Oscar Nominations 2021: The Snubs And Surprises

Da 5 Bloods has had a rocky awards season. First it was snubbed by the Globes, then it picked up ensemble and supporting actor bids for Chadwick Boseman at the SAG awards, Critics Choice Awards showered it in nominations from Best Picture to leading actor for Delroy Lindo and then BAFTA gave it a single surprise nomination for Clarke Peters' supporting work.

Now here we are at the Oscars, and Da 5 Bloods gets a solitary nomination for its score. It's a difficult film to pin down, different voting bodies clearly have different views on it. But, if one element of the film deserves the praise it got, it was Delroy Lindo's exhilarating performance as a man losing his mind.

There are two key reasons why Lindo missed out here. Firstly, the film came out last Summer, it is incredibly hard to keep a film relevant on the campaign trail. Secondly, the studio foolishly pushed for Lindo as a leading actor so they could place Boseman in supporting. They tried to have their cake and eat it too with a bold attempt at scoring nominations for both men. In the end, they got neither as Lindo failed to break into the competitive Best Actor race. If they submitted Lindo in supporting, he very well could have been the frontrunner to win.