Bryce Dallas Howard: Hollywood's Efforts for Women Directors 'Not Enough'

Bryce Dallas Howard has called on Hollywood to change course after a 2025 study found that only nine women directed the 100 top-grossing films at the U.S. box office.

Speaking at Variety's L.A. Power of Women event on Wednesday in Beverly Hills, the actress and filmmaker addressed the declining statistics for women directors in Hollywood. The study described 2025 as a "Great Recession" for female filmmakers. Women made up just 8.1% of directors of the 100 top-grossing films — a ratio of 11.3 men for every woman. In 2024, women accounted for 13.4% of directors of those films.

"The facts are that the numbers are an indication of something real," Howard told Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson. "Whatever is currently being done is not enough."

Howard speaks from directing experience across major franchises. She has directed episodes of the Star Wars series "Ahsoka," "The Mandalorian," "The Book of Boba Fett" and "The Skeleton Crew," along with the feature documentaries "Dads" (2019) and "Pets" (2025). In 2021, Disney announced Howard would direct a reboot of "Flight of the Navigator"; the project remains in pre-production.

Howard said the industry has focused on mentorship for female filmmakers, but Hollywood must prioritize something else: sponsorship.

"It's really difficult to get paid to do the thing that you want to do in this business," Howard said. "And the amount of time between jobs is so significant that, unless you come from privilege or you have another job that somehow allows you to be flexible, you're not getting a shot. You're not even getting a chance, and that has to change."

Sponsorship means more than financing a finished film, Howard noted. Companies need to fund research and development throughout a project — from early workshops to cultivating the team of artists that brings the film to life.

"There are so many brilliant artists and so little support, and it is incumbent upon people like me to make that a reality," she said. "And I constantly fall short. And I will not quit."

Howard's own slate points forward. She directed two episodes of "Ahsoka" Season 2 and described working on the Star Wars show, starring Rosario Dawson, as one of the "best summers of [her] life."

"The first season was so fantastic, and to build on that, [creator and Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni] is getting to do a lot of stuff that he's been waiting decades to do," Howard said of the action-packed episodes. "Rosario and him are just partners. He trusts himself, but he trusts Rosario just as much."

With the share of women directing top-grossing films falling from 13.4% to 8.1% in a single year, Howard's argument that sponsorship — not mentorship alone — must drive the next phase of industry change sets the terms of a debate Hollywood studios will face as they greenlight coming slates.