'Hillary’s America’ director D'Souza calls 5 Razzie noms 'petty revenge'

Dinesh D’Souza is taking great pride in receiving five Razzie award nominations for his anti-Hillary Clinton documentary Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party.

The co-director and star of Hillary’s America is up against major studio films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zoolander 2 for worst movie of the year honors in the 37th Golden Raspberry Awards, celebrating the worst in film.

“I think the normal expected reaction would be one of dismay and embarrassment at being nominated as the worst film,” an amused D’Souza told USA TODAY. “But for me, I’m actually quite honored.”

'Zoolander 2,' 'Batman v Superman' lead Razzie nominations

D'Souza says the nominations have everything to do with hurt feelings over the November presidential election, when Clinton lost to Republican Donald Trump.

“It’s petty revenge, it’s a small-minded way for kicking us in the shins after the fact,” said D’Souza. “People are still furious about Nov. 8. Part of this vote is a refracted fury at Trump and not even about the film directly.”

D'Souza was also nominated as worst actor for portraying himself (along with Dirty Grandpa's Robert de Niro and Batman Ben Affleck). D'Souza and Bruce Schooley were nominated for worst directors and worst screenplay. Becky Turner (who plays Clinton and doesn't speak a word in the movie) was nominated for worst actress.

D’Souza says he “chuckled” when he was forwarded the email featuring the Razzie nominations and admitted he had never heard of the awards program. His low-budget documentary cracked the top 10 movies after its July release and made $13 million in theaters. Trump urged supporters via Twitter to see the film.

“We’re not nominated because our film bombed at the box office,” D’Souza said. “The reason we are nominated is because the film might have played an important role in the election.”

'Hillary's America' documentary cracks top 10 at box office

As for his acting in his film, D’Souza called his own performance “masterful.”

“I’m playing myself. It’s really hard to believe another actor could have done a better job at playing me,” he said. “It would be funny if someone told me that Brad Pitt could do a better Dinesh than Dinesh.”

D’Souza says he is likely to attend the Razzies on Feb. 25 ceremony in Los Angeles if he wins.

“If they have a really nice ceremony, I might be willing to show up and collect my award,” he said. “As long as they let me give a speech. And it will take them another year to recover from the speech.”