News

Exclusive: Djimon Hounsou and Halle Berry have signed for Africa-set trafficking thriller Red Card, taking its protagonists on a journey from the rolling grasslands of Kenya’s Maasai Mara to the Moroccan port city of Casablanca.

Joel Souza will direct the movie from a screenplay written by Bad Boys creator and Midnight Run writer George Gallo as well as Green Book Academy Award winning screenwriter Nick Vallelonga.

The original story, based on real events out of Africa, comes from Ava Roosevelt, Robert Menzies and Michael J. Hershman.

Hounsou will star as Max Elmi, a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris, a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working with international law enforcement to fight trafficking rings abroad.

When Max’s son, a talented soccer player, falls prey to a deceitful sports agent and disappears into...

Ena Hartman, a pioneering Black actress who had a regular role opposite Burt Reynolds on the 1970-71 ABC cop show Dan August, has died. She was 93.

Hartman died April 16 of natural causes at her home in Van Nuys, her goddaughter Lorraine Foxworth told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hartman also is known for her starring turn as the tough girl Carmen Simms alongside Tom Selleck, Don Marshall, Roger E. Mosley, Phyllis Davis and Marta Kristen in the cult prison-set film Terminal Island (1973), written and directed by Stephanie Rothman.

She assisted Lee J. Cobb’s character in the spy spoof Our Man Flint (1966), starring James Coburn; played a party guest in Games (1967), starring James Caan, Simone Signoret and Katharine Ross; and was a flight attendant in Airport (1970).

And in firsts for NBC in 1968, she appeared on the inaugural episode of Adam-12 and in the telefilm Prescription Murder, which starred Peter Falk in his initial outing as Columbo.

Today, Shonda Rhimes is known as a creative powerhouse who has served as producer, writer and director on a slew of hit television shows, such as Station 19, Bridgerton, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder. That said, Rhimes is most notably known as the producer behind the long-running hit medical procedural, Grey's Anatomy.

Grey's Anatomy premiered on March 27, 2005, and to date has over 400 episodes spread across 21 seasons, each of which Rhimes has produced. However, before Rhimes took on Grey's Anatomy, she played a creative role in several other notable productions, setting the stage for one of TV's greatest medical dramas.

Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream Details an Iconic Athlete Image via TBS

During Rhimes' early career, she spent her time working a variety of day jobs, including as an office administrator and as a counselor at a job center teaching job skills to those experiencing housing instability and mental illness.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation kicked off Black History Month by launching the fourth season of its Legacy Collection, a series of more than 200 never-before-seen career retrospective interviews.

This season focuses on trailblazing Black film and TV actors — beginning with the late Bill Walker, whose career spanned nearly 50 years and more than 100 films and TV shows, including “The Killers,” “The Long Hot Summer” and “Our Man Flint.” Remember Reverend Sykes, who urges Scout a.k.a. Jean Louise to “stand up, your father’s passin’” as Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch leaves the courtroom near the end of “To Kill a Mockingbird”? That’s Walker in action.

The veteran actor, who also served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild from 1952 to 1971 (only the third Black person to do so), was interviewed about his life and career just seven weeks before he died in January 1992. Then 95 years old, Walker...

Cynthia Erivo made Oscar history on Thursday morning with her Best Actress bid for Wicked. She is now only the second Black female performer to receive multiple bids in this category, after Viola Davis.

Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, in director Jon M. Chu‘s big-budget adaptation of the beloved Broadway stage musical. Wicked actually marks her second Best Actress mention after Harriet (2019), for which she also earned a Best Song bid for “Stand Up” (cowritten with Joshuah Brian Campbell). Wicked received 10 Oscar nominations this year, including for Erivo’s supporting co-star Ariana Grande.

Davis was the first to accomplish such a feat, thanks to her double Best Actress Oscar bids for The Help (2011) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020). While she lost both of those contests, she did win the Best Supporting Actress prize for Fences (2016); she also had a prior bid in that...

In Marc Forster's 2001 drama "Monster's Ball," Halle Berry plays Leticia Musgrove, a woman at the end of her rope. Her husband has been convicted of murder and is executed by the state of Georgia early in the film. Leticia is trying to put her life back together when her son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) is hit by a car and dies. Leticia can only find comfort in the arms of a gruff prison warden named Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), whose own son (Heath Ledger) recently died by suicide. What Leticia doesn't know, however, is that Hank oversaw her husband's execution. It's all very complicated, but handled tactfully and with the utmost sensitivity. "Monster's Ball" is a pretty great film.

Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress for playing Leticia at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, beating out Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek, and Renée Zellweger. Her victory was well-deserved.

She...

After eight days of shows in the City of Light, Paris Fashion Week has come to a close.

Lithuanian designer Juozas Statkevičius brought the wow factor with his collection of well-tailored and magnifying pieces, as both Statkevičius and designer Tony Ward took inspiration from cinema history this season. Wild Rose & Sparrow held a ballet-core-themed show at the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell; with risqué silhouettes, the brand’s co-founder Ariana Dancu wanted to create a collection inspired by female confidence and self-expression.

Christian Siriano’s leather looks are to-die-for after coming off the New York Fashion Week runway, Chloé bohemian inspired collection is oh-so-dreamy, and Casablanca’s luxury street style collection inspired by countercultural Los Angeles is original. And let’s not lose sight of Kilian Paris’ newest fragrance launch of “Old Fashioned,” with Emily in Paris’ Lucien Laviscount as its face — the smoothest cocktail-esque perfume you’ll ever smell.

Halle Berry remains a trailblazer in Hollywood thanks to her groundbreaking Best Actress Academy Award win in 2002. However, well over two decades later, Berry can't believe she's still the only Black woman to ever walk away with the prestigious honor.

Speaking with Marie Claire, Berry admitted she's "saddened" she remains the only Black woman to take home the Best Actress Oscar, winning the award for her performance in Monster's Ball. The Hollywood legend believes there were rightful winners since her historic triumph, including Andra Day's showing in The United States vs. Billie Holiday and Viola Davis in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. However, Berry is "eternally miffed" that she's the lone actor to achieve the feat. I'm still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar, I'm continually saddened by that year after year. And it's certainly not because there has been nobody deserving,...

Producer David O. Selznick was always looking for the next big thing. He had scored an enormous hit — it was a cultural phenom — with his 1939 Civil War drama “Gone with the Wind,’ which won eight Oscars including best picture, director, actress and supporting actress. And for those fashion-minded, “Gwtw” also caused an uptick in sales of the women’s headgear called the snood.

The following year, Selznick produced the best picture winner, Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic mystery “Rebecca.” Four years after ‘Rebecca” on July 20, 1944, Selznick released the sentimental, home-fires-burning drama “Since You Went Away,” which he hoped would the next “Gwtw” in terms of box office and Oscar love.

The world was war weary in 1944. In fact, World War II seemed never ending. The Allied troops launched its invasion of Europe on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th. But even with the success of D-day, the war wouldn’t...

Halle Berry and Glenn Close have joined the ensemble cast of Hulu’s All’s Fair, a new legal series from Ryan Murphy and Kim Kardashian. All four serve as executive producers.

The series is described by Murphy as “a high-end, glossy and sexy adult procedural.” Berry and Close will star opposite Kardashian who work together at an all-female law firm in the legal drama, penned by Jon Robin Baitz (Brothers & Sisters), writer of Murphy’s Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans and Joe Baken. Information regarding Berry and Close’s roles is under wraps.

All’s Fair marks the first series for Murphy under his new deal at Disney, with 20th Television, part of Disney TV Studios, producing in association with Ryan Murphy Television. Jon Robin Baitz, Joe Baken, Jamie Pachino, Laura Greene and Richard Levine executive produce alongside Murphy, Kardashian, Berry alongside her producing...

Halle Berry has been a powerhouse performer who has confidently balanced her filmography with compelling character-driven dramas and entertaining studio blockbusters. Bulworth, and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge made everyone notice her acting chops, and she was cast as Storm in the Fox X-Men films.

Halle Berry as Nina in Bulworth | 20th Century Studios

Her peak acting moment came with 2001’s Monster’s Ball, directed by Marc Forster and her incredible performance led to an Oscar win for Best Actress. The complex human drama required the actress to channel her real emotions and be completely vulnerable in front of the camera. Berry was so committed to the tragic nature of the character that she did not recognize herself when she watched the film.

Halle Berry’s Emotional Transformation For Monster’s Ball Led To an Out-Of-Body Experience

Halle Berry plays a widow named Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball | Lionsgate Films

After an Emmy-winning...

Palais Intrigue Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood

Warren Beatty and his Splendor in the Grass co-star (and then girlfriend) Natalie Wood on the steps of the Palais du Festival, 1962.

Queen Elizabeth Liz Taylor

A bejeweled and becrowned Liz Taylor grabs a seat, and all the attention, at the 1957 edition of the festival.

