Lakeith Stanfield Also Doesn’t Know Why He Was Nominated For A Best Supporting Actor Oscar
One of the biggest questions surrounding this year’s Academy Awards, besides, “How much of a potential mess will this in-person ceremony be?“, is “Who does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences think is the star of Judas and the Black Messiah?” Because both Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya were nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category on Monday morning. And after the initial excitement wore off, Lakeith Stanfield stood there and shook his head over the confusion of him ending up in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Judas and the Black Messiah, the plot follows William O’Neal (Lakeith), who agrees to work undercover with the FBI in exchange for having some attempted carjacking charges dropped against him. In turn, William works with the FBI, specifically (played by Jesse Plemons), to infiltrate the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers Party, and gain information on its leader, Fred Hampton (Daniel). The Academy doesn’t think Lakeith or Daniel is the lead of the movie and it certainly isn’t Jesse. Daniel’s supporting nomination makes sense. He’s been nominated in the supporting actor category multiple times. For example, he’s up for supporting actor at the upcoming SAG Awards, and he just recently won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture.
Since the movie is objectively about Lakeith’s character’s relationship between the FBI and Daniel’s character, one could safely deduce he’s the lead actor. But he’s not nominated for Best Actor alongside Riz Ahmed, Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Steven Yeun, and the late Chadwick Boseman. Lakeith addressed the situation on Instagram, before quickly deleting his thoughts and keeping quiet about it. via IndieWire:
The actor took to social media and wrote in a since-deleted post, “I’m confused too but fuck it lmao.” The post was replaced with another humorous reaction to his Oscar nom: “First time an actor with a face tattoo was nominated lmaooo.”
There’s a chance that this might not be the Academy’s fault at all. Studios have to submit nominees for the category which they think works best, or sometimes, the category where they think they have the best chance of winning. It’s why year after year, we get movies (hello, Get Out) that have no business being nominated for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. So maybe Warner Bros. decided to get strategic and avoid the Best Actor category altogether. Because if this year’s Golden Globes were any indication, or if industry experts are accurate, then Best Actor is almost definitely going to Chadwick Boseman.
Early predictions show that there’s a good chance that Lakeith might lose to his co-star Daniel Kaluuya. But it’s ok! Lakeith is still a winner. No matter who’s name is called on Oscar night in whichever category, Lakeith can always walk on stage and deliver a thrilling acceptance speech. He’s done it before.
Pic: Wenn.com/FayesVision