News

Marlon Brando was the most consequential actor of the 20th century and, when he could resist his desire to dominate a production to its detriment, arguably the best. When he brought his method-acting brilliance to the big screen, he changed the way people taught and thought about acting. Obviously, not all directors and teachers bought into the Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler-championed process, but just about every aspiring performer in the 1950s and 1960s wanted to connect with theatergoers and moviegoers as ecstatically as Brando. Thanks to a string of legendary films that included "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Wild One," and "On the Waterfront," he was a silver screen rock star.

And yet Brando was so frustratingly mercurial and unpredictable in his choice of film projects that, as the 1960s wore on, he was more exhausting than he was exciting. This changed in 1972 when he turned in two...

Ryan Coogler's Sinners became one of the most successful original R-rated horror films of the last decade after its April 18, 2025, release. The movie, which stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, has garnered raving reviews from critics, moviegoers, and Coogler's fellow Hollywood peers. So far, it has grossed over $70 million at the box office and marked the best start for an original film since Jordan Peele's Us (2019). In an X (formerly Twitter) post on the film's official account, the director detailed his appreciation for those who purchased tickets and went out of their way to support his record-breaking project.

Eternal Gratitude. My heart is bursting with it. I want to thank each and every one of you who bought a ticket to see Sinners. Who decided to drive to see the film in different formats. Who bought popcorn and a drink, booked a sitter and carpooled,...

“Sinners” director Ryan Coogler has penned an emotional open letter thanking fans for showing up in droves to see the film in theaters, writing that his heart is “bursting” with “eternal gratitude.”

Coogler’s movie, starring Michael B. Jordan as the Smokestack twins, won the weekend, grossing $48 million domestically and $63 million globally.

The only way they got to that figure, the filmmaker writes, was thanks to the fans who bought a ticket: those “who decided to drive to see the film in different formats. Who bought popcorn and a drink, booked a sitter and carpooled, and stood in the lobby afterwards and talked and made a friend. Who changed their work schedules. Who saw the film in groups. … who watched more than once, who recommended the film to others, both in person and on social media or on your text message chains.”

In the typed letter, Coogler writes about what...

2-time Oscar winner Marlon Brando had a historic run 70 years ago that has yet to be matched or replicated. Some of Marlon Brando's best movies came out of Hollywood's Golden Age, which took place from the late 1910s until the early 1960s. Although many of Brando's most prolific roles would arise in the 1970s in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, his performances as a leading man were just as impressive at the start of his acting career during the early 1950s.

Brando remains one of the few actors in Oscars history to win the Academy Award for Best Actor twice in his career. He is cemented among other great actors such as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, and Anthony Hopkins. Daniel Day-Lewis remains the only actor to have ever won the award for three separate performances. He also remains the third youngest...

Will this year be Diane Warren’s sweet 16 for Oscar nominations?

The legendary songwriter and 15-time Oscar nominee is aiming for her 16th Academy Awards invitation this year with the track “The Journey” from Tyler Perry’s upcoming war drama, “The Six Triple Eight,” starring Kerry Washington.

Netflix is set to release “The Six Triple Eight,” which tells the inspiring true story of the first and only all-Black Women’s Army Corps unit stationed overseas during World War II. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion contributed to the war by sorting through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail and delivering it to American soldiers far from home. In the face of discrimination and a vast, unfamiliar country divided by global conflict, these 855 women brought hope to the front lines.

Read: Variety Awards Circuit’s Oscar predictions in every category.

Written by Warren and performed by global singing sensation H.E.R., “The Journey...

This first Hollywood studio feature with a black female director is a compelling account of a South African who turns against the ruling caste

In the late 80s, there were a number of films about apartheid South Africa that somehow made the black experience dramatically subordinate to white liberal activism. Chris Menges’s A World Apart from 1988 had Barbara Hershey as the white campaigner based on anti-apartheid activist Ruth First; the year before that, Richard Attenborough’s excruciatingly well-intentioned Cry Freedom was supposedly about the friendship between white journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) and Steve Biko (Denzel Washington), but contrived to put Woods at the centre of the action, all but forgetting about Biko. Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season from 1989, now released on Blu-ray, looks on the face of it to be the same sort of thing. And yet this movie is much tougher and shrewder on what...

