Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 10:20AM Manuel here with some big Denzel Washington news. While talking at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Washington revealed he has signed a deal with HBO to bring all ten of August Wilson’s plays to the screen. Yes, all ten!
Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 1:04PM How did I miss this incredible news in the New York Times?!? Viola Davis, on the Emmy campaign trail for her Shondaland series How to Get Away With Murder, talked about all her future projects. It's good news times three.
Q. In addition to “Suicide Squad,” what else are you working on?
A. They are making “Fences,” August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in. My husband and I started a production company, and we are doing Harriet Tubman’s story for HBO that Kirk Ellis is writing. And Tony Kushner is writing a project that we got greenlit at Fox Searchlight about the great congresswoman out of Texas, Barbara Jordan. I’m always moving.
She also explains the reasoning behind her recent populist / less prestigious genre choices...
Q. So starting your company let you be in control?
A. Yes, but it’s a lot of work to be the boss. You’ve got to have two trains going at the same time. You have to stay relevant, hence “How to Get Away With Murder,” hence “Suicide Squad. “You have to stay relevant, because if you are not, no one will take a chance with you on even a $2 million budget. But then at the same time you have to take risks in terms of material that moves you.
Good luck to her as ever. We've been in her corner since 2002 (the "who is that" triple whammy of Far From Heaven, Antwone Fisher, Solaris) and we don't plan to go anywhere!
I don't want to say that we willed movement onto the Fences adaptation but IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME. And though her Barbara Jordan project has been talked up for three or four years now, there's been no real movement on it until now. Thank you Fox Searchlight! Now let's get all of this fast-tracked right now since Viola Davis just turned 50 and you know how Hollywood likes to turn on women when they do. There's no time to waste!
Pointless But Fun What If Trivia: If Viola wins the Emmy for HTGAWM next month and the Oscar for Fences when that movie is released (astoundingly big "ifs" but go with it) than she'll just be a Grammy short of an EGOT since she already has two Tony Awards (for lead and featured). It's worth noting that if she wins all four competitively she'll be the very first African-American to accomplish it and only the second woman of color after Puerto Rico's Rita Moreno. Now, technically, three black icons (Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Belafonte, and James Earl Jones) have all four but those statistics come with the heavy asterisks that also plague Liza & Babs in that at least one of the prizes was given non-competitively or in a "lesser" form. I mean, sorry Whoopi, but you shouldn't count daytime Emmies anymore than you'd count regional Emmys (they give those things out like candy!) towards the showbiz quadruple. (Yours truly personally prefers the Triple Crown -- easier to follow and the Grammys aren't actor-focused like the other three so there's less beautiful symmetry! -- but Tina Fey's 30 Rock destroyed popular culture's interest in that statistic by popularizing the notion of the EGOT.)
EGOT, Fences, Triple Crown, Viola Davis, biopics, politics Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 2:10PM Margaret and Anne Marie here, with suggestions of how best to rejoice in 50 years of national treasure VIOLA DAVIS...
Monday, July 13, 2015 at 7:45PM Angelica returning to see how DC Comics' cinematic universe is finally shaping up.
I may be the one of the few at The Film Experience who is completely sold on Batman vs Superman and extremely curious about their upcoming films. But I have been most interested to see how they would pull off Suicide Squad which brings to the screen an odd, wildly bonkers corner of DC's comic book history. If DC pulls off Suicide Squad we will be getting something unlike anything else on the very crowded superhero playing field we find ourselves in. The Comic-Con first look footage has now been released by Warner Brothers.
Let's Yes/No and Maybe So it, and see if DC is upping their game, after the jump...
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 12:15PM The Onion "I only like movies where the whole cast dances in the end credits"
Pajiba Hayley Atwell continues to enjoy her Agent Peggy Carter awesomeness even without news of a renewal yet
Esquire an interview with Chris Evans who talks his friendship with the other Chris and his insane Marvel schedule
NY Times Actress Jayne Meadows (1919-2015) RIP
In Contention the moment Michael Keaton knew he would lose the Oscar
Interview talks to Sam Shepard, still acting, writing, and being cool
Sesame Street The Aveggies: Age of Bon Bon. The Avengers spoof peaks early with the line reading "What happened to my asparagus!?" which sent me into lolz
The Dissolve looks back at Ang Lee's Hulk (2003)
Variety looks at Netflix streaming data. Daredevil S1 being the biggest immediate hit but House of Cards having a longer tail for streaming. Or something? What does it all mean? It's meaningless without Orange is the New Black data if you ask me.
Happy They're Working But... Sigh
Film School Rejects Wild Tales Damian Szifron's next project is... writing The Six Billion Dollar Man reboot movie for Peter Berg. Frustrating because he can direct circles around Berg if Wild Tales is any indication
Jezebel Viola Davis to star in a Harriet Tubman biopic. Sadly for the Viola Needs An Oscar Fan Club (President: Nathaniel R) it's for HBO and she'll probably already have an Emmy by then
Beefcake
MNPP Why does Zac Efron have a huge bumblebee on his crotch -- What the hell?
Boy Culture Joe Magianello Magic Mike XXL Poster. Co-sign on the blog post title!
MNPP sharing gifs and the trailer for the Magic Mike ripoff Chocolate City
Bruce Jenner (in half shirt) and friends in Can't Stop the Music (1980)Former Beefcake
Kenneth in the (212) dedicates "Belinda" (i had totally forgotten about this song but used to love it) to Bruce Jenner
Boy Culture on Bruce Jenner coming out as a... Republican.
The unfolding Bruce Jennfer story is another reminder, like the superb documentary Prodigal Sons by former high school football star turned trans documentarian Kimberly Reed, that external presentation does not always equal internal truth. Bruce became famous as such a traditionally masculine person in the late 70s, gold medal athleticism and all, which is I think why this whole thing surprised so many people. Including myself. In case you missed it we revisited Bruce Jenner's 1980 movie Can't Stop the Music this very month last year.
Speaking of Hit Me With Your Best Shot.... does anyone know what happened to the guy RJ who ran "(Home) Film Schooled"? The blog vanished some time ago without a trace but there was good writing there!
Bright Star is Brightest Thursday Night/Friday Morning...
Because of a forgotten scheduling conflict involving, um, superheroes (mom, they're oppressing us again!) I had to postpone Jane Campion's poetic flowery romance for 'BEST SHOT' which was originally tonight. But here are 4 early entries for A Fistful of Films (which you have to agree is one of the best blog titles ever), Lam Chop Chop, Coco hits NY, and Zitzelfilm to whet your appetite for its visual splendor.
