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Kelvin Harrison Jr. is the latest big name to volunteer as tribute. The Mufasa: The Lion King and Elvis star has officially joined Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping as Beetee, the tech-savvy victor of the 34th Hunger Games — a role previously played by Jeffrey Wright in the original franchise. Harrison joins an impressive ensemble cast that includes Joseph Zada as a young Haymitch Abernathy and Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch’s girlfriend. Mckenna Grace and Jesse Plemons are also on board for the high-profile prequel, with franchise veteran Francis Lawrence once again stepping behind the camera to direct.

The book by Suzanne Collins, which takes place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s rebellion, sold 1.5 million copies in its first week — triple the opening week numbers of Mockingjay and well ahead of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. In this timeline, Haymitch is still a District 12 tribute,...

Kelvin Harrison Jr., who voiced Taka, aka Scar, in Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, has joined the ever-growing cast of Lionsgate’s latest installment of the Hunger Games franchise, the adaptation of the latest Suzanne Collins best-seller, Sunrise of the Reaping.

Glenn Close is also said to be circling a role in the feature, although sources say it’s unclear whether a deal can be struck on that front.

Reaping stars Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy, with Whitney Peak playing Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird. The prequel story is focused on fan-favorite Haymitch, who in the original Hunger Games book trilogy (and movie quadrology) acted as a mentor to heroine Katniss Everdeen. (Woody Harrelson played Haymitch in the original Hunger Games films.)

Mckenna Grace and Jesse Plemons are also on the roll call of the production that has Francis Lawrence in the director’s chair.

Harrison has been cast as Beetee,...

The thrilling true story Judas & The Black Messiah recounts the activism and violent suppression of the Black Panther Party's Illinois chapter in the late 1960s, leading to the death of leader Fred Hampton. Judas & The Black Messiah tells the real-life story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant working for the Bureau to avoid jail time who infiltrated Hampton's inner circle.

Judas & The Black Messiah brings into focus a chapter of civil rights history. Along with Kaluuya and Stanfield, the cast of Judas and the Black Messiah brings several of the real-life figures surrounding the true story, from Hampton's allies to his powerful enemies. As with any movie based on a true story, there are elements that are created as Hollywood fiction while also a lot of details that stay true to the real events.

The Judas and the Black Messiah cast brings the story of a man who infiltrated the Black Panthers to life with several recognizable stars. Directed by Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah primarily centers on the events that preceded the 1969 assassination of Fred Hampton, a 21-year-old Black Panther leader who served as Chairman for the Illinois chapter, beginning with criminal William O'Neal infiltrating the group as an FBI informant. It is a true-crime story with an incredible ensemble, most of whom play real-life characters.

Judas and the Black Messiah's main cast is led by Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton and Lakeith Stanfield as O'Neil. Kaluyua ended up winning an Oscar for his performance in the movie, while Stanfield was nominated alongside him. However, the film is filled with so many other notable actors playing both the allies and enemies of Fred Hampton. These performances bring the riveting and powerful...

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This December, Paramount+ is bringing you a ton of entertainment with the highly anticipated new series in the Dexter universe alongside a ton of great shows and movies. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 13 best films coming to Paramount+ in December 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Boogie Nights (December 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – New Line Cinema

Boogie Nights is a period coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The 1997 film is set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, and it follows Eddie Adams, a young nightclub dishwasher who became a big name in the adult film industry in the 1970s. Boogie Nights stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore,...

With December on the horizon, Paramount+ has a slew of award-winning films ready to hit the platform that almost every viewer will absolutely love. Whether audiences want to laugh until their side splits or cry until the tissues are gone, the streaming platform is all but guaranteed to evoke whichever emotion viewers want to feel.

From biographical dramas to comedies and even science fiction, the streaming service has just about everything audiences could possibly want. As the winter weather sets in, movie lovers will definitely want to cozy up on the couch and enjoy any of the various films Paramount+ will be offering next month. No matter what a viewers mood might be, the streaming platform has them covered this December.

King Richard Stream on December 1

King Richard is a biographical sports drama about Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton) father, Richard (Will Smith), and how his coaching...

