BRIAN DE PALMA - DE PALMA DEFENDS DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

Director BRIAN DE PALMA has hit back at critics who deem his habit of casting women in victim roles degrading, insisting it's harder for audiences to sympathise with men in distress. During the 1980s, the moviemaker was often targetted by enraged equality activists for never creating heroic roles for women, instead hiring actresses to play femme fatales and murder victims. However, De Palma has blasted accusations of misogyny - he simply picks women to be his movie's ill-fated characters because they're much better at conveying vulnerability. He tells Britain's Empire magazine, "Women are more sympathetic creatures in jeopardy, plus they're more interesting to photograph. I'd rather photograph a woman walking around with a candelabra than a guy. It's as simple as that. "Somebody once said that the history of cinema was made photographing women, and I think one could truthfully say that."