It’s hard to believe, but Djimon Hounsou has been twice nominated for an Oscar and none of them were for his breakthrough role in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad.”
Hounsou’s two Best Supporting Actor nods were for 2003’s “In America” and 2006’s “Blood Diamond.” However, according to the actor, he literally feels cheated by the industry for not winning.
Speaking to The Guardian, Hounsou says that he was “early” with his nominations and that’s why he didn’t win. No, really, he’s saying that because Hollywood is now, more than ever, embracing black actors, he would have already won.
“If my movies had come out today, I definitely would have gotten an Oscar already,” he said.
“I felt seriously cheated,” Hounsou explained. “Today, we talk so much about the Oscars being so white, but I remember there was a time where I had no support at all: no support from my own people, no support from the media, from the industry itself. It felt like: ‘You should be happy that you’ve got nominated,’ and that’s that.”
He continued, “I’m still struggling to try to make a dollar! I’ve come up in the business with some people who are absolutely well off and have very little of my accolades. So I feel cheated, tremendously cheated, in terms of finances and in terms of the workload as well. I still have to prove why I need to get paid. They always come at me with a complete lowball: ‘We only have this much for the role, but we love you so much and we really think you can bring so much.’”
I’m not sure how Honsou can say with a straight face that he’s “struggling to make a dollar.” Wasn’t he just in “Shazam 2”? He was also in “Captain Marvel,” “Furious 7,” “The King’s Man,” “A Quiet Place Part II” “Black Adam,” “Aquaman” …
His net worth is supposedly $4 million. Yes, that’s not Tom Cruise money, but it’s a far cry from “struggling to make a dollar.” Just sayin’.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.