SubscribeRecord year for black actors: 5 bids
Sorry, but you can't blame "Dreamgirls" being snubbed in the best-picture and director races on a suspicion of prejudice by the white-dominated Hollywood. This year there's a breakthrough number of black nominees in the acting races (five): Forest Whitaker ("Last King of Scotland"), Will Smith ("Pursuit of Happyness"), Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls") and Djimon Hounsou ("Blood Diamond"). This ties the previous record set in 2004 when Jamie Foxx scored two noms ("Ray," "Collateral") plus there were bids for "Hotel Rwanda" stars Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo and Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby").
Previous black nominees include (it's inappropriate to say "African-America" since some are British and African:
BEST ACTOR
Sidney Poitier ("The Defiant Ones," 1958; "Lilies of the Field,"* 1963), James Earl Jones ("The Great White Hope," 1970), Paul Winfield ("Sounder," 1972), Dexter Gordon ("'Round Midnight," 1986), Morgan Freeman ("Driving Miss Daisy," 1989; "Shawshank Redemption," 1994), Denzel Washington ("Malcolm X," 1992; "The Hurricane," 1999; "Training Day,"* 2001), Laurence Fishburne ("What's Love Got to do with It," 1993), Will Smith ("Ali," 2001) Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda," 2004), Jamie Foxx ("Ray,"* 2004), Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow," 2005)
BEST ACTRESS
Dorothy Dandridge ("Carmen Jones," 1954), Whoopi Goldberg ("The Color Purple," 1985); Diana Ross ("Lady Sings the Blues," 1972), Cicely Tyson ("Sounder," 1972), Diahann Carroll ("Claudine," 1974), Angela Bassett ("What's Love Got to Do with It," 1993), Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball,"* 2001)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Rupert Crosse ("The Rievers," 1969), Howard E. Rollins ("Ragtime," 1981), Louis Gossett, Jr. ("An Officer and a Gentleman,"* 1982) Adolph Caesar ("A Soldier's Story," 1984), Morgan Freeman ("Street Smart," 1988; "Million Dollar Baby,"* 2004), Denzel Washington ("Cry Freedom," 1988; "Glory,"* 1989); Jaye Davidson, "The Crying Game," 1992), Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction," 1994), Cuba Gooding, Jr. ("Jerry Maguire,"* 1996), Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile," 1999), Djimon Hounsou ("In America," 2002), Jamie Foxx ("Ray," 2004)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hattie McDaniel ("Gone with the Wind,"* 1939), Ethel Waters ("Pinky," 1949), Juanita Moore ("Imitation of Life," 1959), Beah Richards ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1967), Alfre Woodard (""Cross Creek," 1983), Whoopi Goldberg ("Ghost,"* 1990), Margaret Avery ("The Color Purple," 1985), Oprah Winfrey ("The Color Purple," 1985), Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Secrets and Lies," 1996), Queen Latifah, ("Chicago," 2002) Sophie Okonedo ("Hotel Rwanda," 2004)
you forgot will smith and put jamie foxx in best supporting category as well.
Its sort of interesting how the movie with the most nominations isnt worth a best picutre nomination. the logic is faulty.
The fact is Dreamgirls didnt resonate with the academy voters.was it because it was a black movie, quite possibly, was it because it was more songy than flashy like chicago, quite possibly, was it because everyone probably felt jennifer hudson was being demoted for miss knowles, possibly. who knows. i dont think the race card is the only reason but its a big reason. and yes, nominating a few black actors DOES NOT CUT IT. Black actors winning awards is fantastic but its recognition of a person. to award a black movie, is a far different thing.
Posted by: usman | January 24, 2007 at 11:36 AM
Wasn't Will Smith nominated too for "Ali"???
Posted by: Ernesto Alonzo | January 23, 2007 at 03:05 PM
Actually, darcy, I have seen every single film nominated for BP. The only ones worthy of being there are The Queen, The Departed and Letters from Iwo Jima. Babel is a bunch of babble. And Little Miss Sunshine is a glorified ABC After School Special on self-esteem.
Posted by: NJ | January 23, 2007 at 12:10 PM
I'm sorry but what other excuse can it be? No black picture has won best picture and the last one which I believe was the color people -- lost every award out there. They are comfortable voting for acting nods but not the big picture -- much like brokeback -- comfortable voting for director but not best picture.
