Berlin Jury President Jeremy Irons Clarifies His Controversial Comments About LGBTQ Rights, Women's Issues & More

As the film industry continues to become more inclusive and diversity is something that studios strive for in most projects, there have been quite a few legendary actors and filmmakers that have come under fire for comments made in years past that are seen as bigoted and ignorant. And with the 2020 Berlin Film Festival beginning, one of those folks, jury president Jeremy Irons, wants to set the record straight about comments he’s made that have been brought back to light.

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When it was announced that Irons would lead the competition jury at this year’s Berlinale, there were many that brought up some of his previous comments about gay marriage, women’s rights, and abortion, among other things. Without going into detail (a simple Google search will find them), suffice to say that Iron’s words sound incredibly bad by 2020 standards, let alone when he said them over the past decade. So, with the event kicking off, Irons spoke to the media (via THR) about those comments and he wants to make sure that his views are now “entirely clear.”

“Let me make my views entirely clear on these particular subjects once and for all,” Irons said. “First, I support wholeheartedly the movement to address women’s rights and to protect them from harassment at home and in the workplace. Second, I applaud the legislation for same-sex marriage where it has been attained. I hope that such enlightened legislation will continue to spread. Third, I supported wholeheartedly the right of women to have an abortion should they so decide.”

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With those comments out of the way, Irons hopes that the discussion surrounding the jury can move towards the job at hand—handing out the Golden Bear. As for how Irons plans on judging the films in competition, he’s looking for films “which create magic, which create emotions. And I hope one or two we see here will have that same effect.”

He added, “What I find interesting is that the films selected by the Berlinale are very different from what the American Academy would select, for example. We are going to see films with very different perspectives than our own. But I think we are wide enough in our understanding of life and of film to be able to rise to the responsibility [and] come to come conclusion about the films we have seen.”

The Berlin Film Festival is underway now and will continue until March 1.

Click here for our full coverage of the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival.