Djimon Hounsou mentioned in a latest interview with CNN that he continues to battle as a working actor in Hollywood regardless of a number of roles in studio blockbusters below his belt and two Oscar nominations to his identify. The actor famous that his continued struggles in Hollywood factors to the “systemic racism” that prevails within the movie trade.
“I’m nonetheless struggling making an attempt to make a residing,” Hounsou mentioned. “After 30 years…possibly the primary 10 years was making an attempt to acclimate myself to the trade, to determine myself. However I’ve been on this enterprise making movies now for over twenty years and with two Oscar nominations and been in lots of blockbuster movies, and but, I’m nonetheless struggling financially to make a residing. I’m undoubtedly underpaid.”
“That’s an indication for you that systemic racism shouldn’t be one thing you possibly can cope with flippantly,” he added. “It’s so deeply inserted in so many issues we do throughout the board. You don’t overcome it. You simply form of have to deal with it and survive one of the best ways you possibly can.”
Hounsou‘s profession in Hollywood has included studio tentpoles like “Livid 7,” two “Shazam!” movies, the Marvel motion pictures “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain Marvel,” and the horror franchise entries “A Quiet Place: Half II” and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” plus Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning blockbuster “Gladiator.” He was nominated for 2 finest supporting actor Oscars due to his work in “In America” and “Blood Diamond,” the latter of which co-starred Leonardo DiCaprio and grossed $170 million worldwide.
The actor informed The Guardian in 2023 that he feels “tremendously cheated” in terms of Hollywood pay, explaining: “I’ve come up within the enterprise with some people who find themselves completely effectively off and have little or no of my accolades. So I really feel cheated when it comes to funds and when it comes to the workload as effectively.”
“I’ve gone to studios for conferences they usually’re like: ‘Wow, we felt such as you simply received off the boat after which went again [after ‘Amistad’]. We didn’t know you have been right here as a real actor,’” Hounsou mentioned on the time. “Once you hear issues like that, you possibly can see that some individuals’s imaginative and prescient of you, or what you characterize, could be very limiting. However it’s what it’s. It’s as much as me to redeem that.”
“I nonetheless should show why I must receives a commission,” he added. “They all the time come at me with an entire low ball: ‘We solely have this a lot for the function, however we love you a lot and we actually assume you possibly can carry a lot’… Movie after movie, it’s a battle. I’ve but to satisfy the movie that paid me pretty.”
Hounsou most just lately appeared in Zack Snyder’s two “Insurgent Moon” motion pictures for Netflix. His upcoming slate contains the survival film “Beneath the Storm” with Phoebe Dynevor, the thriller “The Zealot” with Kodi Smit-McPhee and the horror film “The Monster” from “Noticed” director Darren Lynn Bousman.