Cynthia Erivo will play Harriet Tubman

by Murtada Elfadl

Cynthia Erivo who made waves this week at TIFF as one quarter of Widows has announced her next project. She will play iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman in Harriet. The film will follow Tubman on her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free many slaves through the Underground Railroad in pre-Civil War America. More exciting is that Harriet will be directed by Kasi Lemmons of Eve’s Bayou (1997), a film we adore. This will be Lemmons' first film since Black Nativity (2013), in the past few years she’s been directing episodes of TV shows like Luke Cage and Shots Fired.

Joining Erivo in the cast are Leslie Odom Jr.,  Joe Alwyn ( who’s very busy this fall with parts in Boy Erased, The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots), Clarke Peters (Detective Freamon in The Wire) and surprisingly country music singer Jennifer Nettles.

Click to read more ...

Would you rather...?

Time for our intermittent stupid game in which we fantasize about hanging with celebrities. You can see all past roundups here if you want to be confronted with yet more impossible choices as to your celeb-fueled fantasy life options. Ready? Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

Would you rather

...eat burgers with directors Gregg Araki & Andrew Ahn?
... do your makeup with Janet Jackson?
... tour Russia with Sarah Jessica Parker?
... celebrate Jeremy Jordan's birthday with a slice of Star Wars cake?
... cosplay Wonder Woman with Manila Luzon?
...work out with Cynthia Erivo?
... try Madonna's new skin care line with one of her BFFs Debi Mazar?
... visit an art gallery devoted to cinema with Emmanuelle Devos?
... get Christmas sweater-festive with Juliette Lewis?
... be inspired by the superhero Nightwing in your fitness goals with Vincent Rodriguez?
...help Naomi Watts celebrate her mom's new book launch?

Click to read more ...

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?

Click to read more ...

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

Click to read more ...

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?