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Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss doled out some criticism for the Academy's new diversity and inclusion standards, saying they "make me vomit."
During a recent PBS interview, Dreyfuss discussed a wide range of topics including U.S. education, politics, and his thoughts on the updated diversity and inclusion requirements for films in Oscar contention, per NBC News.
Four new standards were announced in 2020 and will be instituted for the upcoming 2024 Academy Awards. Films will need to fulfill two of the four requirements to be considered a valid submission for best picture. The standards include "expanding on-screen representation, themes or narrative; expanding representation among creative leadership and department heads; providing industry access and opportunities to underrepresented demographics; and expanding representation in audience development," NBC News reports.
“It’s an art. 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,” Dreyfuss said of the diversity requirements. “You have to let life be life. I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.”
Dreyfuss went on to defend Laurence Olivier's blackface performance in the 1965 feature Othello.
“He played a Black man brilliantly. 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 [in] ‘The Merchant of Venice’? Are we crazy?” The Jaws actor said. “This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.”
During the interview, Dreyfuss also discussed efforts to control curriculum and ban books in public schools.
“I think we’re cowards. Republicans send their children schools hoping and praying that their children will come back Republicans and Democrats send their children to school urgently praying that their children come back Democrats,” he said. “The idea that a parent would walk into a public school and say, ‘I don’t want my children exposed to opposing views.’ That’s wrong.”
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