Q&A: The Force is With Reader Questions

by Nathaniel R

I got a little verbosely carried away whilst answering reader questions so you get two Q & A columns from your last batch of questions. Thanks for playing. This week I asked for a few Star Wars Questions but that's just three of the six questions answered here. Ready, let's go! 

TROY: Within the past year Cynthia Erivo has won a Tony, Grammy, and Daytime Emmy for her work in the recent Broadway revival of The Color Purple, making her only one step away from completing the EGOT. Which type of project do you think would giver her her best chance at winning an Oscar?

NATHANIEL: I hate to get nitpicky but technically should Daytime Emmys even count with the EGOT? If you count any old Emmy as towards the EGOT than about 100,000 people you've never heard of who have local Emmies (seriously they give those statues out like candy) are 1/4th of the way to that showbiz goal. It's only Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Lopez, and their fans that would argue that Daytime Emmys count. No shade!

Anyway my dream for Erivo is that they give her either the film version of The Color Purple musical, though I fear they'd just hand it to a bigger less worthy star (like, oh, Jennifer Hudson, who she and Danielle Brooks, the other Tony nominee from that show, both ran circles around onstage) or a film version of Caroline or Change (if they won't rehire the incredible Tonya Pinkins) as those two roles are powerhouse vehicles for a black woman with giant pipes. But any musical role would be dreamy. That voice!

 PEDRO: What is your favorite Star Wars character? And your favorite Star Wars actor?

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13 Favorite Photos from Oscar Night

We wouldn't be The Film Experience if we had an easy time letting go of Oscar night. It'll be time to move on soon but here are random photos to enjoy from parties and backstage and whatnot

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Elizabeth Debicki Joins Viola Davis in Steve McQueen's Heist Thriller

Thus far in her career, actress Elizabeth Debicki has stolen so many scenes – spectacularly – from such a small handful of projects that we should go ahead and award her the Crown Jewels before she sneaks in and takes them herself. Either way, her electric turns in The Great Gatsby, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and especially her surreptitiously sharp performance at the heart of The Night Manager have already earned Elizabeth the status of a young queen on the silver and small screens - and the announcement of her most recent project promises she'll keep on stealing. Per Variety, she’s to lend her elemental femme fatale flair to Steve McQueen’s newest film Widows and join a verifiable dream team behind and in front of the camera. Before reading onward I must implore you to beware at your own pleasure.

Four years have passed since his formalist masterpiece 12 Years a Slave won the Academy Award for Best Picture, marking Widows as McQueen’s eagerly awaited return to motion pictures; HBO pulled the plug on his would-be television series Codes of Conduct in the interim before making it to air. Debicki will star in the heist thriller alongside the incomparable Viola Davis as two of four eponymous widows who set out to finish the job that their deceased husbands began in vain. As if the thought of these two icons cracking safes or donning disguises wasn’t enough to take your breath away, two of 2016’s most revelatory, swoon-inducing actors round out the cast list thus far: Moonlight’s Andre Holland and Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo of The Color Purple. McQueen and Gone Girl maestro Gillian Flynn will co-pen the film’s screenplay, to add onto the glut of top tier talent.

Widows won’t hit theaters until 2018 so this tease can’t help but feel a bit excruciating. How do you plan to best appreciate Elizabeth Debicki in the meantime? 

Tony Winners for 2016

A lot of us needed that awards show last night - a celebration of passion, talent, and love for community - given the horrific events of the weekend.

In the opening number the musical acting nominees joined James Corden on stage (from left to right: Benanti, Corden, Krakowski, Miranda, Goldsberry, Levi, and Danielle Brooks

The Tonys were particularly defiantly joyous Sunday evening with an exuberant production, which featured a fun curveball of having each performing cast do a miniature version of a classic showtune outside the theater before or after they performed their shows number onstage inside. Other highlights included: Audra McDonald doing a high kick while pregnant; James Corden's bit with the Tony accountants; Frank Langella being more concerned with the tragedy in Orlando than his Tony; and a hilarious view of the nominees through the prism of their guest star work in the Law & Order franchise. Poor Danny Burstein! Or, rather, 'well employed Danny Burstein' who guest starred on Law & Order so many times it was like watching a man age in time lapse photography...

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