Forest Whitaker Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Given that Francis Ford Coppola‘s independently-financed $100 million-plus budgeted passion project film “Megalopolis,” is one he’s been talking about for over two decades at least—a project he once abandoned and only recently came back to —when news arrived that Oscar Isaac had ultimately passed on the lead role, it made lots of cinephiles dying to see the project very nervous. Well, chalk that set back up to a blip as the director of “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now” has not only found a new leading man, but a whole new supporting cast as well.

More than 20 years in the making, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has set its star cast. Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones and Fast X), Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne have been set for the main roles. Fishburne began his career with Coppola at the tender age of 14 in Apocalypse Now. Legend has it he was of legal age when the film got released.

More than three decades after he first attended the Cannes Film Festival, Forest Whitaker will receive the honorary Palme d’Or at the event’s 75th opening ceremony this month.

Forest Whitaker is set to receive this year’s honorary Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes announced on Thursday. Whitaker will be the honorary guest at the opening ceremony for the 75th Cannes, and a film he produced, “For the Sake of Peace,” will also get a special screening on Wednesday, May 18.

American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has directed the new music video for Cat Power‘s version of The Pogues’ “A Pair of Brown Eyes” (see below) from her new album Covers, which is currently out on Domino Records. A director widely considered one of the film industry’s most original and unique minds, Jarmusch’s filmography includes acknowledged classics such as “Down By Law,” “Stranger Than Paradise,” “Night On Earth,” and the Forest Whitaker action pic “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.” It’s also worth mentioning Jarmusch’s musical reach is similarly pathbreaking, having worked with luminaries Tom Waits, Neil Young, RZA, GZA, Joe Strummer, Iggy Pop, and more.

Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is putting together a high-concept drama, “Megalopolis,” and has been courting all sorts of actors such as James Caan, Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker, Cate Blanchett, Jon Voight, Zendaya, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jessica Lange. After Isaac reportedly passed on the project, Coppola has been seeking a new lead actor and there is something of an update from an unlikely source.

A feature documentary about Le Bal des Débutantes, a Paris-set fashion event, is set to be the first project as part of a new non-fiction slate from Boat Rocker.

Twenty years seems like a long time, until you’re a person of a certain age and that length of time feels like it passes in the blink of an eye. This is the case with the David Fincher film, “Panic Room,” which was released 20 years ago this week.

Jada Pinkett Smith. “Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” Rock said in an apparent reference to her shaved hair, which is a result of the hair loss condition alopecia. Smith walked on stage and hit Rock before returning to his seat and shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.

(CNN)Halle Berry didn't believe she was going to win the best actress Academy Award in 2002 for her performance in "Monster's Ball.""Back in those days, if you didn't win the Globe, you really didn't get the Academy Award," Berry, who lost the Golden Globe to Sissy Spacek that year, recently told the New York Times. "So I'd pretty much resigned myself to believing, 'It's great to be here, but I'm not going to win.'"Now there is disbelief that she is still the only Black woman to win the best actress Oscar."It didn't open the door," Berry said.

EXCLUSIVE: When I meet Francis Coppola at his home high atop the mountains above his spacious Inglenook vineyard, you can feel ambition animating his every step. No, not for the 50th anniversary of his masterpiece The Godfather or its restoration that brings him to Hollywood this weekend for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a lifetime achievement award from the Publicists Guild and a tribute onstage Sunday at the Oscars. Or even him completing the sale for part of his vineyard holdings that solidifies the credit line that will enable him to finance as much as he needs to of Megalopolis, on track to begin this fall as the capper of a maverick career.

EXCLUSIVE: Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (One Night in Miami…, The Wire), Sam Trammell (The Fault in Our Stars, True Blood), Erica Tazel (Lovecraft Country, Queen Sugar), Matthew Glave (The Rookie, Better Things) and Al Sapienza (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Sopranos) are the latest additions to the cast of George Tillman Jr.’s untitled George Foreman biopic for Sony Pictures and AFFIRM Films.

EXCLUSIVE: Jasmine Mathews (The Tomorrow War, The Rookie), Sonja Sohn (Star Trek: Discovery, The Wire), John Magaro (Call Jane, The Many Saints of Newark) and Shein Mompremier (Black Lightning) have joined the cast of Sony Pictures and AFFIRM Films’ untitled biopic of legendary two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman, from director George Tillman Jr. (The Hate U Give, Notorious).

Zack Sharf Francis Ford Coppola is putting down $120 million of his own money to make his long-in-the-works passion project “Megalopolis.” Coppola wrote “Megalopolis” in the early 1980s and has been reportedly in talks with Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker and Cate Blanchett to finally get the film off the ground. The issue Coppola has faced is that the movie is such an ambitious and expensive original idea that no major studio would ever touch it.Speaking to GQ magazine, Coppola said that major Hollywood executives reacted to his “Megalopolis” pitch the “same way they did when I had won five Oscars and was the hottest film director in town and walked in with ‘Apocalypse Now’ and said, ‘I’d like to make this next.’ I own ‘Apocalypse Now.’ Do you know why I own ‘Apocalypse Now?’ Because no one else wanted it.” Coppola added, “So imagine, if that was the case when I was 33 or whatever the age and I had won every award and had broken every record and still absolutely no one wanted to join me, [then how do you think they’re reacting now?] I know that ‘Megalopolis,’ the more personal I make it, and the more like a dream in me that I do it, the harder it will be to finance.”The plot of “Megalopolis” remains something of a mystery.