Movies based on hit video games have been notoriously difficult to get right, but Hit-Monkey creators Will Speck and Josh Gordon have their sights set on adapting The Oregon Trail. Originally created in 1971, the adventure game was initially developed as an educational tool to teach middle school students about 19th-century pioneer life. Renowned for its frequently dark and often amusing outcomes, it would become synonymous with having its players repeatedly die of dysentery. Over the years, the game has seen countless remakes and spinoffs created, with a PlayStation 5 edition released as recently as February 2024.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Speck and Gordon have been tapped by Apple Studios to direct and produce a movie adaptation of The Oregon Trail based on a script penned by screenwriters and comedians The Lucas Bros. (Judas and the Black Messiah) and Max Reisman. The movie adaptation is also reported to feature original musical numbers in the vein of 2023s Barbie,...

I went into “Suburban Fury,” a documentary about Sara Jane Moore, who tried to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford in 1975, not knowing much about her and never having given a lot of thought, frankly, to that particular freak spasm of 1970s violence. Moore, at the time, seemed the unlikeliest of assassins — a 45-year-old single mother who looked like she could have been played by Maureen Stapleton. The question that hangs over any shooting like this one is “Why?” (Assuming you think the answer stands apart from the person in question being seriously mentally ill.) And that question really lingered over the Moore case. Yet “Suburban Fury” does that rare thing and offers a highly specific motivation for Moore’s infamous crime.

Only one person is interviewed in the entire film, and that person is Sara Jane Moore. Moore, even in her 90s, is quite the babbling brook — twinkly and self-possessed,...

We all know that Black Panther is one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, and the two films centered around the Wakandan superhero achieved remarkable success. However, the second film did not feature the original Black Panther, T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman.

Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 after a brave battle with colon cancer, and the news of his death reverberated throughout the industry.

Marvel lost an irreplaceable talent, while the film world lost an exceptionally gifted actor known for his warmth, friendship, and dedication to family.

Though we may never fully recover from this profound loss, we can honor Chadwick Boseman’s memory and legacy. In this report, we will share insights from his Black Panther co-star and Oscar winner, Daniel Kaluuya, regarding Boseman’s impact on him and the industry.

Both Daniel Kaluuya and Chadwick Boseman are acclaimed stars and among the finest actors of recent years.

We all know that Black Panther is one of the most popular MCU characters and that the two movies focusing on the Wakandan superhero were highly successful. Even though the second one did not feature the original Black Panther, T’Challa, who was played by the late Chadwick Boseman in the original movie.

Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 after battling colon cancer, and the news of his death hit the industry hard. Marvel lost an invaluable actor, but the film industry lost an exceptional talen, who, as all reports online confirm, was a brilliant and warm person, a friend, and a family member.

Although we may never fully recover from this loss, we can honor Chadwick Boseman’s memory and legacy. In this report, we will share what his Black Panther co-star, Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, said about him.

Both Daniel Kaluuya and Chadwick Boseman are stars, and they are...

It’s one of the wilder footnotes in modern American history: At 3:30pm on the afternoon of September 22, 1975, a conservative 46-year-old single mom named Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate the President of the United States on the street outside of San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. And she didn’t miss by much — had Moore known that the sights on her newly acquired .38 caliber revolver were off by six inches, the first of the two bullets she fired would have struck Gerald Ford directly in the head.

President Ford would later declare that his assailant was “off her mind,” but Moore insisted upon her sanity throughout the sentencing process. In fact, never in her life had she been more sure of her purpose. While only 19 months had passed since the F.B.I. recruited her as an informant, that was plenty long enough for Moore to become radicalized against the...

Actor Daniel Kaluuya quickly established himself as one of the finest actors, with a meteoric rise to fame in the late 2010s. The actor gained recognition for his frequent collaborations with filmmaker Jordan Peele. At the same time, Kaluuya also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with 2018’s Black Panther, starring the late Chadwick Boseman in the titular role.

Daniel Kaluuya appeared in 2018’s Black Panther (Credit: Marvel Studios).

In an interview, Kaluuya spoke about his MCU stint and reflected on his time working alongside Boseman. The actor who was just making his way up the ladder of fame at the time praised Boseman for looking after him during the production of Black Panther like an elder brother. Here is what Kaluuya revealed about his experience with Boseman.

Daniel Kaluuya Is Grateful For How Chadwick Boseman Helped Him During Black Panther

Daniel Kaluuya gained recognition for his performance in the British series Skins.

