Superstar Geena Davis doesn’t sound on board with the idea of gender-neutral acting awards as the Independent Spirit Awards becomes the latest ones to go woke with its honors.
The 66-year-old actress admitted she hadn’t heard that the Spirit Awards had made the decision to remove the categories “best actress” and “best actor,” but made it clear she wasn’t all for it, the New Yorker reported in a piece published Sunday.
“I hadn’t heard that, Davis shared. “So is there just going to be one Best Actor award instead of two?”
The interviewer explained that the awards show would instead go with “lead actor” and “supporting acting category” with ten nominees each.
“People would say that I played eccentric characters. But in those circumstances I’m the normal one,” the actor Geena Davis says, in a new interview. “Even in ‘Stuart Little,’ Hugh Laurie and I are very normal about having a mouse as a son.” https://t.co/rRCKNkn8oU
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) October 16, 2022
“Well, right there, you’re losing half of the awards, which might not be desirable,” Davis explained. “In a perfect world where male and female actors got an equal number of roles, and equally interesting and complicated roles, then I could see doing that, but it’s stacked against us from the beginning.”
“I feel like that’s a little too soon,” she added. “I haven’t really thought about it that much, but it’ll be interesting to see if an equal number of times a woman wins as a man.”
The Spirit Awards follows similar moves by the Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys, who have all gone gender neutral, the Hollywood Reporter noted.
In August, the Film Independent’s Spirit Awards announced it would follow other awards shows and start honoring “acting without reference” to gender in its upcoming ceremony being held in March 2023, as previously reported.
“We’re thrilled to join the other festivals and award shows that are already moving to celebrate great acting without reference to gender,” Film Independent President Josh Welsh shared at the time.
“We’re also happy to welcome non-binary performers into the Spirit Awards without forcing them to choose to identify as male or female,” he added. “Additionally, it has been a long time since we substantially increased the budget limit for eligibility. This new cap allows us to continue to celebrate the same breadth of work that we have in the past.”