Why Catherine Hardwicke Couldn't Direct 'The Fighter'

thefrisky
“I couldn’t get an interview even though my last movie made $400 million. I was told it had to be directed by a man — am I crazy? []The Fighter’] is about action, it’s about boxing, so a man has to direct it. ... But they let a man direct ‘Sex and the City’ or any girly movie you’ve ever heard of.”
— “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke exposes sexism in Hollywood against female directors and this notion that they can only direct certain types of films. The directorial job on “The Fighter” went to David O. Russell and Hardwicke agreed he did a good job. But it’s complete BS, as she said, that she was told “The Fighter” had to be directed by a man.

Interestingly, though, this is not the first time Catherine Hardwicke has mentioned this nasty brush with sexism. I was reading an interview Hardwicke did with journalist Jenni Miller in Bust magazine and she alluded to the incident with “The Fighter” — though she didn’t name the film — and expounded on the BS she has to endure:

“Even after the success of ‘Twilight,’ there was a very interesting film that had two guys in it and it was a lot of testosterone and was a really intense drama and I said, ‘Oh I’m interested in directing that.’ And the word came back, ‘No, they won’t even meet with you because it’s got to be a guy directing it.’ I’m like, ‘Wow, OK.’ The most teenage, girly movies of all time get to be directed by men, no issue, but a woman can’t go and direct something else. There’s still that hilarious divide. [Now people are saying], ‘Oh, yeah, Kathryn Bigelow, she can direct action.’ Well, she’s done that on five other movies. How is this suddenly a revelation? It’s like, guys, wake up. Look at her other films. It’s just kind of crazy. There have been so many ‘girly movies,’ like ‘Sex and the City’ or this or that, that people have no issues with a man directing. But I couldn’t even get in the door. ... You keep hoping things will change. The person they hired for that particular job I’m thinking of has had, like, three bombs in a row, but he’s a guy. It’s just kind of weird. Hopefully the high-profile status of Kathryn’s last movie can help change that and bust open a couple of doors. We can only pray, you know?”