Bonjour, Bb! Brigitte Bardot

French actress Brigitte Bardot at the Ninth Cannes Film Festival in 1956, the year Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman made her a star.

Stars Aligning Cary Grant and Kim Novak

Cary Grant and Kim Novak at the 12th edition of the festival, perhaps discussing their recent work for Alfred Hitchcock.

Belle Journée Marie Laforêt

French singer Marie Laforêt in a dreamy moment at the Cannes Festival in 1960.

Moment of Reflection Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly in the Carlton Hotel in 1955, the year she appeared with Grant in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, about...

Halle Berry has been one of the high-profile actresses who got her breakthrough in the 90s. The actress starred alongside Eddie Murphy in the 1992 romantic comedy Boomerang. Berry started winning accolades early in her career as she won an Emmy for portraying Dorothy Dandridge in the TV film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

She went on to star in big commercial films in the early 2000s, including the first two X-Men films and Die Another Day. For her incredible performance in 2001’s Monster’s Ball, Berry was widely appreciated and created history as the first Black actress to win an Oscar. The heartfelt acceptance speech she gave was one for the ages.

Halle Berry’s Speech For Her Historic Oscar Win Was Iconic Halle Berry won an Oscar for Best Actress for 2001’s Monster’s Ball

When Harry Berry starred in the 2001 romantic drama Monster’s Ball,...

When Star Trek returned to television screens after two decades in 1987, it looked very different from its predecessor. Gone were James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Bones, most of whom planned to return in the original sequel series Star Trek: Phase II. In their place stood a bald Shakespearean actor, the breakout star of the television miniseries Roots, and a member of Muppet creator Jim Henson’s team.

From those unlikely beginnings, Star Trek: The Next Generation grew to match and, for some, exceed the original series. Much of that success came from the cast, who had a far easier camaraderie than their predecessors and, some might argue, a more impressive resume. Before and after Trek, these actors became beloved figures in genre cinema and television, proving that they are even more than the crew who boldly went where no one had gone before.

Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier...

One year after coming up short on her first individual SAG Awards outing against Jean Smart (“Hacks”), Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) is 2024’s clear Best TV Comedy Actress frontrunner, according to Gold Derby’s racetrack odds. This time, she could face a direct challenge from “The Bear” cast member Ayo Edebiri, who 90% of our participating users believe will overcome her 2023 solo snub. If this very likely showdown does come to fruition, the two potential nominees will make SAG Awards history as the first pair of Black actresses to ever face off in an individual continuing series category.

Both Brunson and Edebiri’s new SAG Award bids would come for their work on their shows’ second seasons. In its first year, ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” also received a successful Best TV Comedy Ensemble nomination, which made it the first network series to earn recognition in the category since ABC’s “Black-ish...

The star with the gorgeous calypso voice was also a naturally passionate actor who appeared in heists, colonial confrontations – and even the last love triangle on Earth

In the middle of the 20th century, Harry Belafonte was at the dizzying high point of his stunning multi-hyphenate celebrity: this handsome, athletic, Caribbean-American star with a gorgeous calypso singing voice was at the top of his game in music, movies and politics. He was the million-selling artist whose easy and sensuous musical stylings and lighter-skinned image made him acceptable to white audiences. But this didn’t stop him having a fierce screen presence and an even fiercer commitment to civil rights. He was the friend and comrade of Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King Jr – and his crossover success, incidentally, never stopped him being subject to the ugliest kind of bigotry from racists who saw his fame as a kind of infiltration.

Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has passed away. He was 96.

Belafonte passed away Tuesday due to congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Paula M. Witt, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.

With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-o),” and its call of “Day-o! Daaaaay-o.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”

He stands as the model and...

Harry Belafonte, the legendary singer, actor, and civil rights activist, died Tuesday, April 25, Rolling Stone has confirmed. He was 96.

Belafonte died at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine adding the cause was congestive heart failure.

Related Harry Belafonte: Five Essential Songs Songwriter Keith Gattis, Whose Songs Were Cut by Kenny Chesney and George Strait, Dead at 52 Len Goodman, Longtime 'Dancing With the Stars' Judge, Dead at 78

Belafonte rose to prominence in the Fifties when his interpretation of calypso music popularized the sounds...

Harry Belafonte, the actor, producer, singer and activist who made calypso music a national phenomenon with “Day-o” (The Banana Boat Song) and used his considerable stardom to draw attention to Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights issues and injustices around the world, has died. He was 96.

Belafonte, recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home on the Upper West Side with his wife, Pamela, by his side, longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine told The Hollywood Reporter.