Italy’s Torino Film Festival will celebrate the centennial of Marlon Brando’s birth with a 24-title retrospective of films featuring the groundbreaking two-time Oscar winner, known for his naturalistic acting style and rebellious streak.

The Brando retro will be “the backbone” of the fest, according to its new artistic director, Italian actor/director Giulio Base. Accordingly, an image of Brando – photographed when he was shooting Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” – is featured on the poster for the fest’s upcoming 42nd edition, which will run Nov. 22-30.

Torino is Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie cinema, and is where Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino screened their first works. The festival’s lineup will be announced at a later date.

“As an actor, Brando has always been my guiding star and I had been wondering for a while – since way before being appointed at Torino...

Simon Moutaïrou, the critically acclaimed screenwriter behind the spy thriller hit “Black Box,” has partnered with some of France’s biggest players — leading producer Chi-Fou-Mi and Studiocanal — on his ambitious directorial debut, “No Chains, No Masters.”

Now in post, “No Chains, No Masters,” is an epic movie inspired by historical accounts of former slaves in West Africa, nicknamed Maroons, who emancipated themselves from French settlements.

Set in 1759, in the French colony of Mauritius Island, “No Chains, No Masters” is an epic historical drama following a father, Massamba (Ibrahima Mbaye Thié), and his fierce teenage daughter Mati (Anna Thiandoum) who defy all odds to survive a manhunt across the jungle and emancipate themselves from the hell of a colonial plantation.

The story revolves around Mati, who refuses to accept her fate and flees from the plantation, hoping to seek freedom in a remote part of the island, where a community of fugitives is said to live.

Director Euzhan Palcy is speaking out about the reversal of a ban on her 1998 Disney film Ruby Bridges in a St. Petersburg, Florida, elementary school.

“Truth will out!” Palcy, 65, says in a statement issued to The Hollywood Reporter. “I commend the seven Florida teachers for standing up for truth by unanimously clearing Ruby Bridges for screening in the public schools”

“This is a victory for hope as portrayed in my film by the courage of children to turn their backs on bigotry, hatred and racism,” Palcy continues. “The teachers’ action sticks a thorn in the bubble of ignorance in which the enlightened parents wish to surrounded their children. Guess what will happen to those children when that bubble bursts?”

The controversy around Ruby Bridges began last month, when a parent at North Shore Elementary School complained that the film — about the 6-year-old Black girl who integrated a New Orleans in...

You’re reading an exclusive WrapPRO article for free. Want to level up your entertainment career? Subscribe to WrapPRO.

In 1996, “The Wonderful World of Disney” premiered the made-for-tv movie “Ruby Bridges,” a true-life story about the 6-year-old girl who helped desegregate a Louisiana elementary school in 1960. Critics lauded the film for its exploration of racism, and it went on to become a prominent part of school curriculums on American segregation.

Now the film has come under attack, with a Florida school considering a ban after a parent complained. The backlash against “Ruby Bridges” doesn’t surprise its creators, who exclusively spoke to TheWrap about the difficult process of getting the movie made in the first place and their thoughts on the attempt to suppress it today. Their story highlights how much is at stake as politicians seek to reshape the teaching of history, and how authors and filmmakers are getting caught in the middle.

Wif kicked off Oscar weekend with its highly-anticipated cocktail party presented by sponsors Johnnie Walker, Max Mara, and Mercedes-Benz.

Malala Yousafzai attends the 16th Annual Wif Oscar® Party Presented By Johnnie Walker, Max Mara, And Mercedes-Benz

Credit/Copyright: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Wif

The party honored all 65 women, in front of and behind the camera, who have been nominated for an Academy Award this year, and is the only event throughout awards season that celebrates all the women nominated for Oscars. Since 2007, the annual event has celebrated the belief that collaboration between women, behind and in front of the camera, is the best way to ensure more films are made by and for women. Co-hosted by Oscar-winning producer and Wif Board President Emerita Cathy Schulman, Oscar-winning actor Marlee Matlin and director and Oscar®-winning screenwriter Siân Heder, the event was held at NeueHouse Hollywood.