Headliners the Killers served up fan favorites, Skrillex got a stage named after him, and Future x Metro Boomin drew so many fans that the audience was asked to take five steps back, twice, during their set on Lollapalooza 2024’s penultimate day on Saturday in Chicago’s Grant Park. Killer Mike, Deftones, and Four Tet were also among the highlights from Day Three.

The Killers Are Here to Serve You

“You’ve got to give the world irrefutable proof that you are who you say you are,” said frontman Brandon Flowers...

Exclusive: Brothers Kenny and Keith Lucas (Judas and the Black Messiah) are teaming with Mookie Thompson on their first documentary, a project on the unexpected creative partnership between wrestler Swerve Strickland and rapper Derek “Flash Garments” Shaw, which has helped take the former’s career in the ring to new heights.

The doc is set into motion as dreams shatter for Strickland and Garments after getting axed from the WWE and Kanye West’s crew, respectively. Subsequently, the disillusioned duo fuse their unmatched talents to blaze a trailblazing and unprecedented path to superstardom, prophetically merging authentic hip hop culture and wrestling in a way no major promotion ever has. Collaborating to create a new theme song for Strickland, in order to revamp his character by incorporating elements of hip-hop culture, the pair’s work has contributed to Strickland’s surge in popularity and successful run as the first Black champion of All Elite Wrestling.

Tribeca Festival 2024 has revealed the participants for this year’s Tribeca Festival Creators Market, which features a curated selection of creatives pitching feature, episodic, audio and immersive projects to a group of industry leaders. Companies in attendance for the pitch market include Sony Pictures Classics, Neon, Cinetic Media, Paramount+, Max, IFC Films and the Sundance Institute.

The 2024 Tribeca Festival Creators Market program includes narrative projects from Tallie Medel (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) who will pitch her feature film “Ketchikan;” Lauren Minnerath, who will pitch her feature “Clare,” executive produced by Nia DaCosta (“The Marvels”); as well as Oliver Edwin, who will present his narrative feature “Situation #64.” Tisha Robinson-Daly and Jonathan Mason, who previously participated in the Creators Market and in Tribeca’s Epic Games Writing in Unreal program, will pitch their feature in production, “High.”

The documentary selection includes “Rebel Without a Pause,” directed by Maya Cueva and produced...

Ranker is a popular place on the Internet where people can rank whatever they want, however, they want, and whenever they want. This is always a fan-focused ranking system and it is never officially tied to the people behind the projects in question. Recently, a large survey was organized on Ranker, whose goal was to determine the best black actors in recent years. The list includes a bunch of names, but in our report, we have decided to list the first ten names from the site, as to provide you with a better insight, combined with our original comment and opinions which will add flavor to the whole report.

Of course, since this is indeed an important list, have decided to report on it, so we are going to bring you the results by listing the top 10 actors on this list, from 10th to first place. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

Plot: The incredible true story of Hollywood revolution meeting social revolution: it’s a wild caper of Black Panther founder Huey Newton escaping from the FBI to Cuba with the help of famed producer Bert Schneider in an impossibly elaborate plan – involving a fake movie production — that goes wrong every way it possibly can. And somehow, it’s all true. Mostly.

Review: The stories of revolutionary political figures and social reformers have been popular for big and small screen adaptations for decades. There seems to be more focus on the 1960s and 1970s than any other period in American history. The 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah looked at controversial figure Fred Hampton, while this year’s Shirley chronicled Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s run for United States President. While these and the stories of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X have made for acclaimed productions, the story of Black...

Projects centered around the left-wing revolutionary group, the Black Panther Party, continue to fascinate popular culture. In 2022, Daniel Kaluuya won an Oscar for portraying the betrayed deputy chairman, Fred Hampton, in the bio-crime drama, “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Now, a new limited series, “The Big Cigar,” based on a Playboy Article by Joshuah Bearman (known for the Wired Article that inspired “Argo”), tells the too-good-to-be-true story of Black Panther co-founder Huey Percy Newton’s escape to Cuba with the assistance of a famous film producer.

Continue reading ‘The Big Cigar’ Trailer: André Holland Stars As Black Panther Huey Newton For Apple Series In May at The Playlist.

Jeff Skoll, the billionaire philanthropist who launched Participant 20 years ago to champion socially conscious films, is closing down the impact producer-financier behind Spotlight, Roma, and Green Book.

In a memo to staff on Tuesday morning eBay co-founder Skoll said, ”I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability. Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”

The statement hinted at what may have driven the Canadian’s “very difficult decision”. Studios and streamers are scrutinising their spend more than ever,...

