‘Black Panther’ Cinematographer Rachel Morrison on Hollywood’s Lame ‘Excuse’ for Not Hiring Women

OscarWrap: "It makes no sense to me," the Oscar-nominated "Mudbound" DP tells TheWrap about the rationales she's heard

Matt Donnelly | February 23, 2018 @ 3:14 PM

A version of this story appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

“It’s about damn time.” That was Rachel Morrison’s reaction to her historic Academy Award nomination for cinematography, which made director of photography for “Mudbound” DP the first woman in history to make the cut.

Not that she thinks she is personally owed the honor — it’s just that her gender is terribly underrepresented in the prestigious below-the-line category.

“I’m very honored to fill that role, but it’s long overdue,” Morrison said, citing women cinematographers she admires like Mandy Walker (who has shot Baz Luhrman’s “Australia” and the indies “Shattered Glass” and “The Mountain Between Us”).

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Star Winston Duke Exclusive StudioWrap Portraits (Photos)

Why, exactly, aren’t there more women in the field?

“I don’t really have an answer for it,” she said. “It makes no sense to me. It’s a job that requires you to visualize human emotion, which a man or a woman can do. The most common excuse I hear about the lack of women is, ‘The camera is too heavy,’ which is entirely ludicrous” she said.

It wasn’t too heavy for Morrison on “Mudbound,” a project that came from her and director Dee Rees’ “mutual admiration” for each other. The drama follows two families struggling in the Jim Crow South, the look for which was conceived after Rees sent her a visual guide of how she’d like the film to look — one that didn’t include a single photograph.

“She put together a visual lookbook of imagery,” Morrison said. “It was two- and three-dimensional art, no film. Really stunning portraiture on wood and sculpture.”

Also Read: We Found the Subtlest 'Black Panther' Tribute Yet

That sealed the creative union and, next thing she knew, the women unveiled the project at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. After those first few screenings in Park City, Morrison got more than a few pats on the back, and she kept hearing one line that caused her to roll her eyes in disbelief: “That’s going to get an Oscar nomination.”

Netflix purchased the film for $12.5 million with the pledge of a full awards campaign, which resulted in four nominations — including the one that stopped her eye-rolling.

The Scene at TheWrap's Women, Whisky & Wisdom Event With Greta Gerwig, Diane Warren (Photos)

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Attendees raise a glass at the Women, Whisky & Wisdom event at Teddy's at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Diane Warren, Oscar nominee for Best Original Song for "Marshall"

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Taura Stinson, Oscar nominee for Best Original Song fo "Mudbound"

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

"I, Tonya" actress Caitlin Carver

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Actress Elyse Levesque ("The Originals")

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

TheWrap's CEO and Editor in Chief Sharon Waxman and actress-producer Anne-Marie Johnson

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Actress Helena Mattsson and wrestler Sofia Mattsson

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Actress Keesha Sharp ("Marshall")

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Actress Jessica Wren ("The Eleven O'Clock")

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Actress Erin Algretti ("Between the Lines")

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Sharon Waxman introduces the panel at the Women, Whisky & Wisdom event

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Diane Warren speaks

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Oscar-nominated "Phantom Thread" producer Joanne Sellar

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Taura Stinson, Oscar nominee for Best Original Song for "Mudbound"

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Vanessa Taylor, Oscar nominee for Best Original Screenplay for "The Shape of Water"

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Diane Warren sings her nominated song from "Marshall."

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Kourtney Gleason and Jacqueline Murphy with other attendees

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

BenRiach representative Keaton Ohara

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

BenRiach's Keaton Ohara, Sharon Waxman and Greta Gerwig

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Sharon Waxman and "Lady Bird" director Greta Gerwig

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Writer Tatiana Suarez Pico and "Get Out" actress Betty Gabriel

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Mercedes de la Zerda, Jessica Wren, Kerry Cahill, Erin Algretti and Tracie Hovey

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Sara Lindsey and Caitlin Carver

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Producer Kourtney Gleason

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

"Black Panther" production designer Hannah Bleacher and Meredith Emmanuel

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Mercedes de la Zerda and Elyse Levesque with fellow attendees

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Greta Gerwig checks out TheWrap Magazine's Oscars Down to the Wire issue.

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

"Phantom Thread" producer Joanne Sellar

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

BenRiach cocktail menu from the event

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

Diane Warren and composer Lesley Barber

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

TheWrap's Sharon Waxman, awards editor Steve Pond and Greta Gerwig

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

DJ Memmi

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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Female Oscar nominees and other industry figures gather to share their experience as the Oscar season winds down

The scene at the event.

Photographed by Ted Soqui for TheWrap

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