Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman spoke at Vulture Festival and discussed some of her experiences in Hollywood and highlighted what it’s really like being a woman in the industry. To her, it’s not easy being female- here are 3 takeaways that Portman drew on that showcase the unequal representation and power dynamic in Hollywood.
1. Being the Only Woman on Set
Even though Hollywood seems filled with strong glamorous women, that’s not necessarily the case when on set. In fact, according to Natalie Portman, often times she is the only woman on set when filming.
“Yes, it’s usually you will walk into a movie as the only woman and you are often the only woman on set. I mean, it is very rare to have female crew members apart from like, hair makeup wardrobe, like very stereotypical departments for woman to be in, and I think women experience this in a lot of industries, that if you do get the opportunity to work, you are often the only woman in the room.” To bring it more into context, Portman gave the example of how even in a movie like The Princess Diaries, there is still a lack of women on set. Portman also discussed how her friends who are lawyers, businesspeople, or writers on shows face a similar issue. Being the only woman on set or the workforce is still a systemic problem that Natalie expressed should be resolved.
2. Lack of Women Mentorship
According to Portman, when women are isolated from each other in Hollywood, it inevitably blocks them off from the opportunity to be mentored by other women in the industry. With recent exposure on Hollywood’s sexual-harassment crisis, Portman vocalized that in a way, it seems almost strategic that women are kept away from each other so they don’t have the opportunity to share stories. Because of this continued isolation, “people didn’t realize there were hundreds of people with similar stories.”
3. Manipulation and Harassment
It should come as no surprise that Natalie spoke out about the harassment women experience in Hollywood. Upon reflection, Portman realized she had never been directly harassed before, but she did have many different experiences where she dealt with manipulation. She recalled an instance where a producer offered her a private plane ride with his employees, and upon arrival, it turned out that it was just him. As she looked in the plane, she noticed one bed made. This is just one of many manipulative, unacceptable and inappropriate instances that woman face daily in the industry.
Among other topics, the Natalie’s discussion on women in film was prominent in her conversation at Vulture Festival. For Portman, her recent films where she gets to work with a substantial amount of women is refreshing. “You’re not looked at as an ‘other.’ All of a sudden, it normalizes being female on a set.”
Photo courtesy of Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Vulture Festival