Richard Dreyfuss, an Oscar winning actor and star of Jaws, has crticised the Academy’s new diversity rules. Source: DreyfussCivic/Wikimedia Commons
Academy Award-winning actor, Richard Dreyfuss has given harsh criticism of the Oscar’s new diversity and inclusion standards for ‘Best Picture’ nominees, saying the rules “make me vomit.”
During an interview on PBS’ Firing Line, Dreyfuss told host Margaret Hoover that he disagreed with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new rules.
“Starting in 2024, films will be required to meet new inclusion standards to be eligible for the Academy Awards for best picture. They’ll have to have a certain percentage of actors or crew from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups,” said Hoover.
“What do you think of these new inclusion standards for films?”
Dreyfuss was blunt with his response saying, “They make me vomit.”
“This is an art form,” he said. “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. And what are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that.”
Dreyfuss won the Best Actor Oscar in 1978 for his performance in The Goodbye Girl, but is most well known for his roles in Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both Steven Spielberg directed films.
During the Firing Line interview, Richard Dreyfuss defended Laurence Olivier’s 1965 portrayal of Othello, an Oscar-nominated role in which the English actor wore blackface.
“Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965,” Dreyfuss said to Hoover. “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.”
Announced in 2020, the Academy’s new rules are set to go into effect for the 2025 Oscars. Included in the rules is the requirement that any film to be nominated for ‘Best Picture’ must adhere to at least one out of the three following standards:
- At least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.
- At least 30% of all actors in secondary and more minor roles are from at least two of the underrepresented groups, including women; a racial or ethnic group; LGBTQ+; or people with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or head of hearing
- The main storyline(s) theme, or narrative of the film being centered on one of the previously mentioned underrepresented groups
The new standards were established in part as an attempt to modernise the Oscars, which has seen falling ratings, particularly with younger audiences. There had also been calls to boycott the awards, with #OscarsSoWhite trending in 2016 due to the lack of diversity among Oscar nominees.
The Academy president, Janet Yang told Sky News that the changes were about “finding the right balance. So, we want rules that make sense, that keep people kind of on your toes about it, but not telling people what to make.”
The 2023 Oscars were seen as a big moment for representation in Hollywood, despite the rules not coming into effect, when the Asian-led movie Everything Everywhere All At Once won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Michelle Yeoh’s performance.
