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Wu-Tang Clan have linked up with longtime producer Mathematics for a special Record Store Day release titled Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman.

Coming from the Wu-Tang, The Saga Continues collection, the 12-track album is limited to 5,000 copies that will only be sold at participating Record Store Day retailers on April 12th.

Besides appearances from all nine surviving Wu-Tang Clan members, the 2xLP features contributions from Kool G Rap, Benny the Butcher, Kurupt, and more. It marks the first Wu-Tang project since 2017’s The Saga Continues, which was also helmed by Mathematics.

“Wu-Tang has always been about pushing boundaries — musically, artistically, and culturally. With Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman, I’m giving fans not just an album, but a piece of history — something truly one of a kind,” Mathematics said in a statement. “This is more than music; it’s innovation, storytelling, and legacy all in one. I am excited for...

Anthony Mackie believes he should have won an Academy Award.The 46-year-old actor believes that he has been put in several performances that have been deserving of awards but described his role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as " [his] Oscar".In an interview with Esquire, the ‘8 Mile’ star said: "It’s always apropos for me when awards season comes up, because I know I’ve done at least four performances that could have been nominated — if not for a Golden Globe, then an Oscar or an Emmy. "Captain America is my Oscar, because I’ve been overlooked so many times in my career."Mackie - who starred in Spike Lee’s ‘Sucker Free City’ and ‘She Hate Me’ - joked he was the actor to have led the director’s only two films that "nobody saw".He quipped: "I always tell people I hold the title...

Anthony Mackie may now be the definitive superhero of the MCU, but the actor wants to conquer another realm: awards season.

Mackie told Esquire that amid the Oscar campaigns this year, he has to point to his tenure as the Falcon and his character’s recent promotion to Captain America as being his version of an Academy Award.

“It’s always apropos for me when awards season comes up,” Mackie said, “Because I know I’ve done at least four performances that could have been nominated — if not for a Golden Globe, then an Oscar or an Emmy. Captain America is my Oscar, because I’ve been overlooked so many times in my career.”

Mackie, who has worked with auteurs outside of Marvel, quipped that he is infamously the only actor who has led “the two Spike Lee movies nobody saw.” Mackie appeared in Lee’s “Sucker Free City” and “She Hate Me,...

Anthony Mackie's starring role in an obscure 2004 movie could have launched his TV career after Million Dollar Baby. The Spike Lee-directed project was a pilot for a TV series meant to go head-to-head with HBO's The Wire.

Most fans look back on Anthony Mackie's career and see 8 Mile as his first big break in the industry. His filmography has since demonstrated exceptional range with roles in Million Dollar Baby, Freedomland, and The Hurt Locker, but he is most popular (so far) as the McU's Falcon / Sam Wilson. In an interview with Variety, he recalled how a starring role in Spike Lee's Sucker Free City almost made for a bankable TV career; the 2004 film was made for TV and was the pilot for a planned series. Mackie said the show was a potential contender to The Wire if it was greenlighted, but the project fell through even before the pilot aired.

Do you remember the 2004 TV film “Sucker Free City?” Probably not. Despite being directed by Spike Lee, the film debuted with very little fanfare. But it did have a hell of a cast, including now-Captain America Anthony Mackie. And according to the actor, the project was set to be Showtime’s attempt to mirror one of HBO’s best series.

Speaking on Variety’s Actors on Actors, Anthony Mackie talked about how his career was supposed to take off 20 years ago when “Sucker Free City” was released.

Continue reading Anthony Mackie Talks Being Part Of Forgotten Spike Lee Project ‘Sucker Free City’: “All The Wheels Fell Off” at The Playlist.

A scheduling conflict nearly cost Anthony Mackie his career-making role in The Hurt Locker, but a last-minute offer saved the day. Mackie's performance as Sergeant Sanborn in The Hurt Locker earned praise for capturing the emotional complexities of wartime. Without his role in The Hurt Locker, Mackie might never have entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Falcon.

