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LaKeith Stanfield speaks on 'Judas' reception: 'The way that they’re critiqued is annoying'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 3/18/21

Shaka King's Judas and the Black Messiah was nominated for six Oscars when the Academy announced the field Monday morning, including a nod for LaKeith Stanfield under the best performance by an actor in a supporting role category.

Stanfield portrayed William O'Neal, an FBI informant involved with the murder of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) in the biographical drama. Kaluuya is confusingly also up for best supporting actor, begging the question: who is the lead?

Stanfield spoke with NME about Judas, calling it the "most challenging role of my career" and lending insight to how he is processing all of the critical acclaim:

"Is it nice to have accolades and people talking about the movie? Yeah, that’s great. But we don’t really do it for that. We do it because we want to tell a good story. ... To be honest with you, most Black films that I’m a part of—or even the ones I’m not in—the way that they’re critiqued is annoying. Because I think a lot of people doing the critique don’t really understand the experience, so they kind of miss it a little bit. But timely feels right because unfortunately a lot of stuff just hasn’t changed. Especially in how we relate to government and people that are non-white. And especially in America."

Prior to Judas, Stanfield's other Black-centric projects included Donald Glover's television series Atlanta as well as Selma (2014), Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Crown Heights (2017). It was Jordan Peele's revolutionary thriller Get Out (2017) that paired him with Kaluuya for the first time.

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