Golden Globes Nominations Spark Controversy Over Not Acknowledging Any Female Directors

There seems to be no love lost for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, following the official 76th Golden Globe nominations announcement Tuesday morning, after female directors were shut out of the best director category, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Nominees for best director include Alfonso Cuaron, Roma; Peter Farrelly, Green Book; Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman; Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born; and Adam McKay, Vice.

Actress Natalie Portman — well-known for being an advocate for gender inequality in Hollywood — was swift to acknowledge the lack of women when she went off-script during the televised ceremony.

"And here are all the male nominees," Portman said.

Portman said nearly those exact words during last year's Golden Globes ceremony, when she presented the award for best director alongside Ron Howard, with the award ultimately going to Guillermo del Toro for Shape of Water.

It seems this year is no different, despite the progress Hollywood has arguably made this year with both the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. The lack of female representation in the best director category marks just another year in a decades-long history of shutting women out of the category.

In fact, powerhouse Barbra Streisand is the only woman who has ever achieved the best director accolade and was the first female nominated in the category when she won in 1984 for Yentl, before going on to be nominated once more in 1992 for Prince of Tides.

Since Streisand, only four women have been nominated in the category. Jane Campion was nominated for The Piano in 1994; Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation in 2004; Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010 and Zero Dark Thirty in 2013; and Ava DuVernay in 2015 for Selma.

Additionally, Coppola, Campion, Bigelow and director Lina Wertmuller are the only women to have been nominated in the category at the Academy Awards, as well. Bigelow is the only female to have taken home the prize when she won for The Hurt Locker.

The 76th Golden Globes will be held Sunday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET live on NBC. Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg will host.