David Oyelowo: There should be more women directors

David Oyelowo wants more female directors in the film industry.

The ‘A United Kingdom’ star is keen to see more women take the helm of movies and admits one of the "biggest challenges" of modern day film-making is getting people to leave their homes to watch a film.

He said: "I’d love to see a lot more movie stars demanding that female directors be considered for their movies …

"The biggest challenge [of working in movies in 2017] is getting people to actually leave their homes to go and watch a film in a movie theatre. There’s so much great television these days, it means your film has to be exceptional to persuade people to leave the house."

The 40-year-old actor trained as a stage actor first and foremost and believes it is the "best possible preparation" for stepping in front of the camera.

Answering questions on Quora, he shared: "I think stage is the best possible preparation for being on-camera because if you know what it feels like to say great dialogue to actual people night after night you can make most dialogue feel truthful while being around cameras and the artificial environment of a film set."

Meanwhile, the ‘Selma’ star previously admitted he is a reluctant "spokesperson for diversity".

He explained: "I am a spokesperson for diversity, reluctantly. Because if I don’t do it, then I am part of the problem. And we do have a problem. I recently worked with four female directors in a row and that has been made such a big deal of. No one highlights when an actor works with 15,20,25 male directors in a row.

"My refrain is that we need to stop talking about diversity and just start doing diversity. We all have our bias, so the only way to have true diversity is to have more of a mix of people who are decision-makers in order that their natural bias is what is seen."