Nicole Kidman has urged actresses to throw their support behind female directors.
The Australian actress appeared alongside her The Beguiled director Sofia Coppola, and co-stars Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice and Addison Riecke, at the film's press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (24May17).
The six women were joined by just two men at the event, lead actor Colin Farrell and producer Youree Henley, but Nicole complained this was still too much of a rarity in Hollywood.
"Still only about four per cent of women directed the major motion pictures of 2016," Nicole stated, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "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."
New Zealand filmmaker Jane, who directed Oscar-winning The Piano, is the only woman who has ever won the festival's top honour, the Palme d'Or prize.
Sofia is in the running for the award this year with The Beguiled, a remake of Clint Eastwood's 1971 movie, and if she wins will follow in the footsteps of her director father, Francis Ford Coppola.
He has twice been awarded the prestigious Palme d'Or, for films Apocalypse Now and The Conversation.
Sofia's cast heaped praise on their director during the conference, with Kirsten declaring she'd make a movie about the phone book if she asked, and Colin sharing that The Beguiled was his favourite shoot to date.
"I grew up in my life with three brilliant and strong women in my life, my mother and my sisters," he said. "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 favourite experience and my favourite shoot."
