I thought there was a code of honor in Hollywood that if you worked with someone on a movie or any kind of project, it’s best not to publicly criticize them, let alone say that they didn’t deserve an Oscar nomination.
That’s what Ana de Armas’ “Deep Water” co-star Lil Rel Howery just did. During Vulture’s “Into It” podcast, Howery pointed to how Viola Davis and/or Danielle Deadwyler should have probably been nominated instead of Andrea Riseborough and De Armas.
“Somebody else should have got bumped,” Howery said. “I’m not going to say anything, but it’s a movie nominated as a Razzie. [The Oscar nomination] doesn’t make sense to me.”
“It’s just — and that’s somebody I did film with,” Howery said. “I did ‘Deep Water’ with her, with Ben Affleck. Amazing. I’m just talking about the Academy. What are y’all doing? Come on, fam. For real?”
Howery added that there should be “three nominees” for Black actresses, but only citing Davis and Deadwyler.
“It’s just very unfortunate that we keep — and just being honest, especially as Black people — we want to be recognized by the Academy so bad because we know what it does for our bag,” Howery added. “You know what I’m saying? Are we ever going to get that due?”
I’m fine with Deadwyler and Thandiwe Newton getting nods, but not Viola Davis’ gung-ho work in “The Woman King.” Sorry, no dice. Truth be told, De Armas deserves to be there, all five nominated actresses actually deserve to be there.
Listen, I’ve said this before, if it were up to me, and if this was a just world where the actual best female performances were nominated, then Mia Goth (“Pearl”) and Rebecca Hall (“Resurrection”) would have been automatic contenders. But Oscar voting is pure politics, which is why Riseborough getting in is such a sweet victory.