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Posts tagged as “Chris Rock”

Chris Rock Lands $12.5 Million Deal with Paramount for His New Film "Top Five"

By goodblacknews on September 8, 2014
Top Five Toronto Film Festival

Paramount is about to finalize what will likely be the biggest deal of this year’s Toronto Film Festival: a whopping $12.5 million for the Chris Rock comedy “Top Five.”  The studio, which is acquiring worldwide rights to the movie, has also agreed to spend $20 million on marketing.

The Scott Rudin-produced film, which Rock stars in and directs about a day in the life of a comedian movie star, premiered in Toronto on Saturday night and sparked a fierce bidding war among several studios.
The film’s budget was north of $10 million.  Buyers interested in the film included CBS Films, Sony, Open Road and Relativity.
Part of the concern for potential buyers is that with a substantial promotional commitment and Rock’s limited international following, the film would be almost wholly dependent on its domestic box office in order to make a profit. However, the film was enthusiastically received by audiences at Toronto and knowledgeable insiders say it has real commercial potential.
Paramount makes sense because the studio’s chief, Brad Grey, has a longstanding relationship with Rock.
article by Brent Lang and Ramin Setoodeh via Variety.com

Karyn Parsons ('Fresh Prince's' Hillary) Raising Funds for Animated Doc on First Black Prima Ballerina

By goodblacknews on June 29, 2014

Karyn Parsons, best known for her role as Hillary in the TV show “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” is raising funds for a new animated short about Janet Collins, the first black prima ballerina and soloist to ever perform at NYC’s Metropolitan Opera. In Collins’ journey, she overcame many great obstacles; at the age 15, the young dancer was asked to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but only if she performed in whiteface.
After refusing to dance in whiteface, Collins went on to become a renowned Prima Ballerina, winning awards for her performances on Broadway. In 1950, Collins was honored with the Best Dancer of Broadway title, making Collins a pioneer in this industry for paving the way for other black dancers and companies such as Alvin Ailey and the Dance Theater of Harlem.
The short story will be narrated by actor/comedian/producer Chris Rock and presented by Parsons’ founded award-winning organization Sweet Blackberry, whose mission is to educate kids on the achievements of African Americans with inspiring true stories.
So far, the project’s Kickstarter page shows 18 days left to go in the campaign, with over $16,000 already pledged of its $75,000 goal.
For more information on Sweet Blackberry, click here to see the Kickstarter video and contribute!
article by Vanessa Martinez via Shadow and Act

Gabrielle Union Joins Cast of Dramedy "Finally Famous" as Chris Rock's Fiancée

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2014

gabrielle union & chris rock
Chris Rock has recruited Gabrielle Union to be the female lead in his upcoming film, Finally Famous, reports show.  The actress will play Rock’s “popular reality TV star fiancée. Rock, who wrote and directed the film, plays a comedian-turned-film-star itching to be taken seriously by his peers in the acting world. He’s also a recovering alcoholic who owes his sobriety to his fiancée (Union). Her character, eager to be more famous, tries to convince Rock to get married on her show.
Rosario Dawson, who has been known to melt a heart or two in her own right, plays a journalist assigned to interview Rock’s character for a New York magazine. As time passes, their relationship builds, and sparks begin to fly. Here’s the project’s official synopsis:

Andre Allen is a comedian turned film star who, despite the expectations of his millions of fans, is determined to reinvent himself as a “serious” actor. Although his latest pretentiously historical film project is tanking, his upcoming television wedding to pretty, popular reality star, Erica Long, is the biggest media event of the year. In the midst of all the frenzy leading up to his televised nuptials, Andre agrees to be interviewed for the New Yorker by Chelsea Brown, a gorgeous but no-frills young woman with a sharp intelligence that matches his own. It’s a feisty, funny, no-holds-barred interaction that may well change the course of both their lives.

article by Cory Alexander Haywood via eurweb.com

Dave Chappelle Returns to Stand-Up, With Stories to Tell

By goodblacknews on August 16, 2013
Dave Chapelle (Andrew Oh for The New York Times)

In 2005, Dave Chappelle was merely the hottest comedian in America. Then he left his job and became a far more singular cultural figure: A renegade to some, a lunatic to others, but most of all, an enigma.  Now he is making a kind of comeback — Mr. Chappelle headlines the Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival, a new 15-city tour presented by the Funny or Die Web site that begins Friday in Austin, Tex. — and what makes it particularly exciting is how he’s using his hard-earned mystique to make more daring and personal art.

Mr. Chappelle didn’t just walk away from a $50 million contract and the acclaimed “Chappelle’s Show,” whose second season on Comedy Central stacks up well against the finest years of “SCTV,” “Saturday Night Live” and Monty Python. He did so dramatically, fleeing to Africa and explaining his exit in moral terms: “I want to make sure I’m dancing and not shuffling,” he told Time magazine. Since then, he has been a remote star in an era when comedians have never been more accessible.

Mr. Chappelle hasn’t done any interviews (aside from a radio appearance in 2011) or appeared on podcasts or talk shows. He doesn’t even have a Web site. He joined Twitter last year, then quit after 11 tweets.  But Mr. Chappelle has tiptoed back into the public eye over the last year. While he has stayed away from movies and television, he still drops in pretty often on comedy clubs and occasionally theaters, usually in surprise appearances that generate more rumors of a comeback. Beyond the Oddball Festival, Chris Rock has said Mr. Chappelle may join him on his stand-up tour next year.

Chris Rock Joins Season Two of BET's "Real Husbands of Hollywood"

By goodblacknews on April 8, 2013

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

Happy 47th Birthday, Comedian, Writer and Actor Chris Rock

By goodblacknews on February 7, 2013

Chris RockBrooklyn, NY native Christopher Julius “Chris Rock” III was born on February 7, 1965 and began to build his stand-up career by working at New York City’s Catch a Rising Star in the 1980s, earning small parts in movies like Beverly Hills Cop II and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and landing a featured role on NBC’s late-night comedy juggernaut Saturday Night Live in 1990.  Rock went on to write and star in rap mockmentary CB4 before re-inventing himself through a series of HBO comedy specials starting with 1996’s Emmy Award-winning Bring the Pain.  Rock later went on to produce the television show Everybody Hates Chris for UPN/CW and star in feature films such as Death at a Funeral, Down to Earth, The Longest Yard and I Think I Love My Wife.  To learn more about his life and career, click here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson