In her first screen starring turn since the ferocious portrayal as an abusive mother in 2009′s Precious won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, Mo’Nique has joined Isaiah Washington in the Patrik-Ian Polk-directed Blackbird, an adaptation of the novel by Larry Duplechan. Washington took the lead in this indie last fall off his starring role as the DC sniper in Blue Caprice earned him a Gotham Award nomination. The film just shot in Hattiesburg, MS.
Mo’Nique is also executive producer with her husband, Sidney Hicks, through Hicks Media. Newcomer Julian Walker plays the star singer in the church choir who feels like a misfit in his high school and struggles with his sexual awakening and the realization he is gay, something that doesn’t land well in a religiously conservative small Mississippi town. This coincides with his younger sister going missing and his parents splitting up. Mo’Nique plays another character who’s not going to win mother of the year awards: the youth’s heartbroken mom, who blames her son’s lifestyle revelation for his sister going missing. Washington plays his supportive father trying his best to help his son’s transition to manhood.
“Blackbird is a film about the choices people are forced to make as they struggle to figure out how to be themselves,” Hicks said. “And why should just being who you are be a struggle? Since Mo’Nique won the Oscar, we have received a flood of scripts, but nothing captured our attention until Isaiah — who we have a high level of respect for — sent us Blackbird. We became instant fans of Patrik-Ian Polk and knew we had to get behind this important film.”
Polk is producing through Tall Skinny Black Boy Productions, Keith Brown through Kbiz Entertainment, Washington through his Coalhouse Productions, and Carol Ann Shine. Terrell Tilford, Gary L. Gray, Kevin Allesee, Torrey Laamar, Nikki Jane and D. Woods round out the cast. Worldwide sales for the film are being handled by Hicks Media and attorney Ricky Anderson of Anderson & Smith.
article by Mike Fleming Jr. via Deadline.com
Posts published in “Movies”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Steve McQueen, the 44-year-old British director, garnered his first Director’s Guild of American Award nomination for 12 Years a Slave, an unflinching look at slavery in the U.S. McQueen is only the second black director to have received a DGA nomination in this category. Lee Daniels was the first to earn a DGA nomination for feature film for 2009’s Precious. McQueen received best director honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and is nominated for Golden Globe and Independent Spirit awards.
Other nominees include Martin Scorsese, who earned his ninth DGA nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street, his controversial dark comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio about a hedonistic stockbroker. Scorsese, 71, received his first DGA feature nomination for 1976’s Taxi Driver, and won the honor for his 2006 crime film The Departed, which also starred DiCaprio.
Alfonso Cuaron, like McQueen, is also a first-time nominee, for his lost-in-space blockbuster Gravity. Cuaron, 52, was named best director by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. for the thriller and is nominated for a Golden Globe Award. British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, 58, was nominated for Captain Phillips, a fact-based thriller about a container ship hijacked by Somali pirates. Greengrass is also nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the film. Rounding out the DGA feature nominees is David O. Russell for his Abscam-influenced con-comedy American Hustle. Russell, 55, was nominated in this category for 2010’s The Fighter. He is also nominated for a Golden Globe.
The winner will be announced at the 66th awards dinner on Jan. 25 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Alfonso Cuaron, like McQueen, is also a first-time nominee, for his lost-in-space blockbuster Gravity. Cuaron, 52, was named best director by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. for the thriller and is nominated for a Golden Globe Award. British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, 58, was nominated for Captain Phillips, a fact-based thriller about a container ship hijacked by Somali pirates. Greengrass is also nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the film. Rounding out the DGA feature nominees is David O. Russell for his Abscam-influenced con-comedy American Hustle. Russell, 55, was nominated in this category for 2010’s The Fighter. He is also nominated for a Golden Globe.
The winner will be announced at the 66th awards dinner on Jan. 25 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Juanita Moore, who broke barriers for African-American actors and was Oscar-nominated for 1959′s remake of Imitation of Life, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. Her step-grandson, actor Kirk Kahn, said she was 99. Moore received a supporting actress nomination for the Douglas Sirk-directed Imitation of Life, playing Annie Johnson, the housekeeper whose daughter passes for white, in the racially-themed film that was based on the Fannie Hurst novel. She was the fifth African-American to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.