Financier and producer Participant is shuttering after 20 years. Founder Jeff Skoll alerted staff at 10:30Am, Deadline has confirmed.

The production’s m.o. was to bring content to the world that was socially conscious, read their Oscar Best Picture winners Spotlight and Universal’s Green Book, as well as DreamWorks’ Oscar winner Lincoln. All in Participant counts 135 films, five series, 21 Oscars including two Best Pictures, four Best Documentaries and two Best International Features, 18 Primetime Emmys and north of $3.3 billion in global box office.

Skoll told staffers, as you can read below, that it was a “very difficult decision” and stems from it being “the right time for me to evaluate my next chapter and approach to tackling the pressing issues of our time.” He also mentioned that he hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day management of the studio.

Skoll is a Canadian engineer, billionaire who was the first president of eBay.

Around 8 a.m. on a cool, clear Monday in mid-November, James Cox Chambers Jr. is in Gresham Park, in southeast Atlanta, bouncing on the balls of his feet, shadowboxing the air in front of him. Dressed in a black hoodie with a Palestinian flag on it, black sweatpants, black New Balances, black-and-red work gloves, a white-and-black keffiyeh, with a balaclava ski mask perched on his head, Chambers is surrounded by a growing crowd. But at that moment, focused on his warmup routine, he looks very much alone.

Paige Belanger joins him on the grass,...

Since the Academy Awards were first handed out in 1929, only 23 Oscars have been awarded to performances given by Black actresses and actors. Hattie McDaniel made history for Black performers by winning for “Gone With the Wind” (supporting in 1939), while Sidney Poitier was the first male actor to prevail for “Lilies of the Field” (lead in 1963). Denzel Washington became the first two-time Black acting champion when he claimed victory for “Glory” (supporting in 1989) and “Training Day” (lead in 2001), with Mahershala Ali joining him years later for “Moonlight” (supporting in 2016) and “Green Book” (supporting in 2018). Halle Berry was the first, and so far only, Black Best Actress thanks to “Monster’s Ball” (2001). The acting category with the most Black winners is Best Supporting Actress, with 10 including recent champ Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” (2023). Tour our photo gallery above of every Black actress and actor who won Academy Awards.

Let’s take a...

Where are the Skins cast now? Short answer: absolutely everywhere.

While the show did earn critical acclaim as well as a cult following over the course of its seven series, when this scrappy teen comedy drama launched on E4 in 2007 few could have predicted just how many household names it would spawn.

Among Skins’ impressive alumni are actors who went on to win Oscars and Baftas, play lead roles in hit movies like Slumdog Millionaire and Get Out, not to mention star in hit shows like Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders.

Let’s take a look at some of the Skins cast’s best roles:

Joe Dempsie – Game of Thrones

Playing party animal Chris in Skins was in a way good preparation for Joe Dempsie’s later role as Gendry in Game of Thrones, as both characters have some pretty serious daddy issues: Chris’ dad (played by Green Wing...

The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, now playing in theaters.

Like its predecessor, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse expands its cast of arachnid-themed heroes with new multiversal characters, expanding the scope, style and, at times, genre of Miles Morales's adventure. Among them is Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk of Earth-138, a rebellious rocker who uses his electric guitar to battle against a fascist regime. Although a recent entry into the Spider-Man lore, Hobie has nonetheless become a fan-favorite thanks to his unique look, backstory and references to one of the most influential genres in rock and roll.

To voice the character, Across the Spider-Verse brought in Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya, who updates the role with his Camden accents and adds a laid-back charm and swagger that makes the character one of the movie's standouts. Although his impact on the movie is relatively small, Spider-Punk's presence in Across...

Mufasa: The Lion King is the latest installment in the beloved DIsney franchise that featuring a whole new cast of exciting characters alongside a few returning actors in their fan-favorite roles. Directed by Barry Jenkins, the film will be a prequel to the original The Lion King from 1994, which told the story of a lion named Simba who’s forced to dethrone his evil uncle Scar after the mysterious death of his father. It quickly became one of Disney’s most popular projects, and while Jenkins’ sequel will be a mostly separate story with new characters, it’s still promised to be a return to this universe.

The Lion King was remade in live-action in 2019, and while that project received mixed reviews from critics, Mufasa: The Lion King will technically be a continuation of this version, using the same live-action technology. Several actors will be returning to their roles, while...

