Denzel Washington and Maya Angelou are ranked in the top 10 on the new Reader’s Digest Trust Poll: The 100 Most Trusted People in America, ranking third and fifth respectively.
RD, with the help of The Wagner Group, polled over 1,000 Americans to see which celebrities and “the ideals they represent have earned our confidence.”
Reader’s Digest editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello said in a press release: “The poll results were fascinating, fun and shocking.” Topping the list is actor Tom Hanks.
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts is America’s “Most Trusted” woman in TV, ranking at number 12.
The list also includes: First Lady Michelle Obama, former NFL coach Tony Dungy, Muhammad Ali, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama, and Steve Harvey, just to name a few.
Click here to view the full list of the “100 Most Trusted People in America.”
article by Carrie Healey via thegrio.com
Posts published in “Movies”
Bill Duke’s thought-provoking film, “Dark Girls” is headed to Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network this June.
The documentary first emerged in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival and had great promise of becoming something bigger and better. But it never turned up as a national theater release and continued to tour across the country.
Duke announced in 2012 at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, that he was in the middle of developing two feature documentaries as follow ups to “Dark Girls.”
“Yellow Brick Road” will look at the ‘colorism’ issue from the perspective of light-skinned Black women. The other documentary, “What Is A Man?” will explore masculinity and manhood as it has transformed from the beginning of time to present day. Filming for the project has already begun and it turns out Duke has been interviewing people from all around the world.
Watch the trailer for “Dark Girls” below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXG38QxXY-s&w=560&h=315]
article by Brittney M. Walker via eurweb.com
Actress Xosha Roquemore has been added to the cast of Fox’s The Mindy Project as a new regular next season after doing a three-episode arc on the comedy’s current freshman season. Roquemore recently landed a major recurring role on TV Land’s new Kirstie Alley comedy series after guest starring in the pilot, but in light of the Mindy Project opportunity, the cable network let the actress out and will recast her role. Roquemore also co-stars in G.B.F., which is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival.
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com
Mike Epps and Katt Williams will face off in Blazin Four, a Blazing Saddles-style action comedy. The independent film revolves around a ragtag quartet of gunslingers hired to protect a small town from marauding Mexican bandits. John Luessenhop and Gabriel Casseus, who produced Sony Screen Gems’Takers, optioned the project and will produce. Luessenhop, who also helmed 2010’s Takers and this year’s Texas Chainsaw 3D, is considering taking the helm on Blazin Four. Epps is playing Noah, a lowlife preacher who takes the job on in the hopes of finding redemption. Williams is El Loco, the menacing leader of the Mexican bandits. Found as a baby on a Mexican family’s doorstep, El Loco has no idea he is black — and none of his bandits has the nerve to tell him. The producers are shopping the project around town.
article via deadline.com
Nicki Minaj, whose clever and sassy commentary makes American Idol bearable, has signed on to star with Cameron Diaz in The Other Woman, a film that Nick Cassavetes is directing for Fox. Diaz plays a woman who realizes she is not her boyfriend’s primary lover, and teams up with the man’s wife to plot revenge. Game Of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays the cad, and Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Chicago Fire‘s Taylor Kinney also star. Minaj makes her screen–starring debut, playing the larger-than-life assistant to Diaz’s lawyer character. The assistant is opinionated and sharp and brutally honest, and we know Minaj can handle that. The film shoots in New York in May.
article by Mike Fleming Jr. via deadline.com
Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg is developing a 10-part documentary series exploring the history of black entertainment from the 1800s through the present. “The View” host announced her next project last week during the Tribeca Film Festival screening of her debut documentary, “I Got Somethin’ To Tell You.”
An audience member asked Goldberg what her next non-fiction project would be after the success of “I Got Somethin’ To Tell You.” She responded by explaining the difficulties of creating her first documentary and how it inspired her to expand on the research of black entertainers. Goldberg said the “history of black entertainers, comedy and vaudeville has not been covered comprehensively onscreen” according to Real Screen.
“I Got Somethin’ To Tell You” focuses on the life of comedic pioneer Moms Mabley. The documentary was completely funded through Kickstarter. Goldberg expressed her gratitude to all that donated to her campaign.