Kahn said she was still running lines with him recently, and had planned to participate in a reading at the Saban Theater in a few weeks. “She didn’t candy-coat it for you,” he said. “She said, ‘If you’re no good, the play’s no good.’” “She gave back to the community in so many ways,” he said. “Wherever we went she stopped and told black boys and girls they could do anything with their lives.”
Moore, who was a founding member of the Cambridge Players along with thespians such as Esther Rolle, was honored at the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, her grandson said. Born in Los Angeles, Moore was a chorus girl at the Cotton Club who started out as a film extra, then worked as an actor at the Ebony Showcase Theater. She made her film debut in 1949′s Pinky, and often played a maid in 1950s films such as The Girl Can’t Help It. In the 1960s and ’70s, she played a nun in The Singing Nun and appeared in films including Uptight and The Mack.
Though she didn’t work often through the 1980s, she began appearing onscreen again in later years on TV shows such as E.R. and Judging Amy and in films such as Disney’s The Kid. In addition to her grandson, she is survived by two nephews. To learn more about her life and career, click here.
article by Pat Saperstein via Variety.com; additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Moore, who was a founding member of the Cambridge Players along with thespians such as Esther Rolle, was honored at the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, her grandson said. Born in Los Angeles, Moore was a chorus girl at the Cotton Club who started out as a film extra, then worked as an actor at the Ebony Showcase Theater. She made her film debut in 1949′s Pinky, and often played a maid in 1950s films such as The Girl Can’t Help It. In the 1960s and ’70s, she played a nun in The Singing Nun and appeared in films including Uptight and The Mack.
Though she didn’t work often through the 1980s, she began appearing onscreen again in later years on TV shows such as E.R. and Judging Amy and in films such as Disney’s The Kid. In addition to her grandson, she is survived by two nephews. To learn more about her life and career, click here.
article by Pat Saperstein via Variety.com; additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim.
Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, Django Unchained, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino‘s Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.
He played Nick Fury in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Marvel’s The Avengers, the first five of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson is set to reprise his role as Fury in the 2014 film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the 2015 film, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Jackson’s many roles have made him one of the highest-grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media, including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe. In October 2011, Jackson became the actor with the highest-grossing film total of all time.
article via wikipedia.org
Disney is developing a biographical feature film about American track and field hero Jesse Owens, setting up the project with production companies BermanBraun and Netter Films and attaching Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen) to direct. The untitled film is based on the book Triumph, written ESPN host Jeremy Schaap. David Seidler, who won a screenwriting Oscar for The King’s Speech, is on board to write the screenplay.
Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Triumph tells the story of how the son of an Alabama sharecropper shattered Adolf Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy by winning a record four gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump and the 400-meter relay. Hitler had insisted Jews and Blacks not be allowed to participate in the games, but relented when threatened with a boycott. He shook hands only with the German victors on the first day of competition and then skipped all further medal presentations.
article by Dave McNary via Variety.com
Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Triumph tells the story of how the son of an Alabama sharecropper shattered Adolf Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy by winning a record four gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump and the 400-meter relay. Hitler had insisted Jews and Blacks not be allowed to participate in the games, but relented when threatened with a boycott. He shook hands only with the German victors on the first day of competition and then skipped all further medal presentations.
article by Dave McNary via Variety.com
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association yesterday announced the nominees for the 71st annual Golden Globes. Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years A Slave garnered seven nominations (tied with American Hustle), including Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Best Director (Steve McQueen), Best Screenplay (John Ridley), Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o) and Best Motion Picture – Drama. Ejiofor also picked up a nod for his performance in the miniseries Dancing on the Edge, competing in that category with this year’s other double nominee, Idris Elba, who was recognized for his work in Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom as well as his television series Luther.
