Ana de Armas has certainly had an impressive career so far. The Cuban-Spanish beauty has starred in Knives Out and No Time to Die. Recently, de Armas portrayed Marilyn Monroe in the 2022 movie Blonde. Her roles are diverse and showcase her range well.
De Armas has been nominated for several awards over the years, and she’s even won a few. However, many movie buffs were surprised when she received her biggest nomination yet: Best Actress.
Since the 2023 Academy Awards nominees were announced, there has been quite a buzz over De Armas getting nominated — and not all of it has been positive.
The 2023 Oscar nominees for Best Actress
Receiving an Oscar nomination is a huge honor that many A-list actors never get to see. And De Armas, who was nominated for Blonde, faces stiff competition. Here are the other nominees for Best Actress in a Leading Role:
- Cate Blanchett, Tár
- Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
- Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
- Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
This is an impressive list of nominees. So why are some movie aficionados and members of the Academy upset? As it turns out, they don’t have anything personal against De Armas. They just think Viola Davis got snubbed.
People posted their reactions to this year’s Academy Awards nominees on a recent Reddit thread. One user expressed shock over the Best Actress category, claiming, “I didn’t see that coming!”
Others quickly agree. A Redittor added, “Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler got snubbed by Ana de Armas and Andrea Risenborough.”
“Sometimes I think the ‘not enough diversity’ is overblown, but in this case, I genuinely thought Viola Davis was a potential winner and DD was absolutely deserving of a nom. This won’t land well,” chimed in another Redditor. Viola Davis getting snubbed is definitely a popular opinion at the moment, as Newsweek reports.
The lack of diversity in both nominees and winners has certainly been an issue for the Academy Awards in the past. It even inspired an entire movement to draw attention to the issue with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
However, that doesn’t appear to be the main issue in the public’s disappointment over De Armas being nominated. While De Armas’ performance in Blonde was phenomenal, the movie itself faced a lot of hostility and criticism.
The ‘Blonde’ controversy involving Ana de Armas’s role
Contrary to popular opinion, Blonde was not meant to be a factual account of Marilyn Monroe’s life. Instead, it’s based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates by the same name. The novel is based on Monroe’s life. But it is a fictional account, and therefore it blends fact and fiction.
Despite this, film critics and the public were quick to attack the producers of the film, calling it exploitative and even “exploitation porn” since the film was rated NC-17 for sex scenes and violence. Blonde was not a feel-good film, but it was never meant to be.
When are the Academy Awards?
The 2023 Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. With so many miffed about the Best Actress snub, it’s sure to be an interesting evening.
