Djimon Hounsou’s acting career has spanned 33 years and has included two Academy Award nominations (“In America” and “Blood Diamond”), action blockbusters like “Furious 7”, superhero films like “Shazam!” and collaborations with Steven Spielberg (“Amistad”) ) and Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”), but he still told The guard that he still feels “enormously betrayed” when it comes to Hollywood salaries.
“I’m still struggling to make a dollar!” Hounsou said. “I’ve gotten into business with some people who are doing absolutely fine and have very little of my awards. So I feel betrayed, hugely betrayed financially and also in terms of workload.”
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“I used to go to studios for meetings and they were like, ‘Wow, we felt like you just got off the boat and then walked back [after ‘Amistad’]. We didn’t know you were here as a real actor,'” continued Hounsou. “When you hear things like that, you can see that some people’s view of you or what you represent is very limiting. But it is what it is. It’s up to me to redeem that.”
“I have yet to prove why I need to get paid,” he added. “They always come at me with a total low-ball, ‘We only have so much for the role, but we love you so much and we really think you can bring so much.’ … Movie after movie, it’s a Battle. I have yet to meet the film that paid me fair.”
Hounsou said Hollywood overlooked him from the start, starting with his breakthrough role as a rebellious enslaved person in Spielberg’s Amistad. Despite popular acclaim, it was his co-star Anthony Hopkins who earned the film’s only Oscar nomination. For 2016’s “Blood Diamond,” the Academy nominated Hounsou for Supporting Actor and his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio for Lead, although the film was equally focused on Hounsou’s character.
“I felt seriously betrayed,” Hounsou said The guard. “Today we talk so much about the Oscars being so white, but I remember there was a time when I had no support at all: no support from my own people, no support from the media, from the industry myself. It felt like, ‘You should be glad you got nominated,’ and that was it.”
Hounsou is now back in theaters as a magician in Warner Bros.’ “Shazam! Wrath of the Gods.” It’s a supporting role that’s been greatly expanded compared to the limited screen time he got in the first Shazam! Movie.
“Of everyone, the DC Universe has a certain level of respect,” Hounsou said. “There wasn’t much to the role at first, but I did it and it was fun. But the second time it was a bit more respectful.”
“From time to time, [Hollywood] say to himself: ‘We should give him more, he’s a bit underrated.’ I think they recognize that themselves,” Hounsou concluded. “Hey, this is the fight I have to overcome!”
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in cinemas nationwide.
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Source : www.yahoo.com