Nicole Kidman urges Hollywood women to support female directors

Nicole Kidman is urging women to support female directors.

The 49-year-old actress is currently starring in ‘The Beguiled’, a cinematic adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s 1966 novel co-starring Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell, but despite being a female-centric movie directed by Sofia Coppola, Nicole insists it’s still disappointing that female filmmakers are still in the minority.

Speaking at a press conference to promote the movie at the Cannes Film Festival, she said: "Still only about four per cent of women directed the major motion pictures of 2016. That there says it all. I think that’s an important thing to say and keep saying.

"Luckily, we had Jane Campion and Sofia here. We as women have to support female directors, that’s a given now. Everyone is saying it’s so different now – but it isn’t. Listen to the statistics."

‘The Beguiled’ follows a group of women at an all-girls boarding school during the Civil War era who get interrupted by the arrival of a wounded Union soldier.

As the only male in the film, Colin said: "I grew up in my life with three brilliant and strong women in my life, my mother and my sisters. Sofia set a very particular mood in the working environment that was one of comfort and ease and trust … it was really, I’ve been doing this 20 years and I think this was my favorite experience and my favorite shoot."

His respect for the director seemed to be contagious with Kirsten, who has starred in a number of Coppola films, praised the filmmakers work.

She said: "If Sofia handed me the phone book and said, ‘We’re going to make this movie,’ I would do it."

New Zealand filmmaker Jane – who directed Oscar-winning drama ‘The Piano’ – is the only woman who has ever won the Cannes Film Festival’s top accolade, the Palme d’Or prize.