‘The Revenant’ Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Chimes In On #OscarsSoWhite: ‘Cinema Is A Mirror’

Alejandro González Iñárritu, the director of The Revenant, has enjoyed a long string of success when it comes to Oscar nominations for his films. Five of his six major productions have been nominated for either Best Picture of Best Foreign Language Film, and the one movie from Alejandro left out, 21 Grams, picked up acting nominations for Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts.

In fact, the biggest strike facing Iñárritu as he heads into the 2016 Best Picture race with The Revenant is probably that his single-shot masterpiece Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) took home the prize last year. It’s safe to say Alejandro has been well-recognized by the Academy.

However, when speaking at a Producers Guild of America breakfast on Saturday about The Revenant, Iñárritu delivered his own comments about the perceived diversity problem in the way that the Academy votes. The director stated that he felt it was important for a country like the United States to honor its rich multiculturalism by assuring everyone received ample representation, reported Variety.

“The demographic complexity of this country should be reflected not only at the end of the chain, but since the beginning, in order that more of these people can be excited and integrated.”

Alejandro’s comments came on the tail of a week-long controversy over a lack of a single non-white actor in the Oscar acting categories — for the second year in a row. Iñárritu was no doubt pleased to see The Revenant pick up 12 nominations, including one for Leonardo DiCaprio for best actor and Tom Hardy for Best Supporting Actor. Still, it seems the director is of the position that the Academy needs a compositional shake-up.

The Revenant director and other critics were pleased to see their gripes taken seriously by the Oscar committee. From now on, voters will not be given lifetime membership unless they are active in film for three consecutive decades, or if they have been nominated for an award. Additionally, three new seats will open up on the Governor’s Board that will allow new members to have a key voice in decisions affecting the group’s diversity: a goal that will now become a primary focus, said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up. These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”

The force behind The Revenant agreed that these newest measures could potentially alter the representation problem at the Oscars. Still, the director cautioned, the issue should not be oversimplified.

“These changes the Academy has made are a great step, but the Academy is at the end of the chain. Hopefully these positive changes can start from the beginning of the chain… Cinema is a mirror by which we often see ourselves… That’s the role we play as filmmakers. If that power is not transmitted on the screens, there’s something wrong.”

Apart from The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu, supportive and dismissive comments rang out from both nominees and disgruntled actors and filmmakers who lost out. Charlotte Rampling, who received a nomination for her work in 45 Years, eventually had to walk back statements she made about the uproar being “racism against whites.” Julie Delpy, who was nominated for writing Oscars for the last two films in the Before Sunrise trilogy, also released a statement asking for forgiveness for saying that she “wished she was African American” because it was easier for them in Hollywood than for women.

[Image via Mike Windell/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter]