Vintage '91

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1991 is just a week away so get your votes in! Before we get there it's time for more context of that year in showbiz history. Ready? 

 

Great Big Box Office Hits:
The year's biggest hit by an enormous margin was James Cameron's Terminator 2 Judgment Day (which has aged spectacularly well). The other major blockbusters were Kevin Costner's hit Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and Steven Spielberg's Hook. The big sleeper hit of the year was The Silence of the Lambs. Other hits that year included City Slickers, Backdraft, Sleeping With the Enemy, The Addams Family and the remakes of Father of the Bride and Cape Fear.

Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: 
Most people remember 1991 as the year of Silence of the Lambs (7 noms / 5 wins) but many Oscar fanatics remember it just as clearly for another milestone...

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"Lion King" Revival Announces Cast

Your childhood memories are about to get Beyoncé'd.

Disney's The Lion King is getting the live-action treatment and previews for it have already shown great promise. Disney has now revealed the list of stars that will voice your most cherised prepubescent traumas. Standouts include James Earl Jones as Mufasa (he also voiced the original in 1994), Chiwetel Ejiofor as maybe-gay uncle Jafar, and budding singer/song-reader Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. The voices of the new King features great diversity that we hope is indicative of the crew behind-the-scenes. 

Check out the full main cast up next...

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I Just Can't Wait to be Link

/Film Donald Glover will be the voice of Simba and James Earl Jones the voice of Mufasa in the forthcoming remake of The Lion King... I notice it's being lumped in with all the other Disney 'live action remakes of animated pictures' in articles but this one is not live action, but CG and mo-cap like The Jungle Book. 
E! News Malin Akerman recalls her nude modelling shoot with Jamie Dornan
AnOther interviews John Waters. Multiple Maniacs is getting a rerelease overseas... hence the interview. What I want to know is where in the box set of his complete filmography?
TV Line Darren Criss is Andrew Cunanan and Edgar Ramirez Gianni Versace in the next American Crime Story
Awards Daily TV Best Actress in a Limited Series is already crazy competitive for the next Emmys via Feud, Big Little Lies, and more...

Links after the jump including more Viola, plus Arrival, The Lion King, Night of the Iguana, Boyd Holbrook and more...

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Cue the Imperial March.

Daddy's back!

One of the most iconic characters of all time is set to return to the big screen. Darth Vader returns to cinemas when Rogue One hits on December 16th. But do you sense a disturbance in the force? A few questions get raised here. Was Darth Vader added in the reshoots when the studio was reportedly in panic? Perhaps the biggest question of all is: do we need to see Darth Vader again?

It would be surprising not to have Darth Vader mentioned at all as he is a very large character in the universe at that time this new (old) story takes place, but to appear on screen is a huge moment to promise. Audiences will return just to see this character again but isn't that, perhaps, detrimental to the larger revival of the franchise. Part of the success of The Force Awakens was the way it balanced nostalgia whilst shaping a new path. It ensured Vader cast a dark shadow, and his absence was felt which is a successful use of nostalgia but not overkill.

Have we already spied Darth Vader in the Rogue One trailer?

Vader has appeared frequently in the animated TV series but the big screen where he’s the big bad is another thing. Still a tip of the hat to the never ending successful Star Wars PR machine. They reveal only that Darth Vader will reappear, and millions of voices cry out in glee. But do you find the lack of originality disturbing?

Stage Door: "You Can't Take It With You" & "From Here To Eternity"

The Best Picture winners of 1938 and 1953, which were based on hit plays and best selling novels respectively, have moved to the stage. Let's take a look...

Annaleigh Ashford dances up a comic storm in "You Can't Take It With You"

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
For this Broadway revival of the classic 30s comedy, famously moviefied by Frank Capra back in the day, they've gone all star: James Earl Jones plays the tax-avoiding follow-your-dreams grandfather, Broadway vet and A+ comic actress Christine Nielsen (recently Tony nominated for Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike) is the easily distracted mother of a large brood, Rose Byrne her gorgeous daughter (essentially the 'Marilyn Munster' of this band of eccentrics), Fran Krantz from Dollhouse and Cabin in the Woods her rich would-be fiancee and Annaleigh Ashford, who has been on such a brilliant role these past couple of years with her ex-hooker lesbian receptionist on Masters of Sex and as a factory girl in Broadway's Kinky Boots, is the dance-crazed busybody.

If you've boned up on your 1930s Best Picture winners you'll know that those are the roles once inhabited by Lionel Barrymore, Spring Byington (Oscar-nominated), Jean Arthur, Jimmy Stewart and Ann Miller; tough acts to follow all.

As it turns out the theatrical and farcical antics of this family play better on stage...

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