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Sam Mendes has said he believes it’s ‘inevitable’ that awards will move to gender-neutral categories in the future.
The film director and screenwriter, 57, admitted that he thinks it’s ‘perfectly reasonable’ to scrap the separate male and female categories when it comes to giving out honours.
In pursuit of making the film industry more inclusive, he told the BBC: ‘I have total sympathy with it, yeah, and I think it might well be inevitable in the end.’
The future: Sam Mendes has said he believes it’s ‘inevitable’ that awards will move to gender-neutral categories
The ‘Empire of Light’ director – who won an Oscar in 2000 for ‘American Beauty’ and a BAFTA for ‘1917’ in 2020 – insisted awards shows are mainly about ‘selling’ movies and entertaining viewers with a TV show.
He added: ‘For me, people forget with awards, I think this happens all the time, they use it as a bellwether for the industry but the truth is awards are a TV show.
‘You know, awards are there to promote films. If that film wins an award, I’m more likely to go and see it and that’s what you’re doing there.’
‘It’s not about yourself, it’s not about the art or craft of the industry, especially, it’s about selling films.’
Admissions: The film director admitted that he thinks it’s ‘perfectly reasonable’ to scrap the separate male and female categories when it comes to giving out honours
But Sam insisted he wasn’t dismissing the accolades he has received in the past.
He continued: ‘I’m not dismissing the importance of them but I’m saying they were there to promote films and the craft and art of films. They’re the shop window but they’re not the thing itself.’
The debate surrounding gender neutral categories was sparked after Emma Corrin – who identifies as non-binary and used gender-neutral pronouns – previously called for gender to be abolished at awards ceremonies.
The Crown star said: ‘I hope for a future in which that happens. I don’t think the categories are inclusive enough at the moment.
Inclusive: In pursuit of making the film industry more inclusive, he told the BBC: ‘I have total sympathy with it, yeah, and I think it might well be inevitable in the end’
‘It’s difficult for me at the moment trying to justify in my head being non-binary and being nominated in female categories.
‘When it comes to categories, do we need to make it specific as to whether you’re being nominated for a female role or a male role?’
Sam’s comments come after the director opened up about his childhood and being raised by a single mother in a new interview, following his parents’ divorce when he was just three.
He admitted that he had to ‘parent’ his own mother, Valerie, from a young age – growing up faster than most as he watched her ‘manipulated’ by men.
Where it started: The debate surrounding gender neutral categories was sparked after Emma Corrin – who identifies as non-binary and used gender-neutral pronouns – previously called for gender to be abolished at awards ceremonies
And this upbringing was the inspiration for his new and extremely personal movie Empire Of Light, which is based on his mother’s battle with mental health.
Sam was three when his parents, children’s novelist/author Valerie and university professor Jameson Peter Mendes split.
This left Valerie a single mother to the budding film buff, who explains that this was also a large role for him to take on as the male of the house.
Talking with The Guardian, he explained: ‘When you’re a child, you deal with what’s in front of you. And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Mother and son: Sam’s comments come after the director opened up about his childhood and being raised by a single mother in a new interview, following his parents’ divorce (pictured with his mother Valerie in 2000)
‘It definitely gave me resources, but it also turned me into a caretaker. In a sense I was parenting my own mother.’
Touching on his mother, now 83, and her battle with mental health, Sam said: ‘Even as a child, I could see that my mother, when she was medicated or controlled, was being manipulated, mostly by men.
‘Coming off the medication allowed her finally to tell them the truth. I did feel that was heroic. There was something extraordinary when she turned on them. And magnificent. Her full self was expressed,’ he continued.
He recalled: ”It definitely gave me resources, but it also turned me into a caretaker. In a sense I was parenting my own mother’ (pictured in the early 2000s)
He drew on these experiences for Empire Of Light, which is a romance/drama that focuses on a single woman with mental health struggles.
The new release boasts quite the cast, with Olivia Colman, Colin Firth and Michael Ward all taking large roles.
Sam’s mother Valerie has seen the flick and has given it her stamp of approval, with the director explaining: ‘You are very aware the film is informed by autobiography, and alert to the sensitivities of that. There’s a fragility in certain scenes that you have to honour.’
Plot: The filmmaker’s new movie Empire of Light is a romance/drama that focuses on a single woman with mental health struggles
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