Image Source: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

Kelvin Harrison Jr. is currently making music magic as the talented violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges in the film "Chevalier." The 28-year-old actor has been steadily building his résumé for a while now, appearing in hit titles like "Elvis" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7," but "Chevalier" - which released in theaters on April 21 - is poised to be his biggest star turn yet.

Bologne was a French violinist and composer who worked to take leadership of the Paris Opera during the onset of the French Revolution. Harrison Jr. himself is a talented musician and plays violin, jazz and gospel piano, and trumpet, in addition to being a vocalist. For his role in "Chevalier," though, he had to take his violin skills to a new level. A violinist named Ronald Long was originally brought on to be Harrison Jr.'s hand double -...

H.E.R. is coming to Broadway … Well, a show she’s producing is. She’s joining the producing team of “Here Lies Love,” which tells the story of Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines and the mother of current president Bongbong Marcos. The show opens July 20 and will be eligible for Tony Awards in 2024. If it wins Best Musical, H.E.R. will achieve Egot. What’s more, she’d achieve it faster and younger than anyone else in history.

SEEPatina Miller (‘Into the Woods’) on how motherhood helped her understand what The Witch is ‘fighting for’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

The R&b singer-songwriter is still only 25-years-old, but she already has an impressive awards resume. She broke through at the 2019 Grammys where she was nominated for Album of the Year and Best New Artist and won Best R&b Performance and Best R&b Album. Altogether she has won five Grammys out of 25 nominations,...

Dominique Fishback is making gains in the Emmy race for Best Movie/Limited Actress for her performance as an obsessed fan in the Amazon limited series “Swarm.” She recently moved into our top six based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. Do you think she’ll make the cut for the first time after a few years of near-misses in the awards derby?

Fishback has TV and film credits going back a decade, but it was a couple of HBO projects that raised her profile: the limited series “Show Me a Hero” in 2015 and the drama “The Deuce” from 2017 to 2019. Then came her 2021 performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah” as Deborah Johnson, a Black Panthers activist and the girlfriend of assassinated Panthers leader Fred Hampton. That performance earned her Best Supporting Actress noms from multiple critics’ groups, as well as the BAFTA Awards, though she...

Much like its protagonist, Anthony Mandler’s Monster is a film obsessed with aesthetics. Main character Steve Harmon says he makes sense of his humanity through understanding the shapes and textures of the world around him, and with an occasionally heavy hand, director Mandler similarly captures Steve’s world through a stylized lens. It’s there in the postcard perfect sunsets of a youth spent growing up in Harlem, and it’s here again in the film’s unnaturally gray, sterile courtroom scenes.

But the hardness of Monster, which speaks to the very dehumanizing nature of its title, comes from where we’re first introduced to Steve as played by a riveting Kelvin Harrison Jr.: He’s a teenager, terrified by a criminal justice system that has vilified him as the proverbial monster from the minute he was charged with felony murder. If we’re asked to see the world as Steve does,...

Somehow, writer-director Shaka King, the Lucas Brothers, and Will Berson wrote one movie, “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Disparate perspectives on Fred Hampton meant that outcome was by no means pre-ordained, but after more than eight years and countless drafts they agreed to coalesce around a single narrative so compelling that a studio would be forced to greenlight the movie.

Two powerful producers, Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”) and Charles King (“Mudbound”), backed director Shaka King, who kept on track a complex story that kept changing, especially after two people joined the team who knew it better than anyone: Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and his mother, Deborah Johnson, now known as Akua Njeri.

This collaboration yielded a film that debuted at Sundance 2021 to rave reviews, landed in theaters and HBO Max on February 12, and on March 15 earned six Oscars including Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield), Original Song,...

With tight races for Best Ensemble and Lead Actress, suspense was running high before the pre-taped hourlong SAG Awards show Sunday night — at least for those insiders who did not hear leaks of Thursday’s real-time winners.

As it turns out, the SAG Awards and Oscars may not sync up as easily as last year, when all the Ensemble nominees went on to win Oscars, along with all the SAG acting winners — Renée Zellweger (“Judy”), Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”), Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), and Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”). This time, SAG was full of surprises that will shake up the Oscar race.

