‘Hot Pursuit’ Director Anne Fletcher on Bad Reviews, Gender Equality in Hollywood: ‘I Don’t Expect Anything From Anybody’

“I’m making it for the audience. Come watch two people kick butt,” she tells TheWrap

Anne Fletcher, whose Reese Witherspoon-Sofia Vergara buddy comedy “Hot Pursuit” opens this weekend, has weighed in on Hollywood’s gender divide and her personal policy on reading movie reviews.

In a wide-ranging interview Thursday with TheWrap, Fletcher who counts Sandra Bullock‘s comedy the “The Proposal” among her box office hits, said she’s never approached her work from a female perspective. And she prefers it that way.

“How I explain it is, when I was a dancer, I wasn’t a female dancer. I was a dancer. As a choreographer, I wasn’t a female choreographer. As a director I carried that with me,” Fletcher said. “You know, I’ve been very fortunate, but the way I’ve lived my life — we’re just equals. You deal with it.”

Yet some of Fletcher’s high-profile peers might disagree. In an LA Weekly expose published last week and titled, “How Hollywood Keeps Women Out,” female directors voiced that they do not feel a sense of equality with their male counterparts. Lexi Alexander, Nicole Holofcener and Diablo Cody were among the professionals who sounded off about the tenacity required to land jobs, and the level of invisibility women face in the industry.

“I personally never got any of that, but again, it’s an imbalance. You see it all the time and its something we have to deal with — and it’s changing,” Fletcher said. “There are so many more women coming up who want to direct, produce. There are tons of female writers. In 2015 alone you have all these great female movies coming out and I’m really excited.”

Alexander, whose credits include “Punisher: War Zone,” took to Twitter to express her frustration with the lack of support from her male colleagues.

“Even after this month’s @MDSCInitiative study’s horrific stats or the extensive LA Weekly article, not a single male director has commented,” she wrote.

“I don’t think I expect anything from anybody, ” Fletcher said when asked about her expectations of the sexes supporting each other in the Hollywood workplace.

“I think everyone has a personal responsibility in how you handle things and how you approach things. I do believe that there are male directors out there who are really pro-women. I know that is a fact. Adam Shankman is the reason I am doing what I’m doing. Erik Feig from Lionsgate, Jon Glickman,” she said.

At the moment, the only support Fletcher wants is from audiences. “Hot Pursuit” hits theaters nationwide on Friday, and cares more that ticket-holders enjoy it than what critics are saying.

“I can’t look at reviews because the types of movies I’ve made, the critiques are as if I’ve basically murdered their children in front of them,” Fletcher joked of reviewers. “They’re meant to entertain and just have a good time. Critics definitely have a job to do, but… the movie is really just to have a great time and entertain. I’m making it for the audience. Come watch two people kick butt.”

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