are talented, qualified and have earned a franchise opportunity – because, having dominated the small screen with their episodic instalments for years, franchise film is the next logical step.
