Daniel Kaluuya has won his first Oscar for his performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
The British actor receives the honor for best-supporting actor for his turn as Fred Hampton.
Hampton, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, was killed by police in 1969.
Though “Judas and the Black Messiah” takes place in Chicago, the film was co-written by the Lucas Brothers, twin actors, and comedians who grew up in Newark and Irvington.
Keith and Kenny Lucas, who started out in stand-up comedy, co-wrote the story for the film with director Shaka King and screenwriter Will Berson.
The Lucas Brothers, King, and Berson were nominated for the Oscar for best original screenplay. (The Lucases are credited as story co-writers, and Berson and King are credited for co-writing the story and the screenplay.)
“The Lucas Brothers are starting their journey,” Kaluuya said in his acceptance speech at Union Station in Los Angles.
The actor thanked Hampton for his light.
“He was on this earth for 21 years,” Kaluuya said. “21 years, and he found a way to feed kids breakfast, educate kids, give free medical care, against all the odds. He showed me, he taught me. Him, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party, they showed me how to love myself.”
Kaluuya, 32, won a Golden Globe for supporting actor for the same role in February and a SAG Award earlier this month.
Speaking to NJ Advance Media after the film’s February debut, Kenny Lucas said that based on the actor’s performances in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” — which landed him a nomination for a lead actor Oscar — and Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim,” he and Keith always expected Kaluuya to bring his A-game to the role.
But what he witnessed at the “Judas” table read was something beyond.
“I didn’t know what A-game meant,” Kenny said. Kaluuya, he said, had reached “a pinnacle of acting that very few people can get to. Daniel Day-Lewis, Brando, Pacino, Denzel — there was just something. It was an aura, maybe.”
The actor also starred in Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther.” Google is a co-producer of “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Kaluuya’s co-star, LaKeith Stanfield, was also nominated for an Oscar in the supporting actor category.
Judas and the Black Messiah
LaKeith Stanfield plays FBI informant William O'Neal in "Judas and the Black Messiah."Glen Wilson | Warner Bros. Pictures
Stanfield, 29, plays William O’Neal, the FBI informant who shadowed Hampton. The film shows how O’Neal gave police information that helped them carry out the raid on Hampton’s home where he was killed.
In developing the story, the Lucas Brothers did not want to go the route of a straightforward biopic. Instead, they pursued a film that would follow O’Neal as he got close to Hampton.
Kenny and Keith Lucas first learned about Hampton in an African American studies class at college.
“We were shocked that it wasn’t being talked about more,” Keith Lucas said in the February interview with NJ Advance Media. “Once you hear about Fred Hampton’s assassination, it’s not a story that leaves you.”
“Judas and the Black Messiah” was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture, best cinematography, and best original song, “Fight For You,” for which H.E.R., Tiara Thomas, and Dernst Emile II won an Oscar.
The Warner Bros. film was released in February on HBO Max (where it was available through mid-March) and in theaters.
Kaluuya wins the Oscar over Stanfield and nominees Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7″), Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”), and Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”).
Source:-https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2021/04/daniel-kaluuya-wins-oscar-for-judas-and-the-black-messiah-heres-the-nj-connection.html
