Oscar-nominated movie star Jessica Chastain says more female film critics are needed as around 90 percent are male, which is a disservice to film fans everywhere.
The Zero Dark Thirty star was speaking with The Guardian about her latest film, political thriller Miss Sloane, when she made the comments.
Chastain believes all genders will benefit if reviews come from a more diverse group of people.
"There's been so much discussion about the gender wage gap in all industries and about the fact that less than seven percent of filmmakers in Hollywood are women. But what people aren't really talking about right now is critics," says Chastain.
"Critics are the ones who suggest to an audience what stories are valuable and worthwhile. When you have 90 percent of film critics as male - and perhaps not able to review a film from a gender-neutral point-of-view - we need to understand that we need more female critics to let women and men know that stories about women are just as interesting as stories about men."
Chastain is echoing comments made by Meryl Streep last year, who decried review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes for featuring seven times as many male as female film critics.
Newshub.
