led by “ The Beekeeper ” in its third week of release.Amazon MGM Studios’ Jason Statham actioner earned $7.4 million to take the No. 1 spot, according to studio estimates Sunday.
12.01.2024 - 15:15 / deadline.com
Jeffrey Wright, star of Cord Jefferson’s provocative debut feature American Fiction, says he felt a personal affinity with his character Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison in the film, in part because of the challenges Monk experiences with regard to family issues. Monk is an author and a professor of English literature who discovers he may have to lower his standards to attain some kind of glory in the phony world of publishing. We follow him as he takes an enforced leave of absence to care for his ailing mother, a situation that the actor himself is painfully familiar with — Wright’s mother died a year before he received Jefferson’s script.
DEADLINE: You were born and raised in Washington, D.C. and American Fiction is based on a novel set in D.C. Did anything in the script make you think of your own upbringing?
JEFFREY WRIGHT: Yeah. Cord Jefferson, who wrote and adapted this from Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, really made it his own. We shot in Boston. Cord wanted to shoot in New York, so he wanted to take it out of D.C. I don’t think he has had necessarily a familiarity with D.C. I think D.C. probably doesn’t have the tax incentives either to make it feasible, at least now. So that was one adjustment that he made.
He also adjusted a lot of the catalyzing moments in the novel. He reshaped them to suit the cinema in a way that made the novel less informative for this. So I focused on the script. I also read in some ways the book of my life because there are many similarities to some of the challenges, particularly around family that Monk is facing.
DEADLINE: Such as?
WRIGHT: Such as, well, my mother passed away about a little over a year before I got this script. Raised by my mother and my aunt, and my aunt came to live
led by “ The Beekeeper ” in its third week of release.Amazon MGM Studios’ Jason Statham actioner earned $7.4 million to take the No. 1 spot, according to studio estimates Sunday.
American Fiction, a new film based upon the book ‘Erasure’ by Percival Everett. Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Keith David, Issa Rae and Sterling K.
Taraji P. Henson, Jeffrey Wright, Garrett Morris and Mara Brock Akil are the honorees of the 6th American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Honors.
Angelique Jackson Taraji P. Henson, Jeffrey Wright, Garrett Morris and Mara Brock Akil will be saluted at the sixth annual ABFF Honors, presented by Nice Crowd.
The nominations for the 96th Oscars revealed Tuesday included a diverse mix of Best Picture contenders, from box office blockbusters and festival favorites to sweeping streamer epics and indie darlings.
Composer Laura Karpman received her first Oscar nomination on Tuesday for Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction in Music (Original Score).
The nominations for the 2024 Oscars are finally here, and we have the full list for you to see!
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Oscars nominations might not have given everything the people wanted, but diversity in the acting categories had several high points to celebrate. Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American nominated for best actress, for her towering role as Mollie Burkhart in the crime thriller “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Colman Domingo became the first Afro Latino nominated in best actor for his powerhouse performance in the civil rights drama “Rustin.” He’s joined by fellow Black nominee Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction.” This is only the second time in Oscar history where more than one Black actor, who wasn’t either Will Smith or Denzel Washington, was nominated for the leading prize.
Golden Globes and Emmy Awards aired. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, marking his fourth time as emcee.“We are thrilled about Jimmy returning to host and Molly [McNearney] returning as executive producer for the Oscars,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang previously said in a statement.
Jaden Thompson The complete program for the 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival has been announced. Taking place from Feb. 7-17, the festival will open with the world premiere of the documentary “Madu,” directed by Matt Ogens and Joel ‘Kachi Benson.
Paul Giamatti won at the Critic Choice Awards for Best Actor for The Holdovers and acknowledged his viral fame this week during his acceptance speech.
The 2024 Critics Choice Awards are happening now!
The 2024 Critics Choice Awards show is happening this weekend and we’re here to remind you about the nominees!
“Satire is a dangerous game In Hollywood,” Billy Wilder once observed. “It invites self-immolation.” Still, the satiric spirit looms large in many of this year’s buzzworthy movies: American Fiction, Poor Things, Saltburn, Air, The Holdovers and even Barbie.
Michaela Zee A new “Star Trek” film is in the works at Paramount with “Andor’s” Toby Haynes on board to direct and Seth Grahame-Smith penning the script, Variety has confirmed. While plot details are being kept under wraps, the upcoming feature is an origin story that is set decades before 2009’s “Star Trek,” and is an expansion of the “Star Trek” universe. J.J.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The SAG Awards nominations provided an exciting blend of usual suspects and stunning omissions. For some awards season strategists — particularly the ones behind critically adored films like “Anatomy of a Fall” and “May December” — there’s no choice but to ask, “what happened?” The SAG Awards’ pearl anniversary brought expected mentions for Oscar contenders such as the two summer smash hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” leading the tally for all movies with four nominations each. In addition, the crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the satirical dramedy “American Fiction” managed three mentions.
Nominations for the 30th annual SAG Awards were announced Wednesday, with Barbie and Oppenheimer mirroring their big summers at the box office by leading the way with four nominations apiece in the movie races, while on the TV side the last season of Succession scored five noms to lead the field.
Jaden Thompson AARP The Magazine has announced the nominees for the annual Movies for Grownups (MFG) Awards. “Barbie,” “The Color Purple,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro” and “Oppenheimer” will contend for best picture/best movie for grownups.
Amid the flood of awards-season nominations comes AARP, whose Movies for Grownups Awards noms arrived today. Oppenheimer leads the way with six mentions, followed by Killers of the Flower Moon with five. Both will vie for Best Picture alongside Barbie, The Color Purple and Maestro.
The Best Actor nominees are hitting the red carpet.