Helen won the Academy award for Best Actress in 2007, after two previous nominations, for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen’. Photo: YouTube
Award-winning English actress, Helen Mirren has insisted that it’s unfair to blame the Academy for the lack of black actors and actresses in this year’s Oscars nominations, and believes it is more crucial to look at what kind of films are being made.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, she said: ‘I think it’s unfair to attack the Academy, it just so happened this year it went that way. Idris Elba absolutely would have been nominated for an Oscar but not enough people saw, or wanted to see, a film about child soldiers.’
Idris Elba, who won big at the recently held 2016 SAG Awards, is one of the black actors expected to get Oscars nominations this year for his performance in Netflix film about child-soldier, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ but did not.
Read: Idris Elba makes history, wins big at #SAGAwards2016
The actress continued: ‘I’m saying that the issue we need to be looking at is what happens before the film gets to the Oscars. What kind of films are made, and the way in which they’re cast, and the scripts … so it’s those things that are much more influential ultimately than who stands there with an Oscar.’
Helen won the Academy award for Best Actress in 2007, after two previous nominations, for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen’.
Meanwhile, due to the lack of diversity at this year’s Academy Awards, Hollywood stars including Will Smith, Jada Pinkett and Spike Lee have insisted they will boycott the event.