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Daniel Kaluuya Is Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton In 'Judas And The Black Messiah'

Photo credit: Warner Bros
Photo credit: Warner Bros

From Esquire

You could probably understand if Daniel Kaluuya had been a bit bummed out about being beaten to the Best Actor Oscar by Gary Oldman back in 2018. You star in Get Out, you help remake 21st century horror cinema, and you lose out to two hours of Oldman shouting in a fat suit. Eh?

Judging by the newly released trailer for Judas and the Black Messiah, though, Kaluuya has decided to simply steamroller everyone at the 2021 Oscars.

Kaluuya will play Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Illinois Black Panthers Party and revolutionary socialist, in what looks like an absolute powerhouse performance. His fellow Get Out alumnus LaKeith Stanfield will be William O'Neal, a fellow Black Panther who turned informant against Hampton.

It's produced by Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler, and directed by Shaka King, and judging by the trailer will follow the story of Hampton's rise to prominence, O'Neal's betrayal, and Hampton's murder at the hands of the FBI and Chicago Police Department.

That electrifying speech still stands, though: "You can murder a liberator, but you can't murder liberation! You can murder a revolutionary, but you can't murder a revolution! You can murder a freedom-fighter but you can't murder freedom!"

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