Tessa Thompson has expressed her displeasure that her 2021 film Passing was overlooked by the Oscars.
During an interview with Harper Bazaar, Thompson revealed her disappointment with the drama film Passing‘s lack of recognition at the Academy Awards.
“No, I am also petty and salty. But the thing is … in terms of awards, there’s no objective truth about what’s fine and what’s good in a work. It’s all subjective. So what do you do?”
Thompson was among the group of Black and Asian American creatives that helped fund the movie. Rebecca Hall, the director, had adapted the script from Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel a decade prior.
It addressed the relationship between two Black childhood friends who rejoin as grownups and learn they have travelled through life in two vastly distinct paths. It was set during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
At the Oscars, Passing was snubbed, even though it was praised by the critics. Despite that, Thompson went on to express her gratitude for her experience in the film industry. She considers herself ‘lucky’ to have the opportunities to play roles who people ‘don’t usually see’ as a Black woman.
“I feel really lucky in my career to have gotten to play the kind of protagonist as a Black woman that we don’t necessarily always see.”
Tessa Thompson is now working on an HBO series based on Raven Leilani’s ‘Luster,’ and she expressed her desire to shift more people’s perceptions about black women in movies.
