“I wasn’t happy”: Spider-Verse Star Daniel Kaluuya Was at a Strange Crossroad in His Life After Finding Fame
British actor Daniel Kaluuya kickstarted his acting career as a teenager who used to perform in improvisational theater. The portrayal of Reece in BBC’s 2006 controversial drama Shoot the Messenger got him his first acting credit and he has been quite the trailblazer ever since as he went on to star in some of the best movies and series out there.
Daniel Kaluuya worked with Dune director Denis Villeneuve in Sicario at a time when the latter was still working on his conversational English. Kaluuya’s performance in an episode of Black Mirror luckily caught the attention of Jordan Peele, who cast him in Get Out, which turned out to be the actor’s breakthrough movie. Four years later, Kaluuya won an Oscar, but things were not as easy as they might have appeared to the onlookers.
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Daniel Kaluuya Was Unhappy Even After Winning an Oscar
The definition of success varies from person to person. Some believe it to be in how content they feel about doing what they do, and others measure it based on how content they have made other people by doing what they are doing. Oftentimes, these two things are confused with each other. Daniel Kaluuya was no exception.
In 2021, Kaluuya appeared in the movie Judas and the Black Messiah. His performance was so great that he won five major film awards – Academy Award, BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, and SAG Award – for Best Supporting Actor. The road to fame was not easy for him, but the road post this historic win made things even more complicated.
Speaking to GQ for an interview recently, the black Panter actor said that he is “way happier” after winning the Oscar two years ago because he felt that he was not being honest as a person and an artist.
“It really felt like, look at me: I’ve got everything that you’re supposed to get. I’ve got everything that people would die for. And then I wasn’t happy.”
Happiness, for Kaluuya, did not come from the fame he achieved in the industry. Instead, it came from where he stood as an actor.
Daniel Kaluuya Holds Himself Accountable
While most people would blame it on how things work in the industry and how they were manipulated into doing the next big thing rather than staying true to themselves, Daniel Kaluuya refuses to be a part of that crowd.
In the interview with GQ, Kaluuya said that after starring in 2022’s Nope, he realized what he was doing was against his own two best traits, “spontaneity and instinct”. This is when he started being candid and started saying
“things out loud that I’ve never said out loud, and because they didn’t come immediately, people thought it had come out of nowhere. But I was like, ‘No, I’ve always felt like this.’ I just wasn’t real — not their fault, it was me.”
It takes courage for a person to take accountability, and Kaluuya has turned out to be rather brave for not only making that candid revelation but also working on it. He is finally making his directorial debut with the movie The Kitchen, set to be released on Netflix on January 19, 2024.
