Jason Blum Apologizes After Saying In A Recent Interview That There Aren’t Many Female Horror Directors
Budget horror movie studio Blumhouse Production’s Jason Blum issued an apology after he was blasted online for insensitive comments during a recent Polygon interview about why women have never directed any theatrical releases, saying, “there are not a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror.”
Blum walked back those comments today, writing on Twitter thanking people for calling him out.
“Thank you everyone for calling me out on my dumb comments in that interview,” the 49-year-old producer wrote on Thursday. “I made a stupid mistake. I spoke too quickly about a serious issue — an issue I am passionate about.”
“Over 50 percent of our audience is female. Over 50 percent of Blumhouse execs are women. Some of our most successful franchises are anchored by women, including the one opening tomorrow/today, led by the biggest female legend in this genre,” he continued, clearly talking about star actress and horror movie icon Jamie Lee Curtis.
Blum assured readers that he would do better to create an atmosphere where women felt comfortable creating horror projects.
“We have not done a good enough job working with female directors and it is not because they don’t exist. I heard from many today. The way my passion came out was dumb. And for that I am sorry. I will do better.”
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) October 18, 2018
Blum and his studio have been on a roll of making smash-hit films recently, most notably Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, and the Oscar-winning Get Out.
Blum told Polygon he’s proud of the way his company makes films on a shoe-string budget.
“I really believe in the way our company makes movies,” Blum says. “I believe in our low budgets. I believe in using directors who aren’t necessarily from horror, like Jordan Peele or [Halloween director] David Gordon Green. And I believe in our system which is unique and unusual. I wanted to show that we could make a Halloween movie different than the other ones before.”
Blum’s next release will be a sequel in the smash-hit Halloween series, pitting serial masked murderer Michael Myers against Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role from the 1980s.
Blum says the film is both a slasher, blood-and-guts horror flick and a story of mothers and daughters warding off the extreme measures of violent men.
Blum did reveal his admiration for a female horror director in the interview as well, heaping praise onto Jennifer Kent, the director in charge of The Babadook.
“I’m a massive admirer of Jennifer Kent.” Blum told Polygon. “I’ve offered her every movie we’ve had available. She’s turned me down every time.”
