Greta Gerwig wrote and directed “Little Women”, but she wasn’t able to vote for herself in the race for Best Director at the Oscars due to the Academy’s strict voting rules.
When Gerwig was invited to become a member of the Academy in 2016, she was invited to join as an actor which means she is restricted to voting within that branch – even though the film she wrote and directed is nominated for Best Picture. The 36-year-old is nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
With her lack of a directing nomination widely regarded as one of the biggest snubs of this year’s awards, Gerwig tells Variety she never expected to receive a Best Director nod. Though she adds “there was clearly a chance,” following the outcry over her snub.
“There’s probably a handful of votes that went that way. I mean, mine did — oh no, I can’t!” she jokes.
Gerwig, who became only the fifth female director to be nominated in Academy history with 2017’s “Lady Bird”, now says she plans to change her membership and move from the acting branch to the directing branch.
“I think that the directors branch could probably stand to bolster its lady numbers,” she muses. “This will go to the top of my to-do list!”
Had Gerwig nabbed the Best Director nomination she would have made history, since she would have become the first woman to land two Oscar nominations in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards.
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Despite the lack of recognition at this year’s Oscars, Gerwig is overjoyed with “Little Women”‘s six nominations, especially Best Picture.
“It felt like it was for everyone,” she says of the Best Picture nod. “So there was a lot of ecstatic texting among the ‘Little Women’ chain.”
Nominations day was also a special one in her household with her partner, “Marriage Story” writer and director Noah Baumbach, whose film also landed multiple nominations.
“Noah’s across the room, and he was like, ‘I got six too!'” she explains. “I don’t know, it was an amazing day.”
