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May 18, 2026
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Cate Blanchett Laments #MeToo's Rapid Decline in Hollywood Amid Persistent Gender Disparity

AI Summary
Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett has criticized the rapid decline of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, highlighting persistent gender disparity on film sets where she notes 10 women work alongside 75 men. Her comments at the Cannes Film Festival come as industry figures continue to grapple with representation issues.

The Hollywood Backlash Against #MeToo

Cate Blanchett has lamented that the #MeToo movement "got killed very quickly" in Hollywood, while speaking at the Cannes film festival. In a wide-ranging conversation on Sunday, the acclaimed actress expressed concern that the tide of #MeToo has been turned in an industry where she has been outspoken about gender equality.

Blanchett's Observations on Gender Disparity

"It got killed very quickly, which I think is interesting," said Blanchett. "There are a lot of people with platforms who are able to speak up with relative safety and say this has happened to me. And the so-called average woman on the street, person on the street, is saying me too. Why does that get shut down?"

Blanchett detailed her daily experiences on film sets, stating: "I'm still on film sets and I do the headcount every day. There's 10 women and there's 75 men every morning."

The Evolution of Gender Representation in Film

In 2018, when Blanchett was president of the jury at Cannes, she participated in a red-carpet protest with 81 other women, representing the total number of female directors who had been selected for the Cannes competition lineup, compared with the 1,866 male directors who had been selected over the same period.

"I love men, but what happens is the jokes become the same," she said. "You just have to brace yourself slightly, and I'm used to that, but it just gets boring for everybody when you walk into a homogeneous workplace. I think it has an effect on the work."

Industry Perspectives on Change

Julianne Moore also spoke at Cannes on the weekend about gender disparity on film sets, saying she believed numbers had improved in the last decade. Speaking at a Kering Women in Motion talk on Saturday, Moore recalled being one of two women on a set around 2016. "I can remember being on a set not too long ago where the only women were me and the third AC [assistant camera]," she said.

Blanchett's comments come as she prepares to star in The Brutalist director Brady Corbet's next film, an "X-rated" feature set in the 1970s, alongside Selena Gomez and Michael Fassbender.