As Meryl Streep almost bounced in joy, McDormand urged all the women nominees, in various categories, across the hall at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, to stand up and be seen and be heard.
ON A night when the Oscar statuette was celebrated by host Jimmy Kimmel as being “the most beloved and respected man in Hollywood” for, importantly, having “no penis at all”, you could trust the best and brightest night in the entertainment business to proudly wear its fig leaf. There were no black gowns or white roses to mark the #MeToo moment, having had their run in the award season leading up to the Oscars. But the sexual harassment allegations and the equality debate, gender and otherwise, stayed up and front at the 90th Academy Awards — in the actors facing charges who didn’t show up (most prominently last year’s Best Actor Casey Affleck), the films that won, the speeches that were made, and a video clip that was featured (presented by three outspoken “victims” of Harvey Weinstein).
But it took Best Actress winner Frances McDormand to stir that glittery hall literally to its feet. McDormand has been picking up all the available acting trophies for her scorching performance in Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, and hammering in her point on gender equality each time. However, she reserved her best for her Oscar crowning glory. As Meryl Streep almost bounced in joy, McDormand urged all the women nominees, in various categories, across the hall at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, to stand up and be seen and be heard. As they rose, up and down the rows, left and right of the aisle, the A-listers and the backbenchers, first tentatively, then grinning, last teary-eyed, finally hugging, it was the one affirmatory moment that an apologetic Hollywood had been waiting for since the Weinstein scandal broke. “Look around everybody,” urged McDormand to her audience, “we all have stories to tell and projects to be financed.” And as everyone looked, those faces suddenly didn’t seem an insignificant drop in the ocean; it was a collective fist striking the glass ceiling.
Still, it was one night, and tomorrow is another day. McDormand noted this too in her speech, hoping that the equality talk wouldn’t remain party chatter, and would also see calls to offices for meetings. McDormand’s solution, an “inclusive rider” seeking more “diversity” in casting and crew, that actors could have written into their film contracts, may prove even more elusive. It has been always around, the 60-year-old admitted, and after 35 years in the business, she first got to know of it a few days ago.
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