Elizabeth Banks responds to backlash after 'calling out' Steven Spielberg on lack of female lead roles: 'I messed up'
The Pitch Perfect 2 director says she framed her words 'inaccurately'
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Your support makes all the difference.Elizabeth Banks has written a formal apology after receiving a backlash to comments she made about Hollywood film director Steven Spielberg.
The Pitch Perfect 2 filmmaker, who was who was receiving an honour for excellence in feature directing at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards on Wednesday (14 June), criticised Spielberg for not making enough films with women in the lead roles saying: “I went to Indiana Jones and Jaws and every movie Steven Spielberg ever made. And by the way, he’s never made a movie with a female lead. Sorry, Steven. I don’t mean to call your ass out, but it’s true.”
Following the comment, many were quick to point out that - while a small amount when taking into account his career spanning four decades - three of the filmmaker's films have, in fact, featured female characters in the lead roles: The Sugarland Express (1974) bore a top-billing for Goldie Hawn while Whoopi Goldberg is one of the leads in 1985's The Color Purple. Additionally, aside from Mark Rylance's turn as The BFG, young star Ruby Barnhill is arguably the lead of the maestro's 2016 Roald Dahl adaptation.
The Hunger Games star Banks has since elaborated upon her comments on social media telling her fans that she “...messed up” and had “framed her words... inaccurately.”
“When I made the comments, I was thinking about recent films Steven directed, it was not my intention to dismiss the import of the iconic #TheColorPurple [sic]” she wrote.
You can read Banks' full statement below.
One of Spielberg's next films, The Papers, will be led by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep alongside a supporting cast including a crop of the best actors working on TV right now.
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