Nominated attendees included Anne Alvergue,...

The songs in the running for the 2023 Best Original Song Oscar are “Lift Me Up” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), “This Is a Life” (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), “Naatu Naatu” (“Rrr”), “Applause” (“Tell It Like a Woman”), and “Hold My Hand” (“Top Gun: Maverick”). Our current odds show that “Naatu Naatu” (16/5) is favored to win, followed in order by “Lift Me Up” (39/10), “Hold My Hand” (4/1), “This Is a Life” (9/2), and “Applause” (9/2).

Only two of the 12 individual songwriters included on this year’s roster have vied for this prize before, with Lady Gaga (“Hold My Hand”) being the sole past winner. She is seeking a bookend trophy after prevailing in 2019 for writing “Shallow” for “A Star Is Born.” Her first song nomination came in 2016 for “Til It Happens to You” from the documentary “The Hunting Ground.”

Diane Warren, with whom Lady Gaga shared her first Oscar bid, has now achieved her...

The list of the nominees for the upcoming 95th Annual Academy Awards have been made official. The awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Honorary Awards were bestowed upon Diane Warren, Euzhan Palcy, and Peter Weir. The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient is Michael J. Fox.

Please find a list of the announced nominations below.

____________

_________________________________

95th Annual Academy Awards Nominees

Best Motion Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) Avatar: The Way of Water The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick Triangle of Sadness Women Talking

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler, Elvis Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale Paul Mescal, Aftersun Bill Nighy, Living

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett, Tár Ana de Armas, Blonde Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie Michelle Williams,...

The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a raft of titles across strands and also 33 film projects vying for coin at the coproduction market.

Selections for the topical Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand from emerging German talent include “Seven Winters in Tehran” by Steffi Niederzoll, “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan, “Ararat” by Engin Kundag, “The Kidnapping of the Bride” by Sophia Mocorrea, Fabian Stumm’s “Bones and Names,” “Long Long Kiss” by Lukas Röder, Tanja Egen’s “On Mothers and Daughters,” “Ash Wednesday,” by João Pedro Prado and Bárbara Santos, “Nuclear Nomads” by Kilian Armando Friedrich and Tizian Stromp Zargari and “Lonely Oaks” by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff.

All the selected films in the strand will compete for the Heiner Carow Prize and the Compass-Perspektive-Award, both of which are endowed with €5,000.

A 4K restoration of David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” will open the Berlinale Classics section, which also includes Oliver Schmitz’ “Mapantsula,...

“Wow, what a room! Who wouldn’t want to be here tonight?” was both the line Academy President Janet Yang opened the 13th Annual Governors Awards, and the thought attendees had in their minds entering the ballroom at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

While the event has long had the reputation of being the best place for Oscar hopefuls to mingle with influential voters, its first real post-covid ceremony (last year’s was ravaged by Omicron) was packed to the brim with boldfaced names like Robert Downey Jr., Gabrielle Union, Adam Sandler, and Margot Robbie. At a certain point it became easier to keep track of contenders that were not there (i.e. “The Son” star Hugh Jackman and “Empire of Light” lead Olivia Colman).

This year, the honorees were actor Michael J. Fox, songwriter Diane Warren, and directors Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy. After Yang’s speech...

The Governors Awards are back, delivering seriously mixed messages on Saturday night at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel.

On one hand, the three-plus-hour ceremony delivered Honorary Academy Awards to directors Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy and songwriter Diane Warren, plus the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to actor and Parkinson’s disease activist Michael J. Fox. That part of the night was both a celebration and a history lesson, leading to multiple standing ovations and some tears to boot.

On the other hand, the awards come at a time when preliminary Oscar voting will begin in about three weeks, and the lure of putting their top contenders in a room full of Academy voters and press was enough to get studios to spend in the high five figures to fill the tables crammed tightly in a huge ballroom.

It was a campaign event that also happened to hand out Academy Awards,...