A master at blending pop, jazz and traditional West Indian rhythms, the Caribbean-American Belafonte released more than 30 albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000.

Calypso, which featured “Day-o” and another hit, “Jamaica Farewell,” topped the Billboard pop album list for an incredible 31 weeks in 1956 and is credited as...

Singer, actor, producer and activist Harry Belafonte, who spawned a calypso craze in the U.S. with his music and blazed new trails for African-American performers, has died of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home. He was 96.

An award-winning Broadway performer and a versatile recording and concert star of the ’50s, the lithe, handsome Belafonte became one of the first black leading men in Hollywood. He later branched into production work on theatrical films and telepics.

As his career stretched into the new millennium, his commitment to social causes never took a back seat to his professional work.

An intimate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he was an important voice in the ’60s civil rights movement, and he later embarked on charitable activities on behalf of underdeveloped African nations. He was an outspoken opponent of South Africa’s apartheid policies.

Belafonte was set to receive the Motion Picture...

Opera lovers flock to performances in order to be thrilled, aroused, overjoyed, moved to tears. Ditto disciples of dance, musical-theater fanatics, and — the worst, most masochistic, and unrepentant art-rush addicts of them all — moviegoers. Georges Bizet’s Carmen shocked audiences when it premiered in 1875 in Paris; eventually, his story of a Spanish soldier and a Roma traveler would become a staple of repertory companies and one of the best-known operas of all time. (Hum the opening notes of this, and at least one person will break into their best Beverly Sills impression.

MGM+ has greenlit a new four-part docuseries that will tackle the experience of Black creatives in Hollywood over the course of a century.

The linear channel and streaming service has ordered an adaptation of historian Donald Bogle’s 2019 book Hollywood Black from director Justin Simien (Dear White People), it announced on Tuesday. The docuseries, from Simien’s Culture Machine as well as Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions and RadicalMedia, will chronicle the careers of pioneering directors, actors, producers and writers “who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera, on the screen, and in the credits,” MGM+ said in a statement.

Simien and Kyle Laursen from Culture Machine, Whitaker and Yang Bongiovi from Significant Productions and Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss and Jon Kamen from RadicalMedia will all executive produce. Amy Goodman Kass (I Love You, You Hate Me) will serve as showrunner as Simien directs.

As we approach O-Day and the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, it’s always fun to go back and look at the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories and revel in some of the trivia and shockers that have gone down on the awards season’s biggest stage. This is the rare year when Meryl Streep isn’t in the running, as her 21 overall nominations in the acting categories are nearly double the number of her closest female pursuer, Katherine Hepburn, who has 12. However, Hepburn still holds the all-time Oscar record with four acting wins. Streep has a mere three.

Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:

Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...

With her Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actress bid for Prime Video’s “The English,” Emily Blunt is now a four-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Since she already clinched the Best Film Supporting Actress trophy for 2018’s “A Quiet Place,” she is on a path to becoming the 14th female recipient of individual SAG Awards for both big and small screen acting. Given the fact that her 40th birthday precedes this year’s ceremony by only three days, she would be the fifth youngest woman to ever pull off this feat.

The quartet of younger actresses who would rank ahead of Blunt on said list is comprised of Angelina Jolie, Helen Hunt, Halle Berry and Kate Winslet. Winslet received a bookend miniseries actress trophy for “Mare of Easttown” just last year at age 46.

Having been born and raised in London, Blunt would also directly follow Winslet as the fourth English...

Hot off her 2022 Best Film Actress SAG Award victory for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Jessica Chastain is now in the running for the organization’s Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actress prize as the star of Showtime’s “George and Tammy.” This would be her third SAG Award win in as many categories, as she achieved her first one as an ensemble member of the 2011 film “The Help.” It would also make her only the fourth person to ever pull off back-to-back solo SAG Award wins for two different performances.

The special consecutive champions club Chastain is looking to join was formed in 2000 by Angelina Jolie, who was honored that year for her supporting turn in the film “Girl, Interrupted” immediately after her TV movie performance in “Gia” was lauded by the acting guild. She has since been followed by Renée Zellweger and Viola Davis.

Chastain would, of course, be...

In 2002, Halle Berry and Denzel Washington famously became the first African American performers to win lead acting Oscars in the same year (and still the only time ever). Berry was the first woman of color ever to win Best Actress (for “Monster’s Ball”) and only the third ever in any acting category, following supporting victors Hattie McDaniel for “Gone with the Wind” (1940) and Whoopi Goldberg for “Ghost” (1991) a half-century later. For Washington, his triumph for “Training Day” was his second Academy Award statuette (following a 1990 supporting win for “Glory”) and just the fifth ever for a Black male actor.

