Hollywood’s woke new rules aren’t sitting well with actor Richard Dreyfuss, who said the Oscars’ diversity requirements for films to win best picture make him sick.
To be considered for the most sought-after award, films must meet certain requirements, including having an actor in a lead role be from “an underrepresented racial or ethnic group,” having at least 30 percent of the general ensemble cast be from at least two underrepresented groups, or the story must focus on LGBTQ people, women, disabled people, or a racial group.
“What do you think of these new inclusion standards for films?” Dreyfuss was asked during an interview with PBS’s “Firing Line.”
“They make me vomit,” he replied.
“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. What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that. You have to let life be life and I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that,” the Academy and Golden Globe Award winner added.
The "Jaws" star went on to defend English actor Laurence Olivier, who wore blackface for the 1965 British adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello."
“Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965,” Dreyfuss said. “And he did it in blackface. And he played a black man brilliantly.”
He continued: “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?”
Dreyfuss went on to call the move "patronizing."
"It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children," he added.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss says Hollywood’s new inclusivity standards make him want to vomit. Good. More actors, directors and producers need to speak up. Not all great stories are diverse. Not all true stories are diverse. Forced diversity hurts everyone.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 7, 2023
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The new diversity requirements will begin in 2024.