The hot mess of the 'Don't Worry Darling' press tour and other stories...

• Vanity Fair Alfre Woodard takes the Proust Questionnaire
• LA Times on the incredible writing of Manuel Muñoz. If the name sounds familiar that's because you either have very good taste in writers (seriously his work is brilliant) or you've been reading TFE for awhile. Manuel has been on the Smackdown a couple of times and we've also discussed his Psycho-related novel "What You See in the Dark"
• Out After lots of rumors about Kat's diminished role on Euphoria in season 2 and offscreen disputes, actress Barbie Ferraira will not be returning for season 3

That crazy Don't Worry Darling press tour, some Oscar hopefuls in animated short, Elton John twice, Lt Uhura's ashes, and more after the jump...

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The Piano Lesson - Let's keep this August Wilson ball rolling!

by Nathaniel R

Netflix announced yesterday that the next adaptation from August Wilson's Century Cycle will be his second Pulitzer winner The Piano Lesson. For those who thought Ma Rainey was way too stagey... well, you're not in luck! It's way too early to know how this will pan out given the pandemic and Broadway having been closed so long but this one is sticking even closer to the stage in a sense. The current plan is for Samuel L Jackson,  Danielle Brooks (yay!!!) and John David Washington to play the central roles (and uncle and his niece and nephew) in the Broadway revival in 2022 and then go directly into filming the movie version when they're done. Having seen Danielle Brooks on stage in The Color Purple trust that Orange is the New Black barely scratched the surface of what she can do so this is exciting news for her fans.

The play, which centers on the theme of family legacies, is about a brother and sister in conflict over what to do about a family heirloom which has been connected to the family since the days when their great grandparents were slaves...

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A surprising BAFTA nomination list

by Nathaniel R

Nomadland and Rocks lead the nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards this year with 7 nominations each. The Father, Mank, Minari, and Promising Young Woman were right on their heels with 6 nominations each (though Mank and Minari both missed key top categories). After years of criticism over BAFTA's lack of diversity they made 120 rule changes (!) and, coupled with a strong year for films from and starring ethnic minorities or women, two thirds of the acting nominations went to people of color and the majority of the directing nominations went to women.

We've outlined the complex changes they made around the Best Director category (which created quite a surprising result) but in general it's easiest to think of what BAFTA did as adding what amounts to Oscar's International Feature "Executive Committee" to the longlist process in multiple categories to keep an eye on diversity and fix any glaring ommissions before the final nominations vote.

Oscar voters turn in their nomination ballots tomorrow (if they haven't already) so this won't be influential per se but it's still interesting. Especially since the nominations are so very different than what the Oscars will end up being (due to different eligibility lists and now different rules, too)...

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Almost There: Alfre Woodard in "Passion Fish"

by Cláudio Alves

Alfre Woodard is one of the great American actresses of our time. If there were any doubts about that, last year's Clemency must have surely killed them for good. Still, for people obsessed with movie awards, Woodard's mastery might not be obvious. Her sole Academy Award nomination came in 1983 for a film that few remember, Cross Creek. The lack of recognition for that feature doesn't mean it doesn't deserve praise and it certainly doesn't reflect lackluster acting. But we're here to talk about a different performance.

The 1992 drama Passion Fish was up for Actress and Screenplay and it's easy to imagine that a third nomination for Woodard nearly materialized...

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The Actresses of 2019

by Murtada Elfadl

This year’s nominees for best actress do not offer much variety. Not in scope and type of role, not in diversity, not in film genre, and certainly not in quality of film. Only two of the five nominated films - Little Women and Marriage Story - have been recognized by the Academy for best picture, and the same two were the only ones to receive a metacritic average above 70. So how did we end up here when there other options that would’ve made the category stronger? Let’s take a look at what the film year offered...

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