Oscar Nom for “Judas and the Black Messiah” by Lakeith Stanfield explained

When Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas announced nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards, the most shocking inclusion was Lakeith Stanfield in the category of best supporting actor for his performance in Warner Bros.’s Judas and the Black Messiah. It is not surprising from a quality standpoint, as he offers the best play of his career as William O’Neal – an FBI informant who betrays the trust of his friend Fred Hampton, played by his nominated and winner of the Oscar Daniel Kaluuya – but shocking because he campaigned for the lead actor.

The categorization of Kaluuya and Stanfield has been debated within social media circles, believing that the former is the co-leader of Shaka King’s historical drama and should have campaigned there appropriately. Even in my personal vote, I recognized Kaluuya in the lead cast. One theory was that the industry could have seen the film as a joint play, similar to “The Chicago Trial 7”, and voted for both in the category. Although it is not certain, the most plausible speculation is that Kaluuya received a large number of votes as the main actor, despite having campaigned as a supporting actor. Many of these bills probably had Stanfield listed as support and vice versa. According to Academy rules, an actor cannot be nominated twice in the same category, or for the same performance in two different categories. This goes back to the winner of the best film in 1945, “Going My Way”, where Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for best actor and supporting actor. After that, the Academy changed the rules, and if an actor receives enough votes in the main and supporting categories (or for two separate performances in the same category), the performance that receives the most votes, ultimately, becomes the indicated.

This would lead to the conclusion that Kaluuya had enough votes for best actor to secure a spot in the best actor category, probably over Gary Oldman (“Mank”) or Steven Yeun (“Minari”), but later received more votes as a supporting actor in ultimately, sealing your appointment. With Stanfield probably on the main ballots, he had enough votes to secure one of the seats in the best supporting actor category. This would speak not only about the strength of the film – which earned six Oscar nominations, including the best film – but also about the likelihood that the film is possibly competing in several categories and may have broad support.

In the history of the Oscars, there were a handful of performances in campaigns in supporting categories, but they were nominated for the main role because the Academy gave freedom to the business of acting to put the actor or actress where it sees fit. Some recent examples were when Kate Winslet won the award for best supporting actress at the Golden Globe and SAG for “The Reader” in 2008 before being nominated, and eventually won the Oscar for best actress. Keisha Castle-Hughes also sought recognition for her work on “Whale Rider” as a supporting actress, even receiving a SAG award nomination, before the Oscar sounded audible, changing her to the protagonist. At the time, she was the youngest nominee in the category’s history (before Quvenzhané Wallis was nominated in 2012 for “Wild Beast of the South”).

We have never seen a leadership performance campaign, and later we received recognition for support. Although it is unclear what the exact circumstances were, Benicio del Toro (“Traffic”) and Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind”) were nominated for the SAG award in 2001 and 2002, which honors the studio’s entries; however, they were nominated and won for supporting Oscar. For Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher”, Steve Carell got Golden Globe nominations and SAG awards. Still, he turned a few heads when he was nominated for best supporting actor at the BAFTA Awards, causing speculation in the 2014-2015 awards season that he might be switched on the morning of the Oscar nomination, which did not happen.

It is necessary to emphasize how monumental Stanfield’s nomination is. He received only one quote in the entire awards season at the Black Reel Awards as a prominent actor. Since Marina de Tavira got the shocking nomination for “Roma”, an actor has been unable to muster that kind of support. In addition, there have never been two black actors nominated in the same category for the same film. We’ve seen a lot of double falls in recent years, like “The Irishman” (Al Pacino and Joe Pesci), but that recalls when Dianne Wiest was running away with her second Oscar for “Bullets over Broadway” (1994) and managed to bring in the co-star Jennifer Tilly, who only had one nomination from the American Comedy Awards.

The phenomenon of co-lead or rewarding the strategist’s apprehension in playing the dice has always been problematic. This caused a stir over time, especially in 2015, when Rooney Mara and Alicia Vikander were nominated for “Carol” and “The Danish Girl”, with the latter winning. Both are considered major roles in the respective films. What do we do now that Kaluuya and Stanfield are nominated in the same category, but not the main one? Can we look at “Judas and the Black Messiah” as a play together, with equal narrative arcs given to the characters played by Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Algee Smith, Dominique Thorne and Ashton Sanders?

Since the interpretation of the category is ultimately subjective, we can celebrate that there was probably a Kaluuya in the lead surprise. The acting industry saw the merits of a film that started late, but appeared in style at the Oscars. Kaluuya remains ahead after winning the Critics Choice and Golden Globe and looks strong to win the SAG; but with five weeks left, anything can happen.