As of 2024, films must meet specific criteria calling for representation of minority groups in order to be considered for the Oscars award for best picture. Jaws star, Richard Dreyfuss recently stated that the newfound rules “make me vomit” in an interview Friday on the PBS series “Firing Line.”
The explanation for his strong reaction: “Because it is an art form.”
“It’s also a form of commerce and it makes money,” Dreyfuss said. “But it’s an art. And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give into the latest, most current idea of what morality is.”
The standards, two of which must be fulfilled, include conditions that at least one lead actor from an “underrepresented racial or ethnic group” is featured in the movie, 30 percent or more of all secondary actors are from the underrepresented group, or the film plot must revolve around one.
“I don’t think that there is a minority or a majority in this country that has to be catered to like that,” Dreyfuss stated in the PBS interview.
Other standards encompass representation of behind-the-scenes staff such as those in departments for marketing, publicity, and distribution.
Dreyfuss continued with labeling the Academy’s new racial guidelines “patronizing.” He added that they serve to treat film industry professionals “like children.”
“It says that we’re so fragile, that we can’t have our feelings hurt,” he concluded.
The inclusion standards were passed in an effort to address inequality in Hollywood, which resulted in the emergence of the #OscarsSoWhite movement in 2015.
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