Netflix Wants the Oscars to Run Delroy Lindo a Best Actor Nomination for ‘Da 5 Bloods’

Netflix is gearing up for awards season, and it’s betting big on Delroy Lindo, the standout star of Spike Lee’s Vietnam War drama, Da 5 Bloods.

As Variety reports, the streaming platform and production company confirmed that they will be campaigning the 67-year-old Lindo for an Academy Award nomination for lead actor.

Lindo has certainly put in the work. As Variety observes, he’s been a mainstay on the silver and the small screen for 40 years, in which time he has racked up more than 40 screen credits, including for Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules and Malcolm X.

He was also the heartbeat of Da 5 Bloods, playing a Vietnam War veteran battling PTSD on a return trip to the Southeast Asian country with three of his brothers-in-arms. That Lindo was, without question, the center of gravity for the film says a lot considering the movie’s formidable ensemble: Chadwick Boseman, of course, but also acclaimed character actors Clarke Peters (Treme, The Wire), Isaiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire), Jean Reno (The Professional, The Da Vinci Code) and rising star Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country, The Last Black Man in San Francisco). Lindo’s iconic walk across the dance floor of a Ho Chi Minh nightclub was instantly meme-able and award-worthy in and of itself (and a realistic portrayal of my weekend processions to the pantry when the [redacted] hits).

Netflix will campaign Majors, Peters, Whitlock and Boseman, as well as co-star Norm Lewis, for supporting actor nominations. Variety notes that Boseman, who passed away last month after a prolonged battle with colon cancer, has two performances this year that could see him get posthumous award nominations. Aside from Da 5 Bloods, Boseman also stars in the upcoming Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, also distributed by Netflix.