Photograph by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Even though she tries to not make an issue of her gender, it makes an issue of her. Actor-director Sarah Polley, who starred in The Weight of Water, recalls Bigelow telling her that “as a woman in this industry, you have to be like a dog with a bone. Everyone will try to take it away and you just have to clamp down and hold on tight.” Reached by Maclean’s this week, Polley said, “She taught me to be tenacious. Kathryn had to put up with crap that I’ve never seen male filmmakers put up with. She was constantly being second-guessed by the crew. And she was more competent, responsible and visionary than most of the male directors I’d worked with.”
With those Oscars in her fists, that may be about to change.