March 24, 2002 proved to be something of a magical night. Not only did Berry and Washington cap the night with wins, but Sidney Poitier, who won the first trophy for an African American male actor with his lead victory in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” was bequeathed an honorary award “for his...

The legendary RZA joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man With The Iron Fists (2012)

Cut Throat City (2020)

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

Cooley High (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Car Wash (1976) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Grease (1978)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) – Dennis Cozzalio’s best of 2020

The Devil You Know (2022)

The Last American Virgin (1982)

The Beastmaster (1982)

Porky’s (1981)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Carmen Jones (1954)

An American In Paris (1951)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

Is That Black Enough for You?!?...

Turner Classic Movies, TCM for short, today announced that the fourth annual Robert Osborne Award will be given to Donald Bogle. Bogle, considered to be among the foremost authorities on African Americans in Hollywood, will receive the award at the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival prior to a screening of “Carmen Jones.” That 1954 feature first ignited Bogle’s interest in Black artists in the movies.

The award, recognizing an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations, has been previously awarded to director Martin Scorsese, film preservationist Kevin Brownlow and film author and historian Leonard Maltin.

Bogle is a pioneer in the study of Black artists working in cinema. He is also an award-winning author, having written nine books, including (but not limited to) “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies” and “Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. The latter will this year celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Author Donald Bogle, one of the foremost authorities on African Americans in Hollywood, will receive the fourth annual Robert Osborne Award at the TCM Classic Film Festival in April, it was announced Wednesday.

The honor recognizes an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations. The first three recipients were director Martin Scorsese, film preservationist Kevin Brownlow and author-historian Leonard Maltin.

Bogle pioneered the study of Black artists working in cinema and is the award-winning author of nine books, including the groundbreaking Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

He also wrote 2019’s Hollywood Black: The Stars, The Films, The Filmmakers for TCM as well as a definitive 1999 biography of Dorothy Dandridge, the star of Carmen Jones (1954) and the first African American to be nominated for an Oscar in a lead acting category.

The most fun moments of watching the Oscars are always the surprises.

The unexpected wins from dark horses are always so much more thrilling than predictable outcomes.

It's not that the winners were undeserving -- it's often that their wins seemed to come out of nowhere.

With prognosticators having Oscar predictions down to a science, anything remotely surprising is a rare treat.

Here are some of the most shocking wins that left us with our jaws on the floor!

Adrien Brody (Best Actor In A Leading Role) in The Pianist

Brody was the only Oscar-less member of his cohort when he won for his role as Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman.

Up against Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, and Daniel Day-Lewis, Brody's win made him the youngest Best Actor in the history of the Oscars, at age 29.

Unfortunately, his behavior is what most people remember about his win -- when...

It took 59 years for Michelle Yeoh to land her first lead role in a Hollywood film. And it’s taken 95 years for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize a woman who identifies as Asian in its best actress category.

On Tuesday morning, the Malaysian-born performer, who became a movie star in Hong Kong before successfully crossing over to the global stage, received her expected Academy Award nomination for her multifaceted role in A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. It is the first career Oscar nod for the beloved icon, 60, known stateside for her supporting (yet scene-stealing) turns in such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tomorrow Never Dies and Crazy Rich Asians. But for the Academy, the achievement is even more consequential.

Oscars’ best actress category is historically one of the awards body’s whitest and least diverse, certainly among the four acting races. Women...

At the Musée Rodin, on a frigid cold Jan. 23 with highs in the 30s, the House of Dior unveiled their Spring Summer 2023 Haute Couture collection.

In a packed room of celebrities, buyers, media, top clients, and friends of the brand, creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri unveiled a sartorial story inspired by American singer Josephine Baker. It was a presentation that paid homage to the breaking of racial barriers, which artist Mickalene Thomas sought to capture in the show’s staging. The room was surrounded by large images on the walls of Baker and other icons from Dorothy Dandridge, Eartha Kitt and Nina Simone to pianist Hazel Scott and models Naomi Sims and Donyale Luna.

Sitting front row were film director Baz Luhrmann and his Oscar-award winning costume and producer designer wife Catherine Martin. The Elvis director said of the collection, “It was elegant and glamorous and beautiful. The designs in...

There's only one month left of 2022? Crazy talk! Here are a dozen highlights from November in case you missed them...