It's a sad day when every guild nominated dreamgirls but not the oscars -- only to have much beloved but enough already Clint Eastwood. anyways, Little Miss sunshine should sweep.
It is the best picture of the year
Posted by: jake | January 23, 2007 at 12:01 PM
i knew someone would play the race card. i mean realy-just because a film you liked didn't get nominated doesn't mean it's race.maybe just maybe -they didn't like it as much as you did.that's all there is to it.also- that says that the other films that did get nom's aren't worthy at all-because u see it that way.so-every film that has an all black cast has to get nominated.i saw dreamgirls-it was good-but to me-letters was better. did u even see any of these films that got nominated?probably not.
Posted by: darcy | January 23, 2007 at 09:38 AM
NJ, I feel your pain. As someone who also cursed the ground the Academy walks on when The Best Picture of 2005 "Brokeback Mountain" lost to "Trash," which I rewatched recently and I hate to say - the insult is fitting, I too figured that the "Dreamgirls" snub was due to racism or worse. However, aside from "Little Miss Sunshine," which I'm now convinced will win, the other four nominees are really, really worthy films. "The Queen," "Letters from Iwo Jima," and "The Departed" all had the best reviews of the year. While "Babel" wasn't universally loved, everyone knew it's sweeping story would get it a nomination (and I'm fine with that). Plus, the (undeserved) buzz for "Little Miss Sunshine" is so loud that I'm surprised the Academy didn't create a special category to nom the film 5x over. So the "Dreamgirls" snub really isn't a snub, it's just it couldn't fit. Plus, it got the most nominations of any film this year! That's nothing to sneeze at!
Posted by: junior | January 23, 2007 at 08:37 AM
The Oscars are announced and here are the highs & lows:
Highs:
No Best Director nom for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE--Paul Greengrass for UNITED 93 gets nom (yes!)
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA nominated for Best Picture
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN nominated for Best Supporting Actor
Ryan Gosling nominated for Best Actor
PAN'S LABYRINTH gets more noms other than Best Foreign Film (Yeah, Baby!)
Lows:
No Best Picture nomination for DREAMGIRLS (highway robbery!) and instead the gooey, treacely LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE gets the nom (eyes rolling!)
Abigail Breslin nominated for Best Supporting Actress over other much worthier candidates (good Lord!)
Goes to show if you put out screeners to Academy members early enough and campaign like there's no tomorrow no matter how mediocre the film is, it will probably guarantee you a Best Picture nomination and maybe a win--hope LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE does not end up the CRASH upset victory come Oscar time. It's bad enough DREAMGIRLS was robbed for Best Picture. Instead this glob of Afterschool Special film-making LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE now passes for cinema excellence---what is the Academy thinking?...
Posted by: Frankie R. | January 23, 2007 at 08:30 AM
Sorry if this message might be reposted but Djimon Hounsou was born in Benin, Africa.
Posted by: gmjambear | January 23, 2007 at 08:24 AM
In addition, Marianne Jean-Baptiste was born in London, England and one other person of color who was nominated was Sophie Okonedo for Hotel Rwanda. Okeonedo was also born in London, England.
Posted by: gmjambear | January 23, 2007 at 07:53 AM
Your logic is absolutely flawed. You maintain that because the academy nominates a few "black folk" among dozens of nominations that it is proof they are not prejudiced? Please. If anything, it is proof-positive that is all a non-white actor/actress can hope for. Dreamgirls did not get nominated for two reasons: 1) it has an all-black cast (oh dear, they are taking over our Hollywood) and 2) the director is openly gay. This is Brokeback Mountain on the front-end. The Academy is as irrelevant as ever this year. At least I can plan ahead and do something else with my four hours on February 25th instead of wasting my time like I did last year only to see the Academy wimp out and give Best Picture to Trash, er, Crash.
Posted by: NJ | January 23, 2007 at 07:24 AM
And 3 of the 4 acting awards will also go to African Americans this year. I don't think the Academy is racist. I think there are just more good roles out there for minorities these days.
Posted by: Anna | January 23, 2007 at 07:09 AM
I don't recall any other website even making the race issue a problem...
Posted by: Rosengje | January 23, 2007 at 06:29 AM