Emma Stone gives director nominee Greta Gerwig shout-out at Oscars

The future is female. Emma Stone reminded the audience at the 2018 Oscars of that fact when she called out Greta Gerwig as the only woman nominated in the Best Director category on Sunday, March 4.

The La La Land actress presented the directing Oscar at the 90th annual Academy Awards and chose to make a statement while introducing the nominees. “These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces this year,” Stone, 29, said to rapturous cheers from the audience.

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread) were nominated alongside Gerwig. The Lady Bird director is only the fifth woman to be nominated in the Oscars’ Best Director category. Just one woman has won the award: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010. This year’s prize ultimately went to del Toro.

Stone’s bold introduction was still a big moment — another instance of women in Hollywood speaking up in the midst of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements. It was akin to what Natalie Portman said at the Golden Globes in January when presenting the Best Director award. “Here are the all-male nominees,” Portman noted.

Harvey Weinstein accusers Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek and Annabella Sciorra were the faces of the #MeToo movement at the Oscars. Judd told the crowd, “The change we are witnessing is being driven by the sound of new voices, of different voices, of our voices, joining together in a mighty chorus that is finally saying Time’s Up … and we look forward to make sure that the next 90 years empower these limitless possibilities of equality, diversity, inclusion, intersectionality. That’s what this year has promised us.”