David Oyelowo feels really ‘proud’ of the younger black actors
DAVID Oyelowo thinks the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling were afforded more opportunities than black actors of his generation.
The 41-year-old star feels really “proud” of the younger generation of black British actors, but he believes that stars like Daniel Kaluuya have been given a better opportunity to make their names in the movie business.
He explained: “I’m really, really proud, because they are now doing that which my generation wasn’t afforded. Y’know, the Leonardo DiCaprios and the Ryan Goslings, they get to break earlier than black actors do.
“You sort of need to pummel and plough away for longer, as a black actor, to get a degree of fame and, more often than not, you have to play a historical figure somewhere; basically a role that a white actor couldn’t play.
“But John (Boyega) is in his early 20s with ‘Star Wars’, Daniel is in his 20s with ‘Get Out’, and now ‘Black Panther’.”
By contrast, Oyelowo claimed that other black actors of his generation, such as Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor, have been forced to wait for longer to become true Hollywood stars.
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Oyelowo shared: “Getting these opportunities younger means they have a greater length of time to build a body of significant work. If you look at myself, Idris, Chiwetel, it’s happened for us a bit later.”
Oyelowo also revealed he’s especially proud of the Ryan Coogler-directed Marvel movie ‘Black Panther’, which he feels portrays black women in a more positive light than is often the case.
He explained: “I know those warrior women, they’re my aunties, they’re my cousins, they are my mother; we just don’t get to see them on screen. Enough with the mammies, enough with the slave women. Enough.
“We’ve seen that, we know it’s a part of our heritage, but so is this.” — BANG Showbiz