Oscar-Nominated ‘Audible’ Team Debuts PSA for Deaf History Month (EXCLUSIVE)

Christina Aguilera sure knows how to pull off the color purple.On Tuesday, April 5, the singer--who’s father is from Ecuador--took to Instagram on to post some behind-the-scenes shots of the stunning purple leather dress she wore for her performance at the Dubai World Expo last week. Aguilera took the stage to close out the six-month expo on the Jubilee Stage.For the big performance, Xtina wore a figure-hugging dress that showed off every single curve on her body, featuring a mockneck and long bell sleeves.

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Dorff (Old Henry), John McEnroe (Ocean’s Eight), Gina Gershon (Emily the Criminal) and Luka Sabbat (Grown-is) have signed on to star alongside Vito Schnabel in the dark comedy The Trainer, which Tony Kaye (American History X) is directing from a script by Schnabel and Jeff Solomon.

EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Misiak, who stars in FXX comedy series Dave, has got new representation.

EXCLUSIVE: Taylour Paige (Zola) has signed on to star alongside Vito Schnabel in The Trainer, the upcoming dark comedy, which Tony Kaye (American History X) is directing from a script by Schnabel and Jeff Solomon.

Johnny Depp was accused of being a "wife-beater" to his ex-wife Amber Heard by a British publication back in 2018. The court case went to trial in 2020, where the claims were deemed "substantially true". Since then, the Pirates of the Caribbean star has been shunned from the film industry while he works through a continuing defamation case.

Troy Kotsur’s exciting journey on the awards circuit culminated into a history-making moment at the 94th annual Oscar Awards. On Sunday, the CODA actor took home the best supporting actor prize and became the first male actor to win for a performance in American Sign Language.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticPeople make documentaries about all kinds of things: some slight and silly, others educational or emotional. But if you want to be nominated for an Oscar in the doc short category, it’s best to zero in on an issue the Academy can get behind, like homelessness, bullying and confronting prejudice.

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this weekend to promote the release of their latest LP.The Depeche Mode frontman and longtime collaborator Rich Machin released their new covers album ‘Imposter’ back in November under the guise of Soulsavers. Together they deliver unique takes on songs by the likes of Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and many more.Gahan recently told NME that the 12 selected tracks feel like they carry “a sense of wisdom and longevity that is just there in the song and very apparent in the voice”.On Friday (March 18), Gahan and Machin dropped by Jimmy Fallon’s late night chat show to deliver a live rendition of their PJ Harvey cover, ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’, originally featured on Harvey’s 2004 album ‘Uh Huh Her’.You can watch the cover below:‘Imposter’ was recorded and produced by Gahan and Machin in November 2019 at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu, California.According to Gahan, the setting inspired a “magical” sense of freedom for the assembled band and also allowed them to work in the same spirit as the legendary Rubin-produced Johnny Cash covers record ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’.“Johnny Cash’s album was one where I wasn’t listening to the originals at all,” Gahan told NME. “His version of [Nine Inch Nails’] ‘Hurt’, for instance, just blew me away and it still does.

“CODA” won the top prize at Saturday night’s Producers Guild Awards, giving momentum to the possibility that the small film could have a big night at next week’s Oscars.

LOS ANGELES -- “CODA” won the top prize at Saturday night's Producers Guild Awards, giving momentum to the possibility that the small film could have a big night at next week's Oscars.The story of three adult family members who are deaf and a fourth who is not and seeks a singing career beat out bigger contenders including “The Power of the Dog,” “Dune” and “West Side Story" to take an award that — more often than not — goes on to win the Academy Award for best picture.“This movie has been an amazing ride, it was such a special one to make, there was so much love and so much heart put into it,” said Fabrice Gianfermi as he accepted the award with his “CODA” co-producers Philippe Rousselet and Patrick Wachsberger at the 33rd PGA Awards.An American Sign Language translator, who had been off to one side of the stage throughout the night’s speeches, stood front and center during the “CODA” acceptance and another stood in front of the stage to translate for the three actors from the film who are deaf: Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant.“CODA,” an acronym for “children of deaf adults,” is nominated for three Oscars at the March 27 ceremony, including best adapted screenplay for writer-director Sian Heder and best supporting actor for Kotsur, who is expected by most to become the first actor who is deaf since Matlin in 1987 to win an Oscar.After it won best ensemble at last month's Screen Actors Guild Awards it began to appear “CODA” could get real consideration for best picture. The odds may be getting better.

David Heuring When the ASC launched its awards in 1986, a single statue was given for feature film cinematography, presented by Gregory Peck to Jordan Cronenweth for his work on Francis Ford Coppola’s “Peggy Sue Got Married.” Now, 36 years later, the American Society of Cinematographers Awards is returning to the smaller scale of yore even as it promises to celebrate a wide range of image-makers. The ceremony will take place on March 20th at the ASC Clubhouse, the org’s modest, if stylish, headquarters in Hollywood, rather than in a cavernous ballroom.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is filming!

EXCLUSIVE: Vito Schnabel (Before Night Falls), Julia Fox (Uncut Gems) and Steven Van Zandt (The Sopranos) have signed on to star in the dark comedy The Trainer, which Tony Kaye (American History X) is directing from a script by Schnabel and Jeff Solomon.

Deaf representation has taken a major step forward with two Oscar-nominated films this year — one a fictional story, the other entirely real.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentOscars are a time capsule, reflecting both the industry and the year’s audiences. As such, nominations for the 94th Academy Awards detail progressive and surprising transition across several categories.Streamer SuccessTo the surprise of no one, streamers have been a powerhouse. For the first 50 years, Oscars were dominated by the major studios (plus United Artists, which had no physical lot, but had a lofty heritage).

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe upcoming Los Angeles-Italia Film Fashion and Art Festival will be honoring Italian directors Paolo Sorrentino (“The Hand of God”) and Enrico Casarosa (“Luca”) as well as costume-designer Massimo Cantini Parrini (“Cyrano”) all of whom have scored nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards. The 17th edition of the pre-Oscars event will be held March 20-26 at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre and also online.This year’s opening ceremony will be hosted by veteran Italian-American actor Robert Davi, who is also this year’s president of the event. Sofia Milos (“CSI: Miami”) and Hollywood acting coach Bernard Hiller will co-host.Consul General of Italy Silvia Chiave and Italian Institute of Culture chief Emanuele Amendola will also be introducing honorees both at the Chinese Theatre and during a separate March 25 event being held at the Italian Institute of Culture.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“Audible,” an Oscar nominee for documentary short, features a winning combination: great filmmaking and a great subject matter.Director Matt Ogens had been waiting for 12 years to tell the story about the Maryland School for the Deaf and their championship football team. However, he doesn’t consider it a sports documentary: “It’s a coming-of-age story and some of it is unique, some of it is universal.”However, he had trouble getting funding: “We had a lot of doors shut in our faces by people thinking there wasn’t an audience for this.”During that time, Ogens would check in regularly with people at the school when he visited his family in the Maryland-D.C.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In its continued bid to provide compelling artist-forward stories, WarnerMedia OneFifty has picked up the live action Oscar-nominated short “Please Hold” to stream exclusively on HBO Max where it bows on March 17.The directorial debut of Mexican-American screenwriter KD Dávila, who co-wrote the short with Levin Menekse, “Please Hold” is a darkly comic dystopian tale set in the not-so-distant future. It follows young Mateo Torres (played by Erick Lopez) who in a case of mistaken identity, is arrested by a police drone while on his way to work. He finds himself in a fully automated prison cell where he struggles to find a living human being to set things straight as his situation gets even more absurd and frustrating by the nanosecond.