A Dry White Season director takes lifetime achievement award, alongside Michael J Fox, Witness director Peter Weir, and songwriter Diane Warren

Sidelined for decades by a film industry that refused to fund films starring Black actors, director Euzhan Palcy made a triumphant return to Hollywood on Saturday, accepting an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at the Academy’s Governors awards.

Palcy, the first Black woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood studio, was introduced by Viola Davis and praised by Ava DuVernay. She addressed a film industry that had finally accepted that, as she put it: “Black and female is bankable.”...

Michael J Fox, Diane Warren, Euzhan Palcy and Peter Weir were honoured at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Governors Awards. Last year’s awards had been postponed due to Covid and instead took place just two days before the Oscars in March, reports Variety.

Among other attendees were Cher, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Jordan Peele, Jonathan Majors, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Austin Butler, Aldis Hodge, Gabrielle Union, Jeremy Pope, Glen Powell, Angela Bassett, Margot Robbie and Jean Smart.

Viola Davis introduced Palcy, whose film ‘A Dry White Season’ earned Marlon Brando his final Oscar nomination.

‘Back to the Future’ star Fox was feted with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar statuette given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

Woody Harrelson introduced Fox with a rousing speech. “He didn’t...

The 13th Annual Governors Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Saturday night came in with a vengeance. It was, perhaps, the biggest crowd of industry notables, Oscar contenders, and others I can ever remember at one of these events, where AMPAS hands out honorary Academy Awards.

It is a non-televised event, which means the recipients can go on as long as they like with their acceptance speeches, and so, for that matter, can the presenters. The good news is this particular foursome of honorary winners, Peter Weir, Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren, and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Michael J. Fox, each made some of the most heartfelt and compelling speeches ever heard at the Governors Awards. It was an evening to remember.

Of course those who know this event, which basically kicks off the Oscar season and bookends it with the actual Academy Awards ceremony (coming...

One season ago, the Omicron surge of Covid forced the Academy’s Governors Awards to be postponed until the Friday before Oscars Sunday, outside of the pre-Oscar nomination voting window in which it traditionally is held, and virtually nobody but the honorees and their table guests were in attendance.

The ceremony at which special Oscars are presented returned to that window on Saturday night for its 13th edition, and — surprise, surprise! — just about every person who has a prayer of landing a nom found their way to the Fairmont Century Plaza’s ballroom — to celebrate honorees Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy, to be sure, but not incidentally to pose for photos beside the Oscar logo on the red carpet and to rub shoulders with Academy members and awards press inside.

Studios pay a pretty penny to procure tables at the Governors Awards so that they...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Governors Awards were back to their usual spot on the calendar Saturday night, as Hollywood turned out to honor Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, Euzhan Palcy and Peter Weir at the Fairmont Century Plaza.

Last year’s awards had been postponed due to Covid and instead took place just two day’s before the Oscars in March.

Just about everyone with a film in the Oscar race was there to pay respect to the quartet, from Paul Dano and Michelle Williams of “The Fablemans” to Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry of “Causeway” and Laura Dern of “The Son.”

Among other attendees were Cher, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Jordan Peele, Jonathan Majors, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Austin Butler, Aldis Hodge, Gabrielle Union, Jeremy Pope, Glen Powell, Angela Bassett, Margot Robbie and Jean Smart.

“Back to the Future” star...

Click here to read the full article.

The Governors Awards seals it — awards season is officially back to its pre-pandemic level of glamour and frenzy. Martinique-born filmmaker Euzhan Palcy, American songwriter Diane Warren and Australian director Peter Weir were on hand to receive their honorary Oscars and Michael J. Fox to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s event Saturday night at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City.

Oscar contenders including Jennifer Lawrence, Florence Pugh, Angela Bassett, Eddie Redmayne, Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchett, Brendan Fraser, Tom Hanks, Janelle Monáe and Baz Luhrmann attended the celebration, typically a marquee event for campaigning that has been muted since Covid-19 hit. (See red carpet photos here.)

“Wow, what a room! Who wouldn’t want to be here tonight?” Academy president Janet Yang said, opening the event.

