Ava DuVernay Reacts to 'Origin's Support From Hollywood During Awards Season (Exclusive)

Origin, a film directed by Ava DuVernay, received praise from critics but didn't earn any Golden Globe or Academy Award nominations. However, it did receive a strong push from notable stars during the final days of Oscar nomination voting. PopCulture.com recently spoke to DuVernay about stars such as Angelina Jolie and Ben Affleck promoting Origin during awards season. 

"Just to have fellow artists support anything at any time is an extraordinary thing to make something," DuVernay, 51, told PopCulture. "And folks who also make things saying, 'Hey, there's something about that that's special that I want to amplify, that I want to wave people over to,' is a remarkable feeling."

"I know when I see things. And whether I know the filmmaker or not, I'm on their social media and I'm sending a note or I'm tracking down a number to text or I'm reaching out. And that's the fun part, is when you're able to cheer on a fellow artist and just show appreciation. And so it's been really wonderful. It's been a beautiful long list of folks who've reached out, folks that are publicly known and then folks who have been doing it quietly behind the scenes. It feels good."

According to Deadline, Jolie hosted an invite-only event at her home with DuVernay and Origin star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in attendance. Jolie spoke passionately about the film and moderated a screening of it.

Affleck also showed love for the film in a screening he moderated in December with Sean Penn in attendance. Samuel L. Jackson held a toast for the film at Sunset Towers in January, and Dave Chappelle moderated a special screening of Origin and interviewed DuVernay in Ohio. Deadline also said that Guillermo Del Toro, JJ Abrams, Oprah Winfrey, James Bond franchise executive producer Barbara Brocolli and Lena Waithe also voiced support for Origin.

Origin is based on the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, which describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system. Ellis-Taylor stars along with Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Nick Offerman, Blair Underwood and Audra McDonald. 

"I read the book and I was very captivated by her thesis, which was the idea that there is this foundation to all of the isms that we experience underneath racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, ableism, ageism, all of that is this thing called Caste that runs underneath it that crosses time and space, country, community culture," DuVernay said about the development of Origin. "And that I hadn't considered it enough and hadn't really heard about the ways in which it connects with my daily life. And so that's a very provocative proposition and something that really captured my attention and I became interested in making sure that other people were aware of it."