Anthony Mackie recalls how an "awful" director's unreleased movie nearly cost him his career-making role in The Hurt Locker. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, with a script written by Mark Boal, the 2008 war film follows a bomb squad during the Iraq War who are targeted by insurgents, focusing on their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Other than Mackie, the cast includes Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce, and Evangeline Lilly.

During a recent interview with Variety, Mackie recalled how an "awful" director's unreleased movie nearly cost...

Tyler James Williams is shifting through poses in front of a photographer when Anthony Mackie appears on set, voice booming, to poke some fun. He asks Williams to coach him on pursing his lips like he’s Trey Songz. During their conversation, Williams outlines his path from “Everybody Hates Chris,” where he played the 13-year-old title character, to starring as first-grade teacher Gregory Eddie on ABC’s hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” In exchange, Mackie explains how he played an amnesiac named John Doe in Peacock’s video game adaptation “Twisted Metal,” and what it was like to take his Marvel character, Falcon, from film to TV and back.

Anthony MacKie: Since the last time I saw you, you’ve been nominated for an Emmy 35 times and won, like, 20.

Tyler James Williams: Just two. And same thing: You’re superhero-ing everywhere.

MacKie: I didn’t even get nominated for a BET Award.

Exclusive: Radhika Apte (Sister Midnight), Naveen Andrews (The Dropout) and Ken Leung (Avatar: The Last Airbender) have signed on to star opposite the previously announced Sky Yang in Last Days, the next film from the Fast & Furious franchise’s Justin Lin.

Based on the Outside Magazine article The Last Days of John Allen Chau by journalist Alex Perry, this is the story of John Allen Chau, who believes he has been chosen to save the souls of the uncontacted tribe of North Sentinel Island. Designated as a protected site by the Indian government, John sets on a harrowing journey to proselytize the Sentinelese in his desperate search for identity, purpose, and belonging.

Written by Ben Ripley (Source Code), and marking Lin’s return to his indie roots, the film has just kicked off production in Thailand. In addition to directing, Lin is producing through his Perfect Storm Entertainment, overseen...

Tony Sokol Dec 1, 2017

Warner Bros is pursuing a new take on the 1970s hit, Super Fly...

Super Fly is the latest movie to get a remake, it's been revealed. And it's got a bit of a bar to live up to.

Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack for the 1972 classic street hustler film Super Fly was as cinematic as the movie it was recorded for, for example. The title track and the song “Freddy’s Dead” bounced off the sidewalks of America and soared on the charts. Songs like “Pusherman” and “Little Child” were heartbreaking snippets of the dual realities of uptown street life.

The screenplay for Super Fly will be written by Alex Tse, who wrote Watchmen and Spike Lee’s under-appreciated Sucker Free City. The director and star hasn’t been named yet. But the big question, for this writer, is who will score?

Video of Pusherman Scene - Super Fly...

While Spike Lee has conquered both the big and small screen with feature films and documentaries, when it comes to television series', he's had far less luck. In 2004 he tried to get "Sucker Free City" up over at Showtime, a series that would've chronicled the disparate groups at play in the gentrification of San Francisco. After a two hour pilot (which wound up being screened at Tiff) it didn't go much further. And it seems another small screen effort has been put on hold before it ever really got started.

Deadline reports that HBO has passed on the pilot for "Da Brick," which would've been led by "Attack The Block" star John Boyega. In the works last year, the show found Lee teaming with “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin, with Mike Tyson acting as a producer. The Story is set in Newark, New Jersey and is partially inspired by Tyson's youth,...

By Sean O’Connell

hollywoodnews.com: Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale will announce the nominees for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 8 a.m. at The London West Hollywood Hotel, it was revealed today by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival.

As previously announced, the 27th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held at the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The premiere broadcast of the ceremony will air later that evening at 10 p.m. Et/Pt on IFC.

Bios on each actor, from a release:

Anthony Mackie was classically trained at the Julliard School of Drama and was discovered playing Tupac Shakur in the off-Broadway play “Up Against the Wind.” He made his film debut in Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile and proceeded to garner roles in Spike Lee’s Sucker Free City and She Hate Me,...

Despite a legal challenge from the Weinstein Company, director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) has taken another step forward with The Crow reboot starring Bradley Cooper (The Hangover).