Morgan Freeman will receive a special award in Canada next month for his efforts to combat racism.
The veteran actor, currently starring opposite Tom Cruise in “Oblivion,” will be given the Key of Knowledge Award in Toronto by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
During the event, to be held May 6, Freeman will take part in a question-and-answer session moderated by Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman, who worked with the actor on “Prom Night” in Mississippi, a 2009 documentary about the first ever racially integrated prom in Charleston.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go towards establishing the Morgan Freeman Scholarship Fund for international students at the university, according to Canada’s National Post.
article via eurweb.com
A sequel is already in the works for the upcoming Ice Cube/Kevin Hart comedy “Ride Along,” which isn’t due in theaters until January.
As previously reported, the Tim Story-directed Universal project stars Cube as a tough cop who takes his sister’s future security guard husband (Kevin Hart) on a 24-hour ride-along which the cop hopes will scare the guy out of marrying his sister.
Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, who were among several scribes who worked on the original, are in preliminary discussions about scripting a sequel that could be put into production months after the first film opens, according to Deadline.com.
Of course, if the film bombs at the box office, it could stop the sequel in its tracks, but according to Deadline, Universal sees it as a high concept comedy made with solid elements at a price, ingredients ripe for sequels.
article via eurweb.com
As previously reported, the Tim Story-directed Universal project stars Cube as a tough cop who takes his sister’s future security guard husband (Kevin Hart) on a 24-hour ride-along which the cop hopes will scare the guy out of marrying his sister.
Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, who were among several scribes who worked on the original, are in preliminary discussions about scripting a sequel that could be put into production months after the first film opens, according to Deadline.com.
Of course, if the film bombs at the box office, it could stop the sequel in its tracks, but according to Deadline, Universal sees it as a high concept comedy made with solid elements at a price, ingredients ripe for sequels.
article via eurweb.com
“Imagine A Future: My Black Is Beautiful” debuts during The Tribeca Film Festival.
It was only a year ago that Procter & Gamble’s My Black Is Beautiful (MBIB), an organization that celebrates the diverse beauty of African-American women and fosters self-esteem, launched the initiative “Imagine A Future.”
The program, a collaboration with Black Girls Rock, aims to create opportunities for young black girls throughout the country by providing resources that foster a greater sense of confidence. And they aren’t just talking a few hundred or a few thousand girls — the goal is to reach one million young women over the next two years.
Now, Procter & Gamble is strengthening this herculean task with a dose of Hollywood. The mega consumer goods company and executive producer Beverly Bond have created a documentary called “Imagine A Future: My Black Is Beautiful,” which debuted Sunday afternoon at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The film, which is co-directed by Shola Lynch and Lisa Cortes, follows Janet Goldsboro, a teenager from Delaware, who is struggling to find and own her worth. Like any boy-crazy teen girl, Goldsboro is plagued with insecurities, however it’s the color of her skin that she finds most troubling.
From Tambay A. Obenson of Shadow And Act: Cinema of the African Diaspora:
Described as Australia’s answer to Harold and Kumar, as well as Cheech And Chong, and also Australia’s first indigenous comedy feature film, Stone Bros stars Aboriginal actors Luke Carroll and Leon Burchill, and is directed by Richard J Frankland.
The movie was released in Australian cinemas in September, 2009 and is now making its debut in the USA, viaiTunes, as I’ve been informed.
Previously profiled on this blog, the synopsis for the pot-fueled road-trip reads:
Sick of the city life and their dead end jobs, primo-stoner Charlie and his up-tight cousin Eddie decide it’s time to reconnect with their homegrown roots. Taking off in a beat-up Ford they spark it up on a spiritual journey across the Australian Outback to find and return a sacred stone, which Charlie lost in a blaze of confusion. To succeed they will have to survive a series of hilarious encounters with a demonically possessed dog, a depressed drag queen, a jilted ex-lover, a soul-searching cop, and a deadly spider that has come along for the ride. Only one thing is for certain, it’s going to be a blast!
While I can’t say that I’m looking forward to seeing it (I’m not really a fan of stoner comedies), I’ll check it out eventually. It’s not everyday that one gets to see an Aboriginal stoner comedy.