Director Steven McQueen is weighing in on Hollywood's ongoing conversation surrounding diversity amongst the Oscar nominees. McQueen is the only black director whose film, Twelve Years a Slave, won Best Picture.
During an interview with U.K.'s Guardian, McQueen said this is an important moment for Hollywood. "I’m hoping in 12 months or so we can look back and say this was a watershed moment, and thank God we put that right," he said.
The Twelve Years a Slave director said that he hopes these talks will be like people seeing David Bowie back in 1983. Bowie was interviewed by MTV that year and he criticized his interviewer about their under-representation of black artists at that time in music. "I don’t even want to wait 20 years,” McQueen added.
“One could talk about percentages of certain people who are Academy members and the demographics and so forth, but the real issue is movies being made," he continued. "Decisions being made by heads of studios, TV companies and cable companies about what is and is not being made. That is the start. That is the root of the problem.”
Many celebrities like William H. Macy, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been weighing in on the controversy. Many have announced that they will be completely boycotting the event.