According to a recent press release, Fresnadillo and Relativity Media have signed Watchmen writer, Alex Tse to pen the screenplay for the upcoming film.

Tse has very few production credits to his name, two to be exact – polishing David Hayter’s original Watchmen draft for Zack Snyder as well as the Spike Lee film, Sucker Free City. In addition, Tse worked on a number of uncredited rewrites including films such as Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets, and Jaume Collet-Serra’s House of Wax.

According to the press release:

Fresnadillo and Tse are perfectly suited to bring these beloved characters ...

Click to continue reading ‘Watchmen’ Writer to Pen ‘The Crow’ Reboot Screenplay...

Now that the legal dispute between Relativity Media and the Weinsteins has more-or-less gone away, Relativity are once again moving forward with their Crow reboot. Alex Tse is the latest writer to be tasked with re-adapting James O'Barr's original graphic novel.Tse doesn't have a great many credits on his CV, but the one that got him the gig was presumably a little thing called Watchmen, for which he has a co-writer credit with David Hayter. He's also penned as-yet un-produced adaptations of Ninja Scroll, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Illustrated Man, and Spike Lee's TV movie Sucker Free City. And he's known as a script doctor, reportedly providing uncredited polishes for the Step Up films and House of Wax.The Crow is, of course, the story of rocker Eric Draven, murdered along with his girlfriend, and returning from the grave as a goth'd up avenger to right that wrong.

Relativity's planned reboot of The Crow has found it's writer. Alex Tse (Watchmen) has been hired to write the script, Variety reports. The film will be directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later). As we reported, Bradley Cooper is attached to star in the film. 

The reboot is planned as "a gritty reboot of the iconic gothic character Eric Draven, who returns from the grave on a mission to avenge his wife's murder so that his soul can rest." The production will be a joint venture between Relativity and Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation along with Spain-based Apaches Entertainment.

Tse has been very busy lately. He worked recently on adapting the graphic novel Battling Boy for Paramount and Brad Pitt's Plan B, penned a remake of Ninja Scroll for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's production co. Appian Way. In addition, he wrote Gangland for Joel Silver's Dark...

Watchmen co-scribe Alex Tse has signed on to pen Relativity's "reinvention" of The Crow. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) and potentially starring Bradley Cooper who is attached, the pic is expected to reboot James O'Barr's Eric Draven character for moviegoers who are perhaps too indifferent to check out Brandon Lee's stellar 1994 turn and/or gluttons for punishment. Relativity's press release claims that the project is expected to be "gritty" but, considering that Draven is a man who returns from the grave seeking vengeance on his wife's killer, it's hard to conceive the iconic goth tale as coming off any other way (romantic comedy, anyone?). While I may be opposed to the notion of rebooting The Crow franchise, my opposition has nothing to do with Tse's inclusion. I really enjoyed he and David Hayter's Watchmen and thought the changes they made to the story actually worked...

Hot off the heels of co-writing Watchmen, Alex Tse has just been signed on to adapt the upcoming graphic novel Battling Boy. The source material was written and illustrated by Paul Pope back in November and it’s about the son of a god who is sent down by his father from the top of a mountain to rid the giant city of Monstropolis of a plague of beasts.

The rights were recently picked up by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, and the film will be co-produced by Paramount Pictures. This is only part of an overall deal between the two companies to bring a slate of adaptations to the big-screen including Eat, Pray, Love (directed by Ryan Murphy), The Killer, The Black Hole (both David Fincher projects) and World War Z (set to be directed by Quantum of Solace helmer Marc Forster).

Although Tse has little experience...

Screened Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- Spike Lee gets uncomfortably close to the grass roots of gang culture in America in Sucker Free City. Focusing on a diverse group of mostly young characters in three San Francisco districts, Lee, working from a rock-solid script from Alex Tse, portrays a volatile subculture that's easy to get sucked into but damn near impossible to quit.

Reverting from recent form, where Lee used overstatement and bombast to make his points, the subtle though tough-minded approach to an unnerving subject here makes this one of the best films In Lee's career. He shot the film for Showtime, but here's hoping that Sucker Free City receives more festival exposure and theatrical playdates.