Fox, 61, who is best known for the Back to the Future films and Family Ties TV series,...

Click here to read the full article.

“I told Ava DuVernay, who is a dear friend,” says Euzhan Palcy, “‘Ava — you call me the goddess. You call me the queen. But you know what? It’s hard to be a pioneer. It’s hard.’ “

Palcy would know. At 64, the Martinique-born director — a trailblazer who won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival with her first feature, 1983’s Sugar Cane Alley, then directed Marlon Brando to an Oscar nomination in 1989’s A Dry White Season — has spent decades seeing her dream projects fall apart.

“The leads were Black,” explains Palcy, sipping on a smoothie on the sunny terrace of a rental home in Culver City. (Her permanent home is in Paris.) “And certain [protagonists] were Black and female, like Bessie Coleman. They didn’t like that. Now everybody’s talking about Bessie Coleman.”

Palcy discovered Coleman’s story in 1991. She was...

There are some Oscar recipients who don’t have to sweat the big night — they already know they are receiving honorary statuettes at this year’s Governors Awards, which will be held Nov. 19 in Los Angeles.

Michael J. Fox

Five-time Emmy Award winner Fox will be honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar statuette given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” In addition to starring in box office classics like the “Back to the Future” series, Fox has worked with some of the best directors in the business, including Peter Jackson (“The Frighteners”) and Rob Reiner (“The American President”) in a wide range of genres. In 2000, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He is also the subject of an upcoming documentary from Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim for Apple Original Films.

Euzhan Palcy...

Oscar-nominated producer Jennifer Fox will return for a fourth time to produce the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards. After pandemic cancellations and date changes over the past couple of years, the 13th edition will return to is usual November berth on Saturday, November 19, a key kickoff to Oscar season.

This year’s previously announced honorary awards will be presented to directors Euzhan Palcy and Peter Weir, songwriter Diane Warren, while Michael J. Fox will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

The ceremony takes place for the first time at the newly reopened Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City. That was also the plan last year before Covid concerns forced the Governors Awards to scale down to a much more intimate event that took place at the Hollywood & Highland ballroom two nights before the Oscars in March of this year. Looks like things are back to normal — hopefully.

Click here to read the full article.

Jennifer Fox, the Oscar-nominated producer of Michael Clayton, will produce the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards for the second year in a row, and fourth time overall, Academy president Janet Yang announced Wednesday.

The Academy’s 13th Governors Awards will take place Nov. 19, 2022, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, and will celebrate Michael J. Fox with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir with honorary Oscars.

“We’re thrilled to have Jennifer back at the helm to help us kick off Oscar season with a tribute fitting to these four extraordinary individuals,” Yang said in a statement. “Her contribution in past years has only elevated this truly special and joyous event.”

Added Fox, “I could not be more delighted to produce the Academy’s Governors Awards again and look forward to...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is bringing back Oscar-nominated producer Jennifer Fox to produce the 13th Annual Governors Awards, which will present Honorary Awards to Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren, and Peter Weir, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Michael J. Fox on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The news was announced by new Academy President Janet Yang, who said via statement, “We’re thrilled to have Jennifer back at the helm to help us kick off Oscar season with a tribute fitting to these four extraordinary individuals. Her contribution in past years has only elevated this truly special and joyous event.”

This will mark the fourth time the “Michael Clayton” producer has helmed the event, having produced the Governors Awards in 2018, 2019, and this past March, which was the event’s big return after two years off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jennifer Fox, the Oscar nominated producer of “Michael Clayton” (2007), has been tapped to produce the 13th Governors Awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Marking her fourth time producing the event, Fox will assemble the annual ceremony where Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive Honorary Oscars and Michael J. Fox will accept the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

“We’re thrilled to have Jennifer back at the helm to help us kick off Oscar season with a tribute fitting to these four extraordinary individuals,” says Janet Yang, Academy President. “Her contribution in past years has only elevated this truly special and joyous event.”

“I could not be more delighted to produce the Academy’s Governors Awards again and look forward to honoring the remarkable achievements of Michael J. Fox, Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir,” said Fox.

Fox has worked with some of the...

