Lil Rel Howery Can’t Believe Ana de Armas’ Oscar Nom For ‘Blonde’

Andrea Riseborough’s surprise Best Actress nomination for To Leslie continues to be the hot Hollywood talk this week. The Academy has looked into the campaign that made her a finalist for the prestigious Oscar and decided not to take any action. But Lil Rel Howery thinks some action does need to be taken. Not against Riseborough, but against his Deep Water co-star Ana de Armas

Speaking on the Vulture “Into It” podcast, Howery couldn’t ignore that Armas’ performance in the critically-reviled Blonde earned her another award nomination…

“Somebody else should have got bumped,” Howery said. “I’m not going to say anything, but it’s a movie nominated as a Razzie. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Howery continued, “It’s just… and that’s somebody I did a film with. I did “Deep Water” with her, with Ben Affleck. Amazing. I’m just talking about the Academy. What are y’all doing? Come on, fam. For real?”

Howery then joined in the chorus of people wondering how Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler were left out for their performances in The Woman King and Till, respectively.

“Are we ever going to get that due? [Davis] did the work in [“The Woman King”]. She did the work. “Woman King,” to me, was one of the best movies I’ve watched.”

Coming up for Howery this year are crime comedy The Out-Laws, and a live-action Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.