The evening’s big shocker was the double-whammy SAG Awards for not only the expected Best Male in a Leading Role winner Chadwick Boseman — but also his costar Viola Davis in the bigger-than-life, dazzling title role in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Boseman gave the performance of his life,...

Twins Kenny and Keith Lucas, known collectively as The Lucas Brothers, have built comedy careers out of their laidback – some have called it “stoner” – style of comedy. They were named two of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” in 2014 and are probably best known for roles in “22 Jump Street,” their Netflix comedy special “On Drugs” and their animated series “Lucas Bros. Moving Co.”

So, it’s somewhat surprising that the duo has just earned Academy Award nominations for their work on the original screenplay of “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a film that portrays the betrayal of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton by William O’Neal, a petty criminal who infiltrated the party on behalf of the FBI.

On this week’s episode of Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast, the Lucas Brothers admit that when they when they first started pitching the film, it wasn’t what people expected. “Honestly, the...

Andra Day was just 11 years old when she first heard Billie Holiday’s iconic anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit.” She recalls “prostrating before the speaker, just listening. It was scary and I just felt overwhelming sadness.”

Even at that young age, Day says she wanted to help Holiday and “whatever it was she was singing about.” As she got older, the truth behind the lyrics took the deeper meaning, resonating with her. “She was holding a mirror up to the nation,” Day says.

Now, the singer and actress is earning rave reviews for her performance as Holiday in the Lee Daniels-helmed film “The United States Vs. Billie Holiday.” The movie follows Holiday as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics, who wanted her to stop singing “Strange Fruit.” The defiant Holiday refused and under the guise of drug abuse, the Fbn continued to pursue her.

Day recently won...

Judas and the Black Messiah is up for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it's one new movie that certainly has fans and movie buffs everywhere buzzing about it. With riveting acting and a powerful and tragic story, there's so much to love and take away from this flick.

Related: 10 Movies To Watch If You Liked Judas And The Black Messiah

Based on the true story of the Black Panther Party and the FBI's assassination of Fred Hampton, there are many moments in this film that tear at the hearts of viewers - surrounding politics, love, family, racism, and hate. It's time to reflect back on the lines that sent chills down viewers' spines and stayed in everyone's mind long after the movie was over.

Shaka King‘s new film “Judas and the Black Messiah” just earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture. King himself is nominated for Best Original Screenplay alongside Will Berson, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas.

King recently spoke with Gold Derby senior editor Daniel Montgomery about the research process for the film, casting Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton and how the film fits in with the current Black Lives Matter movement. Watch the exclusive interview above and read the complete transcript below.

Seeh.E.R. could follow her Grammys upset for Song of the Year with an Oscar for ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Gold Derby: Was this a story that you wanted to tell onscreen for a while?

Shaka King: Actually, no. The story was really first brought to me by the Lucas brothers and I was aware of Fred Hampton. Quite honestly, I was more aware of the tragic...

If there’s one thing we know to be true about Oscar voters, it’s that they love to award young women and old men for their acting prowess. That’s why it would be noteworthy if Daniel Kaluuya took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah” come April 25, as he would become the seventh youngest actor to ever win the award, at just 32 years, 60 days old.

Kaluuya, who is competing alongside his “Judas” co-star Lakeith Stanfield after voters nominated the latter actor in supporting instead of lead where he was campaigning, is currently in first place in Gold Derby’s combined odds to win the Oscar. Thirteen Experts are currently predicting him to triumph over the competition, which includes, in order, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Odom, Jr., Paul Raci and Stanfield (9/2 odds).

Should he prevail, Kaluuya will join an...

Tons of British actors have been in the running for Oscars over the years. And of course there have been countless British actors who have made their way through “Doctor Who” since the sci-fi series was revived in 2005. So it makes sense that the Venn diagram would include some overlap. But it’s still significant that three of this year’s four acting races at the Oscars could be won by “Doctor Who” alums: Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman“), Olivia Colman (“The Father”) and Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah“).

According to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users, Mulligan is the current front-runner to win the Best Actress Oscar for her “Promising” role as a former med student exacting revenge on abusive men. But in 2007, at age 22 — a couple of years before her breakthrough performance in “An Education” made her an international household name — she starred in the...

This year’s Writers Guild Awards were an efficient pre-taped affair (with the two coasts united in one show) perfunctorily hosted by new member Kal Penn. A smattering of Oscar contenders such as Riz Ahmed, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Odom Jr., and Andra Day joined other celebrities from Daveed Diggs to Jimmy Fallon to present this year’s film and television winners. (You can read the full list of winners here.)

