Elizabeth Banks sorry about condemning Spielberg
Los Angeles, June 16 (IANS) Actress-filmmaker Elizabeth Banks, who condemned Steven Spielberg for lack of female leads in his movies, has apologised to the filmmaker.
Banks received flak on social media for the remarks, which she made when accepting Women in Film’s Excellence in Film Award on June 13, reports aceshowbiz.com.
“I went to ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Jaws’ and every movie Steven Spielberg ever made, and by the way, he’s never made a movie with a female lead,” she said in her speech, before adding: “Sorry, Steven. I don’t mean to call your a**, out but it’s true.”
The quote went viral on Twitter, with many people pointing out that Banks seemed to forget that Spielberg directed 1985’s iconic female-driven film “The Color Purple”.
On Thursday, the “Pitch Perfect” star and director issued a lengthy apology statement through an Instagram and Twitter post.
“I messed up. When referring to Steven Spielberg at the Women in Film awards, I framed my comments about his films inaccurately. I want to be clear from the start that I take full responsibility for what I said and I’m sorry,” Banks wrote in the statement.
“When I made the comments, I was thinking of recent films Steven directed, it was not my intention to dismiss the import of the iconic ‘The Color Purple’,” she continued.
“I made things worse by giving the impression that I was dismissing Shari Belafonte when she attempted to correct me. I spoke with Shari backstage and she was kind enough to forgive me. Those who have the privilege and honour of directing and producing films should be held to account for our mistakes, whether it’s about diversity or inaccurate statements. I’m very sorry.”