It's not change if you can name us all on two hands: Ava DuVernay on Hollywood diversity

Director Ava DuVernay, who is the first woman of colour to direct a big-budget studio movie with A Wrinkle in Time, believes Hollywood's diversity problems are far from over.

The director said there was a need for systemic chance and unless that happens, diversity will remain a distant dream, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"I'm an anomaly. (Black Panther's) Ryan Coogler is an anomaly, (Moonlight's) Barry Jenkins is an anomaly, (Mudbound's) Dee Rees is an anomaly. When you can name us all on two hands, that's not change," she told a gathering at W Hollywood.

"But we're in a dynamic time right now, telling our own stories. These are moments that are not sustainable unless there's systemic change. We sit on top of a broken system. Unless there is systemic change, we're just the sparkly stuff on top that makes people feel good," she said.

A Wrinkle in Time features Oprah Winfrey, Mindi Kaling, Reese Witherspoon and Storm Reid in lead roles.

DuVernay also revealed that working on A Wrinkle in Time was therapeutic for her. "I am the type to stay on Twitter all day, stewing and tweeting mean things to the president," she said adding that the movie and tasks related to it like designing otherworldly things for this sci-fi/fantasy story kept her occupied.

Likening the experience of how movies and plays like Philadelphia, Angels in America changing the perception of people, to fans asking for movies like Black Panther, she talked about instigating change.

“The only thing that instigates change is audiences saying, ‘We don’t want that anymore. Black Panther, we want this,’" DuVernay said.

(With Agencies Input)