Every year, because the WGA always leaves out non-wga signatories in its award nominations — among them Oscar-contending screenplays — it’s not always as Oscar-predictive as the other Guilds. Last year’s WGA award winners, Taika Waititi and Bong Joon Ho did go on to repeat at the Oscars. Bong won in a category for which Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” wasn’t eligible. (He never joined the WGA.)

This year, there were three ineligible movies...

Keith and Kenny Lucas were two of the writers on “Judas and the Black Messiah,” alongside Will Berson and the film’s director, Shaka King. The four were just nominated at the Oscars in Best Original Screenplay for the film.

The Lucas brothers spoke with Gold Derby senior editor Daniel Montgomery before the Oscar nominations about how the story of Fred Hampton and William O’Neal affected them personally, the influx of Black cinema in recent years and how the film is resonating today despite being a period piece. Watch the exclusive interview above and read the complete transcript below.

SEEHow to watch ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Gd: Your work was recently nominated for a Writers Guild Award alongside Shaka King and Will Berson. Did it mean a lot to be recognized by writers in the industry for this?

Keith Lucas: Oh, yeah. It’s a huge honor. Being...

As the awards calendar hurtles toward the delayed Oscars on April 25, we have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s dark drama “Parasite” rode the Palme d’Or from May through to a Best Picture win. But it was, finally, a global blockbuster that appealed to the mainstream.

That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...

You know, once the floodgates open, it’s kinda hard to stop. After a 26-year drought, the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category has now featured double nominees from one film for the third time in four years. Granted, no one expected the head-scratching combo of “Judas and the Black Messiah” stars Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield to be nominated in this category, but hey, it happened. Their bids come a year after “The Irishman” produced nominations for Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and three years after “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ended the dry spell with Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, the latter of whom won. Kaluuya remains the frontrunner to win — by a wide margin — which would mark the seventh time a Best Supporting Actor champ defeated a co-star.

“Judas” is the 20th film to yield multiple supporting actor nominations. The first was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), whose...

Daniel Kaluuya and Carey Mulligan will make their “Saturday Night Live” hosting debuts next month, continuing the NBC comedy’s string of first-time emcees in its 46th season.

Kaluuya will host the April 3 show with musical guest St. Vincent, while Mulligan goes the following week on April 10 with Kid Cudi, who has somehow never performed on the long-running series before.

“SNL” returns on March 27 with Maya Rudolph as host (so expect to see her impression of VP Kamala Harris) and Jack Harlow as the musical guest. That will also be Harlow’s first time on the Studio 8H stage.

Kaluuya and Mulligan both expect to be major winners come Oscar night on April 25. Kaluuya, who already won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Black Panther founder Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” is up for Best Supporting Actor Oscar as well. He’ll face co-star Lakeith Stanfield in that category.

If you went with the Gold Derby odds to make your Oscar predictions, then you got 19 of the 20 acting nominees correct. The one we missed (and likely everyone did as well): Lakeith Stanfield for “Judas and the Black Messiah” in Best Supporting Actor. Because we had him in lead, where he was campaigned and was in 11th place. The shocking thing is not just that Stanfield got in — with zero precursors — but that both he and co-star Daniel Kaluuya, who had been campaigned in supporting and is the favorite to win, made the supporting actor final five. For a two-hander film in which they play the title characters. So how the hell did this happen?

Obviously we don’t know for sure and we, sadly, do not have access to the vote totals, but we have a very plausible theory. As most Oscar fans know, academy voters can nominate...

When Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas announced the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards, the most shocking inclusion was Lakeith Stanfield in best supporting actor for his performance in Warner Bros’ “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Not surprising from the standpoint of quality, as he delivers a career-best turn as William O’Neal — an FBI informant that betrays the trust of his friend Fred Hampton, who is played by his fellow nominee and Oscar frontrunner Daniel Kaluuya — but shocking because he campaigned in lead actor.

Kaluuya and Stanfield’s categorization has been debated within social media circles, believing that the former is the co-lead of Shaka King’s historical drama and should have campaigned there appropriately. Even on my personal ballot, I recognized Kaluuya in the lead actor lineup. One theory was that the acting branch might have seen the film as an ensemble piece, similar to “The Trial of the Chicago 7,...

