‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ makes Oscars history with all-Black producing team; Daniel Kaluuya viewed as front-runner for best supporting actor

LOS ANGELES — “Judas and the Black Messiah,” directed by Shaka King, dramatizes the life and death of Fred Hampton, the former chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party who was 21 years old when he was killed by Chicago police during a raid on his West Side apartment in 1969.

The film follows Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) and William O’Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield), the man who infiltrated the political organization at the behest of the U.S. government.

Oscar nominations:

Best Picture, Actor in a Supporting Role (Daniel Kaluuya), Actor in a Supporting Role (LaKeith Stanfield), Original Screenplay and Cinematography

Daniel Kaluuya likely to win best supporting actor award

With five Oscar nominations, “Judas and the Black Messiah” has already scooped up a number of awards this season, including best supporting actor trophies at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards and British Academy Film Awards for star Daniel Kaluuya.

This is Kaluuya’s second Oscar nomination, his first in 2018 for his performance in the race-based horror “Get Out.”

To prepare for the role, Kaluuya said he studied the history of Chicago politics to understand how the Black Panther Party fit into that space.

“It’s important to see the truth. To see these groups of people — The Black Panther Party, how on a mission to empower their own, to love their own, to liberate their own … and their deeds being manipulated into terrorist acts,” Kaluuya said.

He’s competing against co-star LaKeith Stanfield, along with Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami…”) and Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”).

All-Black producing team

“Judas and the Black Messiah” not only retells history but made history itself: For the first time ever, one of the movies up for best picture has an all-Black producing team.

Charles King, the founder and CEO of MACRO, is one of the three producers.

After being a power agent and partner at one of Hollywood’s top agencies, King decided to take a leap of faith in 2015 to pursue his vision of building MACRO, a global media brand driven by people of color in efforts to tell stories that have the power to bring communities together.

King said he drew parallels from Fred Hampton’s story to today’s issues with policing and social justice.

“You think so much of what’s happened in the world. I was looking at the summation of the trial for our brother George Floyd and his murderer — just thinking about how policing ties in what [Hampton] was trying to address then and how so much of that continues on even to this day,” King said.

Charles said he believes resurfacing hidden stories of the past can help society find a path to move forward to “inspire and bring people together.”

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