Spike Lee on Hollywood's attitude towards diversity

Lee said when he goes through Hollywood offices, there are only white faces, and the only person of colour is the man checking the name at the door.

Governors Award recipient Spike Lee reminded hundreds of Hollywood heavy-hitters about their failure at diversity, warning, "You better get smart" about making films that represent the population - because by 2043, Caucasians are going to be the minority in the U.S. Lee's 15-minute speech was delivered in a calm and genial manner, concluding Saturday's awards ceremony that also honoured Debbie Reynolds and Gena Rowlands.
Lee said when he goes through Hollywood offices, there are only white faces, and the only person of colour is the man checking the name at the door. "This industry is so behind, it's ridiculous," he said, adding that it's apparently easier for a black person to become president of the U.S. than the head of a studio or TV network.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs opened the evening by urging Hollywood to move ahead on diversity, saying, "Words are not enough; we need to take action." She said the Academy has begun a program called A20/20, a five-year plan to get executives to think outside the traditional thinking when hiring, mentoring and encouraging new talent. She also addressed the deaths in Paris on Friday, saying "all of us here stand in solidarity with France and the French people." Isaacs also got applause when she pointed out that the evening's three honorees are important artists "who happen to be two women and one African-American man."
The opening and closing remarks added a sociopolitical touch to the evening, which mixed awards buzz, movie-biz nostalgia and the mingling of old and new Hollywood, as movie royalty like Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda and Ian McKellen met with Ice Cube, Saoirse Ronan and Joel Edgerton. Debbie Reynolds was unable to accept her Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in person, so her granddaughter Billie Lourd made a brief and charming acceptance speech in her place. And an audio recording was played of Reynolds, sounding deeply moved in thanking the Academy Board of Governors for the honour. Fonda and Meryl Streep introduced the segment saluting Reynolds, with 25-plus charities benefiting from her philanthropy. The presentation made particular note of the Thalians, which Reynolds has been spearheading in its work on mental health issues since the 1950s. It also pointed out her decades-long work at preserving Hollywood heritage, including her rescue of 3,500 movie costumes. Cate Blanchett honoured Rowlands as an inspiration, for bringing the "intense authenticity and immediacy" of a live-theater experience to her film work. Laura Linney said Rowlands "smashed and destroyed" the traditional female image of her generation by creating a seismic shift in the depiction of women in her films with John Cassavetes. The actresses were followed by film clips, narrated by Angelina Jolie, of the their work over the years. Rowlands received two standing ovations, before and after her acceptance speech, in which she paid tribute to writers and told a funny anecdote about working with her idol, Bette Davis. She was presented her trophy by son Nick Cassavetes.
The comic highlight of the evening was the interplay among Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Wesley Snipes as they bantered about working with Lee. Jackson hailed the filmmaker as an "American anarchist" and Washington said Lee had put more African-American people to work than anyone else in the history of this business. At Saturday's event, the three Governors Award Oscar honorees are allegedly the focus, but for some reason, awards strategists have come to regard the evening as a crucial step in the awards season. Many of the year's contenders are living and/or working out of town, but studios demand that their Oscar hopefuls come to L.A. for this rite. And every year it seems to get more intense. The Academy's tip sheet offered more than 100 names of people who are front-runners, dark horses, or are connected with films that are in the mix.
The impressive list of attendees included Danny Boyle, Michael Caine, Scott Cooper, Tom Courtenay, Bryan Cranston, John Crowley, Johnny Depp, Michael Keaton, Brie Larson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Helen Mirren, Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Brett Ratner, Mark Ruffalo, Kurt Russell, Aaron Sorkin, and Diane Warren.