Lots of people got good news from the Oscars on Monday morning, but not many of them also got it from the Grammys on Sunday night. And it’s hard to imagine anybody ever winning Song of the Year at the Grammys and landing an Oscar nomination less than 10 hours later.

But H.E.R. did, picking up an Oscar nom for her song “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” only hours after winning one of the top Grammys for “I Can’t Breathe.”

She’s had a pretty interesting 10 hours, right?

“Man, I have,” she told TheWrap with a laugh. “It’s been life-changing.”

The 23-year-old singer and songwriter said she didn’t hesitate when she was approached by the filmmakers of “Judas” to write and perform a song for their film about the FBI campaign to target the Black Panther Party and its chairman, Fred Hampton, in late 1960s Chicago.

Just a day after winning two Grammys, renowned R&b artist H.E.R. earned her first Oscar nomination. The nom came in recognition of her original song “Fight for You,” which she penned and performed for Warner Bros. Pictures’ Judas and the Black Messiah.

For H.E.R., the recognition on the part of the Academy means the world. “I couldn’t believe it. You know, I feel like I’m part of history, I’m making history, and I’m doing what I love. So, it’s all really a blessing,” she told Deadline. “To be spreading such an important message, and hopefully, leading this generation into some changes, I pray that’s what I’m doing.”

From the artist’s perspective, both Judas and its “uptempo, soulful” end title track arrived at just the right time. “It’s the perfect time because in 2020, we had to be still, and we witnessed very hurtful,...

Mere hours after the conclusion of the Grammys, the organizers of the Academy Awards have announced five more songs worthy of a golden statuette.

The nominees for Best Original Song are a fun mix of highbrow and lowbrow tunes, spanning H.E.R.’s soulful anthem from Judas and the Black Messiah to Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams’ melodramatically hilarious track from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Songwriter Diane Warren, who has yet to win an Oscar, earns her 12th nomination this year for her contribution to the Italian film,...

David Fincher’s frontrunner Mank is a brilliant but nostalgic choice, while there are no nominations for stunning sexual politics drama The Assistant

News: Two female directors and nine actors of colour nominated for 2021 OscarsFull list of Oscars 2021 nominations

As ever when the Oscar nominations are announced, there is a sense of mystery about the industry’s revealed groupthink, that consensus which is unveiled as solemnly as the half-time score at the Super Bowl. This is an interesting and lively Oscar nomination list, but is there something a bit retrograde and nostalgic about the frontrunner – however brilliant it assuredly is? Will the 2021 Oscars reflect modern America and contemporary issues in the way increasingly demanded of awards ceremonies? I’m not sure.

David Fincher’s Mank is a gorgeously rendered monochrome fantasy about the genesis of Orson Welles’s classic 1941 movie Citizen Kane, and the role played by its co-writer Herman Mankiewicz,...

Judas and The Black Messiah helmer Shaka King picked up two Oscar nominations this morning for Best Original Screenplay as a co-writer of the Fred Hampton and Bill O’Neal feature, alongside Will Berson, Kenneth Lucas, and Keith Lucas, as well as a Best Picture nomination as a producer on the film. “It was a wonderful surprise. I wasn’t anticipated it,” said King, speaking to Deadline after the nominations were read.

The marquee Best Picture nomination for Judas and The Black Messiah marked the first time in the award’s history that the nominated producing team for any Best Picture nominee is an all-Black team led by King, MacRo CEO Charles D. King, and Ryan Coogler.

“Anytime you’re the first black anything and you talk about something in a positive light, it’s very bittersweet,” said King, likening the achievement to his upbringing as a “vegetarian” who “grew up in a black neighborhood.

With two female directors nominated and a record nine nonwhite actors earning nods, this year’s Oscar nominations have given Hollywood plenty of reasons to smile.

This year, Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell have become only the sixth and seventh women to earn nods in the Best Director category, while the late Chadwick Boseman leads an acting field that includes Black actors like Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield for “Judas and the Black Messiah” as well as Korean actors like Steven Yeun and Yuh-Jung Youn for “Minari.”

“Never in my dreams did I ever think a Korean actress would be nominated for an Oscar, and I can’t believe it’s me!” Youn said in a statement on Monday. “I am incredibly humbled by the honor. Thank you so much AMPAS, A24, Plan B, my ‘Minari’ family and our entire cast and crew. We made this film with love, and...