Exclusive: Christine Simmons is out as COO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as new CEO Bill Kramer takes the Oscar org’s reins today — weeks ahead of his scheduled start date.

Simmons’ departure is effective immediately, but no successor has been named. The Academy unveiled her exit in an email this morning and offered the usual best wishes for her as-yet-unspecified future. Simmons “is no longer with the Academy,” the email read in part.

Kramer is taking up his new chief exec post today — Day 1 of AMPAS’ new fiscal year — rather than the July 18 date that was set when the move was announced on June 7. He replaces Dawn Hudson, who is exiting her post after an 11-year run.

Governors Awards: Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, Peter Weir & Euzhan Palcy Set For Academy Honors

Kramer, who’s also director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures,...

Prior to 2018, all honorary Academy Award recipients had originated from North America, Europe, or Asia, but that changed when South American-born composer Lalo Schifrin joined the club. Now, the newest crop of special awardees includes a representative from a fifth continent: Australian Peter Weir. With a career spanning over half a century, the respected filmmaker is already a credit to his homeland when it comes to the Oscars, as he is the only one of his native countrymen to have earned multiple Best Director nominations and was the first of two (preceding George Miller) to pick up bids for directing, writing, and producing.

Along with Michael J. Fox, Euzhan Palcy, and Diane Warren, Weir is set to be recognized at the upcoming 13th annual Governors Awards. This tribute comes in honor of the 77-year-old’s status as “a director of consummate skill and artistry whose work reminds us of the...

The 14 Oscar nominations Alex North received for his film scores between 1952 and 1985 make him one of the most-recognized composers in academy history, but also one of the most overlooked, as all of his outings were unsuccessful. He did, however, earn the organization’s esteem in 1986 as the recipient of an honorary Oscar – the first given to an artist in his music field. Now, the academy’s board of governors have chosen to fill in another blank space by making Diane Warren the first songwriter on their list of honorary awardees. After 13 unfortunate Best Original Song losses, the time has finally come for the perennial contender to have her day in the sun.

Along with Michael J. Fox, Euzhan Palcy, and Peter Weir, Warren is set to be honored at the upcoming 13th annual Governors Awards. The 65-year-old has earned this accolade because her “music and lyrics have magnified the emotional...

Just four years ago, Cicely Tyson made history as the first Black female recipient of an honorary Oscar, which was given in recognition of her six decades of immeasurably influential acting work. Now, the academy’s board of governors have demonstrated their commitment to continue showing appreciation toward Black women in film by announcing Euzhan Palcy as one of this year’s honorary awardees. The innovative director-writer-producer, whose professional career dates back 40 years, follows Sidney Poitier, Spike Lee, and Charles Burnett as the fourth Black filmmaker to receive this distinction, and stands as the fifth female one to do so after Lillian Gish, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmüller, and Elaine May.

Along with Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, and Peter Weir, Palcy is set to be recognized at the upcoming 13th annual Governors Awards. The 64-year-old’s tribute comes in acknowledgment of her status as “a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance...

In 1998, A-list actor Michael J. Fox publicly disclosed that he had been diagnosed seven years earlier with Parkinson’s disease, which impairs the body’s nervous and motor systems. At the time, the most notable people living with Parkinson’s were boxer Muhammad Ali and U.S. attorney general Janet Reno, but it has since impacted other figures such as Alan Alda, Neil Diamond, and Linda Ronstadt. More than 150 years after the disease was given a name, there remains no known cause for it, but Fox has devoted the last two decades of his life to answering that question and advancing treatment for people like him. In acknowledgment of these efforts, the recently retired performer has been announced as the next recipient of the film academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Along with honorary award recipients Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren, and Peter Weir, Fox is set to be recognized at...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced recipients of Honorary Oscars this year who have all made significant contributions to the film industry in their own way. Among these honorees are the actor Michael J. Fox, director Peter Weir, songwriter Dianne Warren and director Euzhan Palcy. Fox is receiving 2022’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian […]

The post Michael J. Fox & Peter Weir Among Honorary Oscar Recipients appeared first on uInterview.

Click here to read the full article.