Other television nods went out to Kerry Washington for her work on ABC’s Scandal, and Don Cheadle for his leading role on Showtime’s House of Lies. The 2014 ceremony will again be hosted by “Parks and Recreation’s” Amy Poehler and “30 Rock’s” Tina Fey and held January 12, 2014. The full list of nominees follows:
The Screen Actors Guild released their list of award nominees this morning — one day before the Golden Globes announces their selections of the year’s best television shows and motion pictures. Among the top nominees for the 20th annual SAG awards were 12 Years a Slave and Lee Daniels’ The Butler – which solidified their status as front-runners for the Oscars.
12 Years a Slave led the pack with four nominations: outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role (Chiwetel Ejifor), outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role (Michael Fassbender) and outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role (Lupita Nyong’o). The film also scored big among other awards ceremonies after the Boston Society of Film Critics awarded the film its top prize while the New York Film Critics Online named it best picture of the year.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler was also a top contender with three nominations. Oprah Winfrey was nominated for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role and Forest Whitaker was among the nominees for outstanding performance by male actor in a leading role. The film was also nominated for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
Meanwhile, in television Kerry Washington and Angela Bassett and Don Cheadle all earned nominations for their work this year, Washington for lead actress in the ABC drama Scandal, Bassett for her turn as Coretta Scott King in the Lifetime television movie Betty and Coretta, and Cheadle for his Showtime comedy series House of Lies.
Idris Elba’s talent may have landed him the role of the late and legendary Nelson Mandela in a new biopic – but his good looks swept the woman of Essence off their feet as they named him 2013′s Sexiest Man Alive. Elba has had a banner year with the release of two high-profile movies: the first was a July release of the action film Pacific Rim but it is his role as Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom that has brought him considerable buzz.
Aside from the talent he delivers on-screen, Elba is also admired by women for his whimsical charm and let it be known, according to Essence: “When Elba smiles, he dazzles. We’re seeing stars, moons and rainbows right about now.” The magazine chose the British actor to join the league of men who have received the “Sexiest Man Alive” title by a variety of magazines.
People recently released that their pick for this year’s Sexiest Man Alive was musician Adam Levine – and theGrio responded by compiling our own list of black men in Hollywood who are just as deserving (note: Elba was a top pick). Click here to see the 50 reasons Essence gave for naming Elba as their choice for 2013′s Sexiest Man Alive.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com
Sweet Dreams, a documentary about efforts by the Brooklyn-based Blue Marble Ice Cream company to help a group of Rwandan women open their own shop, could have come off as insensitive or twee. And in the first 10 minutes, I worried that it was, indeed, about how artisanal food could save Africa.
When viewers are facing the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were slaughtered in 1994, it’s easy to think that ice cream is a comparatively petty concern. But, thankfully, the sibling directors Lisa and Rob Fruchtman have made a nuanced and deftly edited film about a complex issue. It’s fascinating to see the natural resources in this “land of milk and honey” transformed into novelty and development through a soft-serve machine. And, as one man says, “If you are bringing development to the woman, you are bringing it to the whole family.” It is rare to see a movie present such weighty problems and offer nonsimplistic, practical solutions in story form.
Ms. Fruchtman’s background as an editor (Apocalypse Now and Heaven’s Gate) may have helped guide the skillful narrative structure here. The initial focus on the struggles and successes of a small business may be familiar to Western audiences. But then the individual past horrors endured by these women are revealed in subtle and dramatic ways, until we realize the weight of trauma in this nation. “Can someone just see you and start guessing your story?” one subject wonders.
article by Miriam Bale via nytimes.com
“Part of the reason for that is that, within the studio system, black directors just haven’t always been given the opportunity to direct “black films” – especially those that did gross over $100 million in recent years, like Django Unchained, Dreamgirls, The Pursuit Of Happyness, and even Big Mommas House, which all grossed over $100 million, in their years of release, un-adjusted for inflation.” Thanks to the success of the film, Lee Daniels says big box office bucks are no longer a concern for his future projects.
“I don’t think I’m going to have a problem now. I made $100 million for The Butler,” he said. “I’m in a rare group. So this is something I feel good about.” Sources say the The Best Man Holiday, set for a November 15 release, has the potential to reach a similar height.
article by Myeisha Essex via blackamericaweb.com
article by Myeisha Essex via blackamericaweb.com