The Oscar candidate twice says that he feels "deceived" by Hollywood: "It's a fight"

Djimon Hounsou fights to be paid fairly despite his long and successful career.


Most actors probably have the impression of being at the top of the world after obtaining a Oscar appointment , but this feeling does not always last. Although a appointment can lead to more and better opportunities, recognition of the academy does not always lead to a wider choice of roles or huge Hollywood payroll checks. You just have to ask Djimon Hounsou . The 58 -year -old actor was nominated for two Oscars, but in a new interview, he shared that he felt "deceived" by the industry on the roles offered to him, the salary given to him and a general lack of respect. Read the rest to discover what he had to say about the problems he was faced with in his career, even after having apparently obtained a major break.

Read this then: Angelina Jolie is so beautiful, the public "neglects" her talent, said a famous director .

Hounsou was nominated for two best Oscars supporters.

Djimon Hounsou at the 2007 Oscars
Kevin Winter / Getty images

Hounsou, born in Benin, came to Glory in Hollywood in the 1990s. He made his model in the model Amistad . In the Steven Spielberg film, he plays Bend , a captured man who leads a revolt on the slave ship the Amistad. In the few years later Amistad , he played roles in films of which Gladiator ,, The four feathers ,, Constantine , And The island .

In 2004, Hounsou received his first Oscar appointment for the best support actor for In America . In the drama on an Irish family trying to settle in New York, the actor plays an artist who lives in his building of buildings. Three years later, Hounsou was nominated in the same category for his work in Blood diamond . He played with Leonardo DiCAPRI In the political thriller set in the context of the civil war in Sierra Leone. In 2004, he lost the trophy Tim Robbins For The mystical river ; In 2007, the Oscar went to Alan Arkin In Little Miss Sunshine .

Hounsou feels "deceived" by the company.

Djimon Hounsou, Cate Blanchett, America Ferrera, Jay Baruchel, and Kit Harington at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival
Jaguar PS / Shutterstock

In a new interview with The Guardian ,, Hounsou was requested not to be nominated for Amistad while the co-star Anthony Hopkins was. (The film received four nominations in total.) AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Yeah. Maybe I was early," replied the actor. "If my films had been released today, I would certainly have had an Oscar already."

Regarding the institutions of the Oscars in general, Hounsou admitted: "I felt seriously deceived. Today, we are talking so much about the Oscars being so white, but I remember that there was a time when I do not had no support: no support for my own people, no media support, industry itself.

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He also believes that he was financially undervalued.

Djimon Hounsou at the premiere of
Tinseltown / Shutterstock

Hounsou does not believe that the industry was just in terms of payment and the roles he offered either. THE Guardian Note that, over a five -year period in his career, he played three characters reduced to slavery.

"I always have a hard time trying to win a dollar!" he said The Guardian . "I came to the company with people who are absolutely easy and who have very little of my distinctions. I therefore feel deceived, extremely deceived, in terms of finance and in terms of workload as."

He added: "I still have to prove why I have to be paid. They always come with a complete low ball:" We don't have so much for the role, but we love you so much and we really think that you can bring so much. ' ""

"I have not yet met the film that paid me fairly," said the actor.

He always tries to prove himself.

Djimon Hounsou at the 2020 Costume Designers Guild Awards
Dfree / Shutterstock

Despite two Oscar price nominations and a curriculum vitae which includes box-office tubes and work with acclaimed directors, Hounsou must always prove all these years later, and it is partly because of the way in which It is perceived. His latest film is Shazam! Fury of the gods , who is in theaters now, and he said The Guardian that one of his reasons to play a role in the franchises - he is also part of the Furious The Marvel series and the cinematographic universe - consists in communicating that he is a "man of today" and "to prove that I can speak the language".

"I may not speak perfectly like an American with an American accent, but I don't need to be entirely American," said the actor.

Hounsou spoke of his extended role in the Shazam! Following as an example of consideration, he believes that other projects have not been shown. "Of all, the DC universe has a level of respect," he said about the adaptation of comics. "There was not much in the role at the beginning and I did it and it was fun. But the second time was a little more respectful."

Black actors in Hollywood are undervalued.

In 2021, Deadline reported a study that revealed that Hollywood loses about $ 10 billion Each year by undervalifying projects led by blacks. The study "revealed that the projects led by blacks have been systematically underfurrent and undervalued even if there has been evidence which is clear as the day that they surpass other properties with regard to return on investment ".

In his Guardian Interview, Hounsou referenced Viola Davis And her outspokenness with regard to the right remuneration in Hollywood, declaring that she "said it beautifully". During the Women in the World 2018 event, Davis listed his achievements and distinctions - She is now an EGOT recipient - and explained that she was still not paid enough compared to her peers despite all that.

"I have a career that is probably comparable to Meryl Streep ,, Julianne Moore ,, Sigourney Weaver . They all left Yale. They came out of Julliard. They came out of Nyu. They had the same path as me, and yet I am far from being close to them, not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere, "said Davis." But, I have to get on this phone and people say: "You are a black black Streep ... There is nobody like you. Okay, then if there is no one like me, you think I'm that, you pay me what I'm worth. You give me what I am worth. ""


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