The March of Oscar

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Judas and the Black Messiah (2021 US) This Best Picture nominee tells the story of Black Panther Fred Hampton. One of my favorite actors Daniel Kaluuya stars as Hampton. I first took notice of Kaluuya's work on the Black Mirror Netflix show. He is so intuitive and these characters just jump out of him with what seems like such little effort. In interviews he comes across as distant and unengaged until he gets a question and then you get this incredibly thoughtful answer from seemingly nowhere. He won best supporting actor at the Oscars that year. Why "supporting" when he plays the main character? I have no goddamn clue. But he won? Dominique Fishback played his wife Deborah Johnson. Fishback played opposite Samuel L Jackson in the limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Jackson was well impressed by her. She came to work with binders and he felt the need to keep up with her. Now, Jackson is not a subtle guy and tends to steal the scene but Fishback was right there with him holding her own against a legend. Why? cuz she does so much prep for characters. She brought that same over achieving work ethic to this film. Hopefully she will get the recognition she deserves soon. LaKieth Stanfield plays Bill O'Neal, the FBI informant that betrays Hampton. Stanfield talked about how difficult it was to play the Judas of the story and how he felt the need for therapy after filming. His hesitancy to not being the Judas really came through and that was very powerful. Stanfield was recognized for a Best Supporting Actor Nomination which Kaluuya won. That begs the question who TF was the leading actor? IDK I'm just going to forget I ever saw that and hope that someday an answer will come. Find it on HBO and available to rent on most streaming. Please Like Share and Subscribe. 
 

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