Djimon Hounsou said that he feels “terribly cheated” by the film industry and that, despite his long career in Hollywood, he still has trouble getting paid what he’s worth.
The Wizard is played by Djimon Hounsou in the DC superhero movie “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” which is out now. The actor said that he is “still struggling to try to make a dollar” even though he has been in the business for decades and has been nominated for several Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild awards.
I’ve come up in the business with some people who are absolutely well off and have very little of my accolades,
Djimon Hounsou said.
So I feel cheated, tremendously cheated, in terms of finances and in terms of the workload.
“Amistad,” a 1997 movie by Steven Spielberg, gave Djimon Hounsou his first big break. He went on to be in movies like “In America” and “Blood Diamond,” for which the Academy nominated him for Best Supporting Actor. At the same time, his co-star in “Blood Diamond,” Leonardo DiCaprio, was nominated for Best Actor, even though Hounsou’s character was the main focus of the movie.
Djimon Hounsou told said that he felt “seriously cheated” and that he didn’t have the support of the industry, the media, or even “his own people.” Some of his “own people” still don’t think of him as “a true actor,” he said. He also talked about being offered low pay for acting jobs and having to “prove why I need to get paid.”
On the other hand, Djimon Hounsou has noticed that his value in the film business world has gone up.
From time to time, they themselves make the point of saying: ‘We should give him more, he’s a little underappreciated.’ I think they recognize that themselves,
he said.
Hey, it’s the struggle I have to overcome!
