Producer Jason Blum is a big deal. His production company Blumhouse Productions has redefined and breathed new life into the low-budget horror genre with films like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Get Out, The Purge and more. He produced the current Halloween reboot with Jamie Lee Curtis returning to the role of Laurie Strode. Critics love this Halloween sequel as a more modern approach to the story, with Jamie Lee Curtis playing Laurie as a badass, gun-toting, revenge-seeking heroine, and the film is framed with a more feminist approach. But… Halloween was directed by David Gordon Green. ALL of Blum’s horror productions are directed by men. He’s never produced a major horror film with a female director. When Polygon asked Blum about his company’s sausage party vibes, he said this:

With more and more female voices emerging through the festival circuit, from which many of Blumhouse’s directors emerge, the omission struck me as odd and compelling. When I ask Blum about hiring a woman to direct one of the company’s horror films, he too seemed jolted by the idea that it hasn’t.

“We’re always trying to that,” he says. “We’re not trying to do it because of recent events. We’ve always been trying.”

“There are not a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror,” Blum says. “I’m a massive admirer of [The Babadook director] Jennifer Kent. I’ve offered her every movie we’ve had available. She’s turned me down every time.” (Kent was not available for comment at the time of publication.)

[From Polygon]

Blum goes on, throughout the course of the interview, to talk about all of the women he’s approached over the years to potentially direct this or that project, and I actually believe him that many of the female directors with their own profiles probably turned down various low-budget horror scripts. But that didn’t stop a lot of women from speaking out about his “There are not a lot of female directors period” line. Film sites have been creating lists of female directors who should do horror, or have done horror, or would be open to doing horror. There was a backlash against Blum, basically. And he ended up apologizing:

“Thank you everyone for calling me out on my dumb comments in that interview. I made a stupid mistake. I spoke too quickly about a serious issue–an issue that I am passionate about.”

The producer of this weekend’s Halloween added that 50 percent of Blumhouse Productions’ audience is female, and that 50 percent of the companies executives are as well. He tipped his hat to successful franchises starring women including this weekend’s Halloween, a sequel to the 1978 hit horror film starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

“But we have not done a good enough job working with female directors, and it’s not because they don’t exist,” Blum continued. “I heard from many today. The way my passion came out was dumb. And for that I am sorry. I will do better.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

As I said, in the context of the Polygon interview, I genuinely got the feeling that he has spent years approaching female directors and offering them scripts, and that many women have turned him down for various reasons. But as others have pointed out, we have no way of knowing if Blum holds on to his best properties and franchises and only gives those to male directors. It also doesn’t seem like Blum is really devoted to DEVELOPING projects with female directors, like he does with men. Still, I think his apology comes from a genuine place and I hope he does better in the future.

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— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) October 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of WENN.