Jason Blum recently made some comments regarding the lack of female directors who have produced movies for Blumhouse Productions. (The number is, in fact, zero.) It looks like he read over his initial comments and wasn't too happy about them, because now he's apologized for how he has addressed the lack of ladies making movies for the studio. He thanked people for bringing the comments to his attention, noting,
Thank you everyone for calling me out on my dumb comments in that interview. I made a stupid mistake. I spoke too quickly about a serious issues -- an issues I am passionate about. Over 50 percent of our audience is female. Over 50 percent of Blumhouses execs are women. Some of our most successful franchises are anchored by women, including the one opening today, led by the biggest female legend in this genre.
Speaking out about Blumhouse Productions' track record, Jason Blum is quick to point out that plenty of movies the studio makes feature women and are led by female actors. In addition, there are plenty of women who work for Blumhouse, including executives.
In fact, Blumhouse has an interesting track record in terms of trying for diverse points of view with directing, even hiring people we wouldn't have expected for horror films like Jordan Peele, a director who went on to have great success with Get Out. Yet, Blumhouse has not hired any female directors and when Blum was asked about it, talked around the question a little bit.
He said he had asked female directors Jennifer Kent (famous for The Babadook) and Leigh Janiak (who made Honeymoon), but that neither female director had worked out. He also told Polygon,
There are not a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror. I'm a massive admirer of [The Babadook director] Jennifer Kent. I've offered her every movie we've had available. She's turned me down every time.
Speaking further on Twitter, Jason Blum also revealed that the studio has hopes to bring in female directors in the future, saying,
But we have not done a good enough job working with female directors and it is not because they don't exist. I heard from many today. The way my passion came out was dumb. And for that I am sorry. I will do better.
Now, he's speaking out about how he came off previously, and seems to be looking forward to a future when Blumhouse Productions will have some female directors in its roster. If you'd like to see the female-led Halloween revival, you can do so starting this weekend. In addition, Blumhouse has quite a few other movies in the works or coming up including Glass, Happy Death Day 2U, Us and The Hunt, all due in 2019. To find out what else is coming next year, take a look at the full movies schedule.