Janet Yang, the veteran Hollywood producer who has been described as “the godmother of Asian-Americans in the industry” — and who is rumored to be a candidate to succeed David Rubin as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors, on which she has served as a governor-at-large for the last three years and a vice president for the past year, in August — was feted on Tuesday evening at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where a pillar was dedicated and a dinner was held in her honor.

If Yang — the daughter of Chinese immigrants who made her name connecting the Chinese and Hollywood film industries before serving as a producer on films like The Joy Luck Club and The People vs. Larry Flynt — wasn’t planning on seeking the presidency of the Academy’s board prior to Tuesday’s gathering,...

Diane Warren is finally getting her man… Oscar.

Warren, who’s had 13 Academy Award nominations in the best original song category so far — but, legendarily, no wins yet — will be receiving an honorary Oscar. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday that Warren, Euzhan Palcy and Peter Weir will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards ceremony on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles.

The songwriter behind some of music’s biggest hits first received a nomination in 1988 for “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” from “Mannequin,” and that was only the beginning, although the flow of noms would not become steady until years later. Her next nomination came close to a decade after that, in 1997 for the soaring ballad “Because You Loved Me,” from “Up Close and Personal.”

In subsequent years, with artists like Celine Dion and Lady Gaga singing her tunes, Warren has always been a favorite contender,...

Michael J. Fox will be receiving the Jean Hersholt Humantarian Award from the motion picture academy next November. Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir have been voted to receive honorary Oscar statuettes at the 13th annual ceremony to be held on November 19. The announcement was made by the board of governors on Tuesday.

Academy President David Rubin said, “The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large. Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and lyrics have magnified the emotional impact of countless motion pictures and inspired generations of musical artists. Peter...

After 13 nominations without a win, Grammy-winning songwriter Dianne Warren is finally getting her Oscar. Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed that Warren and filmmakers Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy will be awarded honorary Academy Awards at the 2022 Governors Awards this November. Michael J. Fox will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Read More: Samuel L. Jackson, Elaine May, and Danny Glover finally earning honorary Oscars

In a statement, outgoing Academy president David Rubin noted, “The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large.

Continue reading Michael J. Fox, Dianne Warren, Euzhan Palcy & Peter Weir To Receive Honorary Oscars at The Playlist.

As one of its final acts, the current Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted honorary Oscars to directors Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy and songwriter Diane Warren and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Michael J. Fox. They will be presented at the 13th Governors Awards on Saturday, November 19, in Los Angeles.

Weir is a six-time Oscar nominee, including four as director of Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and is a leading voice as well in Australian cinema. Palcy made history at the 1983 Venice Film Festival when her first feature, Sugar Cane Alley took the Silver Lion, not just the first for a Black female director, but any Black director. Among other achievements she also became the first Black woman to direct a Hollywood studio film with 1989’s A Dry...

Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. In addition, actor Michael J. Fox will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The four statuettes will be presented at the 13th annual ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Los Angeles.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” said Academy president David Rubin. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and lyrics have magnified the emotional impact of countless motion pictures and inspired generations of musical artists.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the recipients of its 13th Governors Awards. As voted on by its Board of Governors, director Euzhan Palcy, songwriter Diane Warren, and director Peter Weir are being presented with Honorary Awards, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will go to actor Michael J. Fox. The four Oscar statuettes will be presented at the ceremony taking place on Saturday, November 19, 2022, in Los Angeles.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” said Academy President David Rubin in a statement about this year’s recipients. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history.

Click here to read the full article.

Beloved actor and Parkinson’s disease activist Michael J. Fox will be celebrated with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award while 13-time songwriting Oscar bridesmaid Diane Warren, six-time directing-writing Oscar runner-up Peter Weir and trailblazing Black director Euzhan Palcy will collect honorary Oscars at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 13th Governors Awards on Nov. 19, the Academy announced Tuesday.

“The Academy’s board of governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” outgoing Academy president David Rubin said in a statement. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and...

Ceremony set for November 19 in Los Angeles.

Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive honourary Oscars and Michael J. Fox the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 13th Governors Awards on November 19 in Los Angeles.

