This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be introducing four new diversity and inclusion standards that must be met in order for a film to be considered for an Oscar nomination.
Richard Dreyfuss, who won an Oscar in 1978 and a nomination in 1996, is not fan of these new requirements, and came out swinging in a recent interview with PBS’ “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover”.
“They make me vomit,” Dreyfuss said when asked what he thought about the Oscars’ inclusion standards, and proceeded to explain why.
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“Because this is an art form,” Dreyfuss stated.
“It’s also a form of commerce, and it makes money. But it’s an art. And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is,” he continued.
“And what are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that. You have to let life be life. I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that,” Dreyfuss explained.
Dreyfuss then went on to defend a white actor portraying a Black character in Blackface, using Shakespeare’s “Othello” as an example.
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“You know, Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965. And he did it in Blackface. And he played a Black man brilliantly. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play ‘The Merchant of Venice’? Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art?” Dreyfuss said.
“This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children,” he added.
Drefuss’s comments can be seen in the video below, with the conversation beginning at the 19:40 mark.
According to Variety, four new diversity and inclusion standards were announced back in 2020, and will be implemented for the first time in the 2024 Oscars.
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The four standards are: expanding on-screen representation, themes or narrative; expanding representation among creative leadership and department heads; providing industry access and opportunities to underrepresented demographics; and expanding representation in audience development.
Two of those four standards must be fulfilled in order for a film to be submitted for best picture consideration.