• Mahler's 5th in Tár & Decision to Leave Lynn enjoys the renaissance

• The Fabelmans Cláudio's review of Spielberg's confessional family melodrama

• She Said's Modern Marriages Ben with a 'no big deal' observation

• All Quiet on the Western Front Christopher on the overwhelming new war film

• Black Panther Wakanda Forever Nathaniel on the underwhelming sequel. Namor, tho!

• Young Men and Oscar The Academy resists young leading men but quite a few are in buzzy films this year

• European Film Awards Close, Holy Spider, and Triangle of Sadness are popular

• Team Punditry We're polling our writers on where they think the Oscar races stand

• Till Nathaniel is bowled over by Danielle Deadwyler's star turn

• AFI Fest Pinocchio Eurocheese finds Guillermo del Toro's latest dazzling

• Best Supporting Actress is Overcrowded It might...

by Cláudio Alves

"Island in the Sun" | © 20th Century Fox

After Carmen Jones proved a financial triumph and earned Dorothy Dandridge a ground-breaking Best Actress nomination, 20th Century Fox signed her for a three-picture deal. As Baby Clyde mentioned in part one of this centennial, Darryl F. Zanuck was invested in Dandridge's success, planning to make her a screen icon unlike any other Black performer in Hollywood history up to that point. Unfortunately, however, nearly every project fell through, including a remake of The Blue Angel that would have seen Dandridge take on Marlene Dietrich's star-making role. Even so, while absent from the big screen, her fame rose.

So high was Dandridge's profile that she became a target for Confidential magazine's libelous articles. The erstwhile Carmen Jones was one of the few stars to testify against the publication in a series of suits that brought along its downfall. In...

Team Experience is revisiting a few Dorothy Dandridge movies for her centennial

by Baby Clyde

Groucho Marks famously described Grace Kelly’s Best Actress win at the 1954 Oscars as ‘The greatest robbery since Brinks’. I think we can all agree that a terrible crime was committed, but Judy Garland wasn’t the only victim on the night of March 30th, 1955. Dorothy Dandridge was a sensation in Carmen Jones becoming the first Black woman to receive a Best Actress nomination. In any other year, her loss would be seen as a huge scandal but because of Judy’s legendary star turn in A Star Is Born the fact that Ms Dandridge was also deserving has been almost entirely overshadowed...

A dozen highlights from the month in case you missed 'em...

• "Hot Ones" as Oscar stop Best Actresses getting spicy

• Angela Lansbury in Death on the Nile as tribute when she passed

• Paul Mescal x 2 Eurocheese on Aftersun and God's Creatures

• Podcast Guesting Nathaniel had fun on "Hallmarkies" talking Bros and "Oscar Wild" taking pre-season Oscar Predictions

• Middleburg w/ special guests Nathaniel with Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Dolly DeLeon (Triangle of Sadness)

• Banshees of Inisherin Nathaniel on Martin McDonagh's Oscar hopeful

• TÁR Nathaniel on Todd & Cate's incredible collaborative drama

• TÁR's ending Ben thinks it's a major misstep. You?

• Brainwashed Glenn on the controversial gender/film theory doc

• Mars One Juan Carlos talks to the director of Brazil's Oscar submission

• Alcarràs Jason on Spain's Oscar submission

• Decision to Leave Cláudio on South Korea's Oscar submission

Coming In November

The Spirit Award nominations, that long awaited 1951 Smackdown...

When discussing representation, we emphasize the necessity of Black people living in this moment and seeing themselves onscreen. But in the past, Black audiences had a much stronger need to visualize a different, more prosperous future in the wake of the violent realities of Jim Crow, segregation, and the Civil Rights movement. They needed to see a world where Black people were allowed to meet their full potential as artists, thinkers, and craftspeople.

In the opening lines of the new documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” director Elvis Mitchell speaks of his grandmother, remarking that “movies changed the way she dreamed.” For people in her generation, those dreams could be life-changing.

But most of the faces she saw onscreen at the movies were white. For the Black cinephile in the early years of Hollywood, projecting oneself onto characters was necessary. And yet, there were filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and,...

In “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” Elvis Mitchell’s highly pleasurable and eye-opening movie-love documentary about the American Black cinema revolution of the late ’60s and ’70s, Billy Dee Williams, now 85 but still spry, tells a funny story about what it was like to play Louis McKay, the dapper love object and would-be savior of Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues.”

