Steve McQueen’s latest film, action-thriller Widows starring Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki, is well-regarded by critics, earning a 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However, despite the good word of mouth, McQueen says that many reviews, including the positive ones, are laced with their fair share of discrimination.
“Through the critique of this movie, I’ve seen sexism in a way and racism in a way, which is interesting, even if it’s a positive review,” the director said to BuzzFeed News’ Facebook Watch series Profile. “People don’t even notice that, but when you’ve got 90 percent of the critics are white males, that’s what happens.”
We need more women directors,” he said. “We need more Black directors. We need more of a diversity across the board of representations within movies as well as critics.”
The film journalism industry is in the midst of a sea change; after a study revealed that most mainstream critics are white and male, Rotten Tomatoes has made a concerted effort to include more marginalized voices. Recently, the site has added 200 critics of varying diverse backgrounds, including critics who work primarily in video and audio.
Widows will be in theaters November 16.
READ MORE:
Viola Davis On How The ‘Regular Black Woman’ Is Missing From Cinema And That ‘Widows’ Opening Kiss