The four Oscar statuettes will recognise “four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large”, said Academy president David Rubin.

“Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions,” Rubin continued. “Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker...

Ceremony set for November 19 in Los Angeles.

Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive honourary Oscars and Michael J. Fox the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 13th Governors Awards on November 19 in Los Angeles.

The four Oscar statuettes will recognise “four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large”, said Academy president David Rubin.

“Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions,” Rubin continued. “Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker...

Ceremony set for November 19 in Los Angeles.

Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive honourary awards and Michael J. Fox the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 13th Governors Awards on November 19 in Los Angeles.

The four Oscar statuettes will recognise “four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large”, said Academy president David Rubin.

“Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions,” Rubin continued. “Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker...

Songwriter Diane Warren, actor Michael J. Fox, and directors Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy will receive honorary Oscars at the 13th annual Governors Awards on Nov. 19, the Academy said Tuesday.

Warren, Weir and Palcy will receive Academy Honorary Awards, while Fox will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The selections were voted by the Academy Board of Governors; the selection of honorary awards is typically one of the first tasks handled by the board after new members join in August, but this year the outgoing board opted to make the selection as one of its final duties.

Warren’s Oscar is in some ways the most notable of this year’s selections. The prolific songwriter has been nominated in the Best Original Song category 13 times over five decades since 1988, including a remarkable seven times in the last eight years. But she has never won, making her the most-nominated woman to never win an Oscar.

While much of the world only discovered the holiday of Juneteenth in 2020 amid the racial uprisings following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, “Freedom Day” has long been a staple in the Black American community, specifically in the South. While slavery in America was officially outlawed when President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until two-and-a-half years later that the last of the enslaved finally learned of their liberation.

The date June 19 commemorates the anniversary of the Union Army’s arrival in Galveston, Texas in 1865, when Union Army general Gordon Granger shared the long-announced news that all slaves were now free. The day was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Black freedom has been hard-won and an uphill battle in all aspects of society, including the entertainment industry.

Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art has set Audrey Diwan’s Happening and The African Desperate by Martine Syms will bookend the 51st edition of their collaboration, New Directors/New Films running April 20–May 1 in NYC.

The festival will introduce 26 features and 11 shorts and total of 39 directors — 21 of which are women.

“Portraits of individuals and communities navigating uncertain and turbulent circumstances in pursuit of freedom, self-determination, and survival set a remarkably contemplative tone to the lineup,” said La Frances Hui, curator of MoMa’s film department and event co-char.

Happening (L’Événement), winner of the 2021 Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Lion, is the portrait of a young woman attempting to secure an illegal abortion in 1960s provincial France. It was acquired by IFC Films and will be released May 6.

The African Desperate, a debut feature from Syms, rushes through 24 hours in the life of protagonist Palace...

Filmmaker Dee Rees made history on June 29 when her debut feature “Pariah” joined the Criterion Collection, making the Oscar and Emmy nominee the first Black American woman to have her work included. Before Rees, Euzhan Palcy, who is from Martinique, was the lone Black woman to have a film (1989’s “A Dry White Season”) selected.

“It feels like a formal acknowledgment of the film’s impact to the canon and being a part of the culture,” Rees tells Variety of having her movie chosen. “Even though artists have to try to find your validation from inside, it’s nice to be seen.”

And as a Black filmmaker in particular, Rees adds, “it’s important to be included for future generations of filmmakers, if [Criterion] is the thing that’s being taught in schools.”

“When they’re absent, then the assumption is there’s none in existence,” she explains. “There’s no Black filmmakers here,...

With 1989’s A Dry White Season, Euzhan Palcy became a pioneer: The Martinique-born filmmaker was the first Black woman to direct a studio film; the first Black director to make an Oscar-nominated film; and the only woman to direct Marlon Brando, who emerged from retirement to play a South African civil rights litigator, earning him his eighth and final Oscar nomination (the film’s sole nomination).

It was on the strength of her first movie, 1983’s Sugar Cane Alley, that Afrikaner author André Brink agreed to let Palcy adapt his novel about the crusade for justice of a white man ...