The year was 1972, and African-American audiences had rarely (if ever) been given the chance to gawk at a movie star of color who was not just this sexy but this showcased for his sexiness. Louis was like Clark Gable with a dash of Marvin Gaye; when he was on that promenade stairway, Williams says, with a chuckle, that he just about fell in love with himself. That’s how unprecedented the whole thing was. The actor recalls how the lighting was fussed over (we see a shot...

Women are a force to be reckoned with both in real-life and in reel-life. Over the decades, strong women have permeated cinema from its infancy — remember Pearl White in the 1914 serial “The Perils of Pauline”? Viola Davis plays the title role in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s hit film “The Woman King.” The Oscar Emmy and Tony winner’s character leads a group of women warriors called the Agojie who protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey from the 17th-19th centuries.

Reviews have been strong for the “The Woman King,” which earned 19 million on its opening weekend, especially for the Davis. Noted Variety: “She plays Nanisca, who in the film’s aggressive prologue, stands firm before a phalanx of well-armed soldiers, her hair fashioned into a kind of Mohawk. Scars visible on her face and shoulders We’ve never seen the actor like this, and not for a second do we...

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Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ second major temporary exhibition, opening Aug. 21, is a nuanced exploration of the ways in which Black filmmakers and performers have impacted, defined and expanded American movies. The exhibition (which was five years in the making) takes a comprehensive look at film history and Black visual culture more broadly, highlighting notable items like original costumes worn by Lena Horne in Stormy Weather (1943) and Sammy Davis Jr. in Porgy and Bess (1959), tap dance shoes from the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.

The beginning of the show, 1898, marks the creation of “the first known moving image footage of African American performers onscreen, [seen] in a dignified way,” says Doris Berger, co-curator and vp curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum. The show concludes with material from 1971, the dawn of the Blaxploitation subgenre, acknowledging the...

The Academy Museum’s Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 is not to be missed. Not only does the exhibition celebrate Black representation in film, it serves as an important reminder and lesson about the contributions of Black filmmakers and stars to the world of cinema.

Opening Aug. 21, seven galleries make up the exhibit exploring Oscar Micheaux’s low-budget dramas in the silent-film era to the works of Melvin Van Peebles.

The exhibition also introduces audiences to stars largely unknown to mainstream moviegoers — Ralph Cooper, Clarence Brooks and Francine Everett — alongside iconic screen legends Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne.

Poiter’s Oscar for “Lillies of the Field” is just one of the many artifacts on display in this historic exhibition. Alongside the award are tap shoes worn by the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.

Cowboy Boots worn by Herb Jeffries in 1937’s...

When Halle Berry won the 2002 Best Actress Oscar for “Monster’s Ball” and made history as the category’s first Black honoree, she dedicated it to several actresses of color who came before her. Appropriately, she began by mentioning Dorothy Dandridge, whose nomination for “Carmen Jones” in 1955 made her the first Black woman to compete for the lead prize. Although Dandridge’s life ended before Berry’s began, the two performers have always shared a special connection. Indeed, less than two years before she won her Oscar, Berry took home an Emmy for stepping into Dandridge’s shoes in the TV movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.”

The HBO movie was nominated for a total of nine Primetime Emmys and scored four craft awards in addition to Berry’s Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress win. Having triumphed at 34, the actress currently ranks as the 10th youngest champion in her category after initially placing one spot higher.

Producers Richard Bell, N'Kenge, Park Row Equity Partners, Tegan Summer, Sam Williams, Michael Loeb and Derow Enterprises, in association with Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts, announce the presentation of The Songs of Dorothy Dandridge The Musical, selections from the upcoming production of Dorothy Dandridge The Musical, with book and lyrics by Trey Ellis and music and lyrics by Shelton L. Becton, directed by Tamara Tunie at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Canadian comic Nick Nemeroff has died. He was 32.

The news was posted to Nemeroff’s Instagram and Twitter pages on Monday, June 27. The cause of death was not revealed.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our beloved brother Nick Nemeroff. pic.twitter.com/JY4jSErfi9

— Nick Nemeroff (@nicknemeroff) June 27, 2022

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our beloved brother Nick Nemeroff,” the posts read. “Nick’s dedication to standup comedy was formidable, and produced amazing results. He drew acclaim in Canada and the US, becoming both a ‘comic’s comic’ and a hit with crowds who were enamoured [sic] by his unique cadence, labyrinthine deadpan, and fresh take on misdirection-driven comedy.”

The statement continued: “If Nick was on a comedy show, he was guaranteed to leave with new fans. And he deserved to, because comedy was, in many ways, his life.