The white Wade family, gentrified out of a once affordable home in the now trendy Mission District, must move to the neglected, mostly black community of Hunters Point. There they suffer daily confrontations with the vicious V-Dub gang, especially the taunts of hotheaded Leon (Malieek Straughter).

Nick Wade (Ben Crowley), 19, is anxious to move up in the corporate world but must please execs by arranging drug deals and supplement his meager salary with credit card fraud.

K-Luv (Anthony Mackie), a gangbanger with a more stable personality, tries to get Leon off the Wade family's back. He sees Nick, a computer-savvy guy, as someone who can help him in getting into the business of bootleg CDs.

Meanwhile, trouble is brewing between the black gang and the Grant Street Boys, a Chinatown gang, over control of this pirated music. Lincoln Ma (Ken Leung), who collects protection money for a triad crime boss, is playing a double game of jeopardy: He skims money off the top of his collections even as he conducts a clandestine affair with the boss' beloved daughter (T.V. Carpio).

The plot threads allow us to crisscross town to survey the current state of street gang culture in San Francisco. While judging no one, Lee and Tse paint a grim portrait of a world that refuses to change, as it pulls each new generation into a tragic vortex of crime and destroyed lives. They make no bones about the allure of this dangerous milieu or why kids look up to gangsters glorified by rap music and "respected" by people on the street.

Mackie's K-Luv is the closest thing to the film's conscience. A criminal and killer, he nevertheless tries to steer kids toward education and looks for low-risk crime. Crowley's Nick and Leung's Lincoln Ma both are searching desperately to improve their social condition but know no means other than crime.

Cinematographer Cesar R. Charlone shifts color schemes to fit the mood and style of the film's different worlds. Colors often are supersaturated, especially in Chinatown

other times color drains away, bathing, for example, high-rise offices in blue, gray and white.

Barry Alexander Brown's editing is crisp, as is Lee's direction within each scene. Some may wish that Lee had subtitled the V-Dub street lingo just as he does the Cantonese, but the point is always clear: In Sucker Free City, no one knows it, but everyone is a sucker.

SUCKER FREE CITY

Showtime

40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks

Credits:

Director: Spike Lee

Writer: Alex Tse

Producer: Preston Holmes

Executive producers: Spike Lee, Sam Kitt

Director of photography: Cesar R. Charlone

Production designer: Kitty Douris-Bates

Music: Terence Blanchard

Editor: Barry Alexander Brown

Cast:

Nick Wade: Ben Crowley

Lincoln Ma: Ken Leung

K-Luv: Anthony Mackie

Sleepy: Darris Love

Laura Wade: Samantha Wade

Angela: T.V. Carpio

Leon: Malieek Straughter

Anderson Wade: John Savage

Cleo Wade: Kathy Baker

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 116 minutes...

Showtime has picked up Mike Newell's drama pilot Huff to series, sources said. The Sony Pictures Television project stars Hank Azaria as Craig Huffstodt, a psychiatrist suffering a midlife crisis. Oliver Platt, Paget Brewster and Blythe Danner co-star in the show, which is written by Bob Lowry and executive produced by Newell, Lowry and Cam Jones. Huff marks the first series greenlighted by Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's new entertainment president . The show's two-hour pilot was one of three pilots put into production in early 2003 by Greenblatt's predecessor, Jerry Offsay, along with Paradise and Spike Lee's SFC. Showtime declined comment late Friday.

Showtime has picked up Mike Newell's drama pilot Huff to series, sources said. The Sony Pictures Television project stars Hank Azaria as Craig Huffstodt, a psychiatrist suffering a midlife crisis. Oliver Platt, Paget Brewster and Blythe Danner co-star in the show, which is written by Bob Lowry and executive produced by Newell, Lowry and Cam Jones. Huff marks the first series greenlighted by Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's new entertainment president . The show's two-hour pilot was one of three pilots put into production in early 2003 by Greenblatt's predecessor, Jerry Offsay, along with Paradise and Spike Lee's SFC. Showtime declined comment late Friday.