Jonathan Glazer: The stars defending Zone of Interest director from Oscars speech backlash

‘Zone of Interest’ director faced backlash after he spoke out against Israel’s occupation in Gaza during his Oscars speech

She Said actor Zoe Kazan, the band Massive Attack and I’m a Virgo creator Boots Riley are among the stars showing support for director Jonathan Glazer, following the backlash he received for his Oscars speech.

Glazer brought some audience members to tears while accepting the Best International Film award.

He won the gong for The Zone of Interest, his movie following the domestic aspirations of an Auschwitz officer and his wife living on the outskirts of the concentration camp.

“Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst,” the Jewish director said in his acceptance speech.

“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people – whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza – all the victims of this dehumanisation … how do we resist?”

“Alexandria, the girl who glows in the film as she did in life, chose to. I dedicate this to her memory and her resistance. Thank you.”

The speech has since drawn backlash from Hollywood actors, creatives and executives, including more than 1,000 industry names who signed an open letter condemning the speech.

But some in the entertainment industry have spoken out in support of Glazer.

Among them were Zoe Kazan, who shared a series of tweets that said she was shocked that people who had seen Glazer’s film were surprised by his message.

‘Zone of Interest’ director Jonathan Glazer at the Oscars (AFP via Getty Images)

“Kind of shocked that anyone who saw zone of interest could be shocked by what glazer said at the Oscars… a movie so rigorously intent on not allowing its audience escape into sentiment or self-congratulation, that turns a mirror instead, asking us to look at ourselves and think… that the person who made that film might ask the same of us while accepting an award for his work,” she wrote.

“It makes me so sad that this could even be considered a political stance....i think part of the horror of the film is that it makes us face that face that the people on both sides of the wall are human. it might be easier (on ourselves) to think that they are not.”

‘Ruby Sparks’ actor Zoe Kazan said it was saddened that Glazer’s speech ‘could even be considered a political stance’ (Getty Images for Critics Choice )

At the Oscars, Poor Things actor Mark Ruffalo was seen clapping in response to Glazer’s speech while German actor and Zone of Interest star Sandra Hüller was moved to tears.

After the ceremony, Scream actor Melissa Barrera wrote on her Instagram Stories: “What Glazer actually said is much clearer: He and his collaborators reject that Jewishness and the Holocaust are being used to justify the ongoing military offensive in Gaza.”

“This sentiment is one held by many Jewish people. Like Glazer, Jews around the world have spoken out about how they perceive their identity to have been co-oped by the extremist Israeli government and its allies in pursuit of a fully repressed Palestine state.”

The British band Massive Attack also posted on X/Twitter, writing that they stood in solidarity with Glazer, who they called “a filmmaker of the highest integrity, craft & bravery.”

“A filmmaker who researches his subject matter painstakingly, & weighs his artistic judgements with high care & deep humanity. That care, judgement & humanity led to the conclusions of his speech. Solidarity.”

Among the others showing support for Glazer was I’m a Virgo creator Boots Riley, who wrote: “Salute to Jonathan Glazer,” on X/Twitter. He praised Glazer for “speaking out against the atrocities in Gaza & saying that his movie is about the present day.”

Boots Riley praised Glazer for ‘speaking out against the atrocities in Gaza’ (Getty Images for IMDb)

The backlash to Glazer’s words began quickly after he gave his speech, when the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called it “morally reprehensible.”

The Zone of Interest’s executive producer, Danny Cohen, said he “fundamentally disagreed” with Glazer on the issue.

The Holocaust Survivors Foundation called the speech “morally indefensible” and “disgraceful.”

In an open letter posted on the foundation’s website, the group’s 94-year-old president, David Schaecter, wrote: “I watched in anguish Sunday night when I heard you use the platform of the Oscars ceremony [to] equate Hamas’s maniacal brutality against innocent Israelis with Israel’s difficult but necessary self-defense in the face of Hamas’s ongoing barbarity.”

Days later, more than 1,000 Jewish people working in Hollywood, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, Venom producer Amy Pascal and actor Jennifer Jason Leigh, signed an open statement criticising Glazer’s speech. The number of signatories later rose to over 1,000.

Their statement reads in full:

“We are Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals. We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.

“Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. But Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th.

“The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history.

“It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.”

But Auschwitz Memorial director Dr Piotr MA Cywiński said on that organisation’s official X/Twitter page that Glazer’s speech issued a “universal moral warning against dehumanisation.”

“In his Oscar acceptance speech, Jonathan Glazer issued a universal moral warning against dehumanisation,” his statement began.

“His aim was not to descend to the level of political discourse. Critics who expected a clear political stance or a film solely about genocide did not grasp the depth of his message. The Zone of Interest is not a film about the Shoah. It is primarily a profound warning about humanity and its nature.”

Cywiński’s post prompted backlash for its support of Glazer, and he later clarified that “Glazer’s brief, emotional, and widely criticised Oscar acceptance speech is open for interpretation… I never wanted to cause any hurt or anger.”

“My goal was to remind us that the role of memory is to confront every one of us with the most uncomfortable ethical and moral questions.”