Mary Mara, a character actress known for her extensive resume of guest-starring roles on shows like “E.R.,” “Shameless,” and “Law & Order,” died Sunday, her manager Craig Dorfman confirmed to TheWrap. She was 61.

The New York State Police announced in a press release that Mara died by possible drowning in Cape Vincent, New York. After receiving a call Sunday morning at 8:10 a.m., Cape Vincent Fire and Ambulance recovered her body from the St. Lawrence River. According to initial reports, there were no signs of foul play. An autopsy is being conducted at the Jefferson County Medical Examiner’s Office as part of an ongoing investigation into her death.

“Mary was one of the finest actresses I ever met,” Dorfman said in a statement. “I still remember seeing her onstage in 1992 in ‘Mad Forest’ Off-Broadway. She was electric, funny, and a true individual. Everyone loved her. She will be missed.

Robert Katz, who produced several prestigious movies and TV projects, including 1999’s “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” and 1993’s “Gettysburg,” has died at 81, his widow, Patricia Brown Katz, confirmed to TheWrap.

Katz, who had been battling lung cancer for several years, died Wednesday morning at the intensive care unit of the Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California.

While a statement prepared by Katz’s friends listed his birthdate as February 7, 1943, Patricia told TheWrap that he was actually born in 1941 and that his middle initial was “F.” for “Francis, not “A.,” which was reported elsewhere.

Patricia, whom he married in 1992, said, “He was a real man’s man, but also took loving care of me for 30 years. He is sorely, sorely missed. He was still working on projects ’til the day he died. He told me, ‘Don’t tell anybody that I’m ill, if they find out, they won’t let me work anymore.

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“BEHIND Every MAN…â€.

By Raymond Benson

One of the more popular Hollywood movies of 1954 was The Country Girl, written and directed by George Seaton, adapted from a stage play by Clifford Odets. The Academy liked it well enough to nominate it for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Bing Crosby), Black and White Art Direction, and Black and White Cinematography (John F. Warren). The movie won Oscars for Actress (Grace Kelly) and for the Adapted Screenplay by Seaton.

The Academy sure loves it when a beautiful actress dispenses with any hint of glamour and presents herself in a dowdy, plain, or even “uglyâ€. appearance. And while Grace Kelly could never not be beautiful, her role as Georgie Elgin is not known to emphasize her timeless attractiveness and sensuality. Furthermore, she delivers an outstanding performance that was good enough to surpass the likes...

I grew up idolizing Sidney Poitier.

I was around 9 when he flickered into my world on a television replay of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” I was a latchkey kid in Cleveland, daughter of a white, single mother and a Black father — whose union their parents had frowned upon. In the film, Sidney and his co-star, Katharine Houghton, play an interracial couple whose parents also struggle with their children’s relationship. There I sat in front of my mom’s old console, mesmerized, as I watched my family’s dynamic play out. For the first time in my childhood, I felt seen. Understood. Validated. The world already knew Sidney, who died last week at 94, as a formidable performer. But I first experienced him as a mirror.

I watched that film over and over again, through my middle-school years and beyond. By then, my mother had moved our family from a...

Over the holidays, TCM showed one of my favorite movies of all time, 1967’s “To Sir With Love. “ It stars Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray from British Guyana who takes a job as a teacher in the East End of London filled rowdy Cockney students who have little interest in their curriculum. Sir, as his class calls him, realizes that what these teens need is a course in how to make a life for themselves in the world outside a classroom.

Eventually, his pupils realize that he has their best interests at heart and they celebrate at a dance before his flock flies off into real world . Seeing a sexy and sweaty Poitier cut a rug by doing the Pony and the Jerk with Judy Geeson’s flirtatious student was just like receiving an extra surprise gift under my tree.

Little did I know that this silver screen legend, who...

In Variety‘s Up Next, we asked four Oscar winners to pick the one person who represents the future of Hollywood.

This year, Halle Berry fulfills a career dream of stepping into the director’s chair with “Bruised,” where she stars as Jackie Justice, an Mma fighter looking for one last big match. Berry knows what it’s like to be counted out. It’s been 20 years since she became the first — and still only — Black woman to win the lead actress Oscar (for “Monster’s Ball”).

In that time, Berry has spoken about the need for systemic change in Hollywood. While she’s been encouraged by some things, she knows there’s a long way to go. When she looks at the actors coming up, Berry chooses Zendaya — the star of HBO’s “Euphoria” and movies such as “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Malcolm & Marie” and “Dune” — as “Up Next” in the industry.