Rachel Morrison has declared her historic Oscar nod for Mudbound “better late than ever”, but called out the Academy for not recognizing director Dee Rees more.
Rachel is the first female ever to be nominated in the Best Cinematography category in the Academy Awards’ 90-year history, with Netflix movie Mudbound receiving a further three nominations; Best Supporting Actress for Mary J. Blige, Best Adapted Screenplay for Dee and Virgil Williams and Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures.
“It’s been a dream forever for me and it’s a dream come true now. I hope that it opens the door to more women seeking a path in cinematography,” she told ET, adding of her groundbreaking nomination, “It’s about goddamn time.”
She also listed the many female DPs (director of photography) that had missed out on awards recognition in recent years, including Mandy Walker for Hidden Figures and Nancy Schreiber for The Nines.
“Better late than never I suppose,” Rachel sighed.
However, although she’s basking in the glory of making the 2018 Oscars shortlist, Rachel is upset that Dee, who also penned the Mudbound script, didn’t get any further nods – calling the situation “bittersweet”.
“She put together this incredible team of mostly badass female department heads. There gets to be one female director and one black film, and I don’t think it should be that way,” she said, referring to Get Out, which was nominated for four Oscars. “We’re 50 per cent of the population – it would be nice if we were 50 per cent of the nominations as well, you know? I’m happy that Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird director) is nominated. It would certainly be a lot worse if nobody was representing, but I think Dee should be standing there alongside her.”
The moving drama, which also stars Carey Mulligan and Jason Clarke, tells the story of racist tensions in rural Mississippi after World War II.
The 90th Academy Awards take place on 4 March (18).
