Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss publicly spoke out against the Academy Awards’ newly-revealed diversity requirements when selecting nominees for the “Best Picture” award.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the 75-year-old actor said in a recent interview that the new requirements, which include such factors as casting members of a non-White ethnic group and increased hiring of non-White crew members, “make me vomit.”
“It’s an art. No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that,” Dreyfuss continued. “You have to let life be life. I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.”
The new Academy mandates are set to take effect in 2024. In addition to casting non-White ethnicities and hiring non-White people for leadership or project roles, the new requirements also demand that films which wish to be considered for “Best Picture” should increase “diversity” in industry access and career opportunities, as well as marketing, publicity, and distribution. At least two of the four criteria will need to be met in order to be considered for the highly-coveted top Oscar category.
Dreyfuss is most well-known for his starring role in the 1975 Steven Spielberg-directed classic “Jaws.” He is also known for his roles in “American Graffiti” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” In 1977, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in “The Goodbye Girl,” and was nominated for the same category again nearly two decades later, for his role in the 1995 film “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”