April 30 (UPI) — Barbra Streisand says she felt accepted as a female director while working on her 1983 movie “Yentl” in England, but did not find the same support when she returned to the United States.
“It was because they had a woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and they had a queen, so what was I? A little, first-time director. They were used to it,” Streisand said during a conversation with director Robert Rodriguez during the Tribeca Film Festival Saturday.
Despite the film’s universal acclaim and several Oscar nominations, Streisand did not receive a nod for Best Director from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She did, however, win the category at the Golden Globes, which are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
“At the time, I felt OK about it,” Streisand said. “It made the subject of discrimination against women, it put a spotlight on it. I was pleased to see people holding up signs at the Academy Awards [to protest the snub.] I didn’t go that night. But I must have been more hurt than I thought because it’s like I didn’t want to direct for years until I found ‘The Prince of Tides.’ I also have to have a passion for a project.”
