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Posts tagged as “AMC”

Prince's 1st Film ‘Purple Rain’ Returning to U.S. Theaters This Weekend

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXK8ZbTmLk&w=560&h=315]

Ruth Negga Lands Female Lead in AMC Pilot "Preacher"

Tulip Ruth NeggaAgents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Ruth Negga has been cast as the female lead in Preacher, AMC’s drama pilot based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s cult 1990s comic. The project, from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is about Jesse Custer, a conflicted Preacher in a small Texas town who merges with a creature that has escaped from heaven and develops the ability to make anyone do anything he says. Along with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Negga) — Jesse’s former and only true love — and an Irish vampire named Cassidy, the three embark on a journey to literally find God. Tulip is described as a volatile, action-packed, sexified force of nature, a capable, unrepentant criminal with a love of fashion and ability to construct helicopter-downing bazookas out of coffee cans and corn shine who’s not afraid to steal, kill or corn cob-stab her way out of a bad situation.

Negga is the first actor cast in Preacher, from Sony TV and AMC Studios. Agent Carter’s Dominic Cooper has been rumored for the lead, Jesse. Rogen and Goldberg developed the project for television and will direct the pilot, written by Sam Catlin who serves as showrunner.
RELATED: Networks Casting More Actors of Color This Pilot Season
Negga has comic book credentials with her recurring role as Raina on ABC’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. In features, she shot the titular role of the Irish drama Iona, directed by Scott Graham. Negga was recently seen in the Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side and next plays Lady Taria in another high-profile genre project, Warcraft. 
This marks the second consecutive comic book-based drama project, in which Sony has cast a minority actress as the female lead, drawn as Caucasian in the comics.Preacher joins the studio’s Playstation series Powers co-starring Susan Heyward.
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com

AMC's 'Mad Men' Tackles Race Relations, Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Calling it a day: Joan sends Don's secretary home for the day
Calling it a day: Joan sends Don’s secretary home for the day

AMC’s Emmy Award-winning drama series Mad Men, about advertising executives in the 1960s, though critically-acclaimed, has often taken flak in its six seasons for not acknowledging or dealing with the racial tensions of the times.  This season, which takes place during the tumultuous year of 1968, has already devoted more airtime to its most prominent African-American character, Dawn, the lead character Don Draper’s secretary.  And last night, in an episode titled “The Flood,” the show recreated perhaps the most historic moment in the civil rights struggle — the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The show’s characters learn of King’s death over the radio and in an advertising awards show crowd.  Meanwhile, panic spreads as rioting takes hold in major cities across the country.  Vintage Walter Cronkite reports play as police and ambulance sirens blare.  In one scene, a character is upbraided for lamenting the loss of TV advertising profits in the wake of MLK’s death.  In another, a black character calls out rioters for not living up to King’s example.  Additionally, the African-American secretaries are all suddenly treated with kid gloves by their white supervisors — aware that the civil right’s leader’s death is perceived as a blow to the fight against racial prejudice.
To read more about this Mad Men episode, check out the links below:

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson; additional reporting by Lesa Lakin
 

“Walking Dead” Actress Danai Gurira Wins Whiting Writing Award

Danai Gurira, best known for her role of Michonne on AMC’s The Walking Dead, has been awarded the Whiting Writers Award.

For those who may not be familiar, Danai Gurira, who made her Broadway debut in 2010 in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson, is an accomplished playwright in her own right.  She co-wrote In the Continuum with Nikkole Salter which received the Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for writing.  Gurira also received a Helen Hayes Award for her performance in In The Contiuum.  Other work written by Gurira includes Eclipsed and The Convert.

Another woman of color honored was Sharifa Rhodes-Pitt a non-fiction writer.  She graduated from Harvard and was a Fulbright Scholar