oscars 2016

Michael Caine Says Black Actors Should ‘Be Patient’ About Oscar Nominations

The Last Witch Hunter Premiere at Odeon Leicester Square, London, Britain on 19 Oct 2015.
Michael Caine. Photo: Jon Furniss / Corbis

Just like Charlotte Rampling, his co-star in The Statement, Michael Caine is addressing the diversity controversy in this year’s Oscar nominations, which, for the second year in a row, chose an all-white slate in the acting categories. In an interview with BBC Radio 4, the two-time Oscar winner argued that “You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black … You have to give a good performance” — an echo of Rampling’s opinion that “perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list.” Unlike Rampling, Caine did acknowledge the black actors in the Oscar conversation, calling Idris Elba’s work in Beasts of No Nation “wonderful” and worthy of a nomination. When asked to give advice to actors like Elba who were shut out, the 82-year-old actor told them to “Be patient, of course it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar.”

Michael Caine: Black Actors Should ‘Be Patient’