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films is continuing to expand its international footprint, having recently inked a deal with distribution partners in Switzerland and Benelux. The L.A.-based company has signed with WW Entertainment in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Ascot Elite in Switzerland, which it will add to deals it already has in place in the UK and Ireland (Altitude), Germany and Austria (Splendid), France (ACE Entertainment), Spain (Key2Media), Scandinavia (Mis.Label) and Australia and New Zealand (Defiant Screen Entertainment).

Denzel Washington’s nomination for best actor in the Joel Cohen film The Tragedy of Macbeth marks him as the most nominated Black actor in Oscar History, with ten nominations and two wins. 

last year’s record heights, the highlights include four Black actors being recognized along with LGBTQ and deaf actors, as well as female and Asian filmmakers in the Best Director race. In the Best Actor race, Will Smith is considered a major contender to become only the fifth Black actor to win the award for his performance as Serena and Venus Williams’ father Richard in the inspirational sports film “King Richard.” If he wins, he would join a list that includes the late Sidney Poitier, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Denzel Washington, the latter of whom also earned his ninth acting Oscar nomination this year for “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” The Best Supporting Actress race also sees Smith’s “King Richard” co-star Aunjanue Ellis among the list of contenders, along with Afrolatina star Ariana DeBose for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” DeBose is also an LGBTQ actress, making it the first time ever that more than one openly queer actor has been nominated in a single year as Kristen Stewart, who identifies as bisexual, was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in “Spencer.” To date, only nine Black women have won acting Oscars, with the first being Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for “Gone With The Wind” and Regina King the most recent in 2018 for “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Eight of those winners were for supporting roles, with Halle Berry being the only Black woman to win for a leading role with “Monster’s Ball” in 2001.

Will Smith has received his third Oscar nomination this morning, earning his place on the Best Actor list for his role in King Richard. Smith played Richard Williams, the father of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, in a story charting the early days of their careers, and his role in the movie has been a favorite with critics and guilds all season long. In addition to pending nominations from SAG, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice, Smith has already claimed prizes from several critics groups. It is a long-overdue return to the Oscars spotlight for Smith, whose turn in Warner Bros.’ King Richard, written by Zach Baylin and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, has been recognized 15 years on from his last citation by the Motion Picture Academy.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“Kompromat,” an anticipated spy thriller directed by Jerome Salle (“Zulu,” “L’Odyssée”) with Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”) and Joanna Kulig (“Cold War”), has been sold by SND to distributors in key territories. Inspired by a true story, “Kompromat” stars Lellouche as a French diplomat working Siberia who discovers he is being framed by FBI and has to find his way out of the trap.

inside that room, and they’re not leaving. Jared Leto is hilarious as one of the criminals, Forest Whitaker is aces as a conflicted thief and Dwight Yoakam (of all people) is absolutely chilling.If you’re in the mood for a great period drama, you can’t go wrong with “Sense and Sensibility.” Director Ang Lee’s 1995 Jane Austen adaptation was written by Emma Thompson, who also co-stars and picked up an Oscar for her adapted screenplay.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe climate change anthology series “Extrapolations” at Apple has added eight new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively.Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”), Yara Shahidi (“Grown-ish,” “Black-ish”), Diane Lane (“Unfaithful,” “Under the Tuscan Sun”), Heather Graham (“Boogie Nights,” “Wander”), Grammy Award-winner Ben Harper, Judd Hirsch (“Uncut Gems,” “The Goldbergs”), Hari Nef (“Transparent,” “You”), and Neska Rose (“Drama Club”) have all joined the series. This is the second Apple series role announced for Bartlett in recent days, as Variety exclusively reported he would also star in “Physical” Season 2.They join previously announced cast members Meryl Streep, Matthew Rhys, Marion Cotillard, Eiza Gonzalez, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton, Kit Harrington, Sienna Miller, Gemma Chan, Tahar Rahim, Daveed Diggs, David Schwimmer, Adarsh Gourav, Indira Varma, Keri Russell, Cherry Jones, and Michael Gandolfini.

Epix has renewed the Forest Whitaker-led Godfather of Harlem for a 10-episode third season.

Forest Whitaker has joined global economist and author Dr. Dambisa Moyo to become the latest among a group of African business leaders and ex-basketball players to invest in NBA Africa. They are strategic investors who bring money, brainpower and activism to the body. Whitaker’s Oscar came from The Last King of Scotland, playing the tyrannical former Ugandan leader Idi Amin.

*WINNER.Best Feature The Green KnightDavid Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M.

The upcoming climate-change anthology series on Apple TV+, “Extrapolations,” is already filled to the brim with massive acting talent. But hey, why not add a few more A-listers to really turn Scott Z.

Edward Norton, Indira Varma, Keri Russell, Cherry Jones and Michael Gandolfini are the latest stars to join Apple TV+’s climate change anthology drama series, Extrapolations.

Sheri Linzell, who has worked on deals for the likes of Forest Whitaker, Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott, has been promoted at WME.

Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker both being spotted outside the Brangwyn Hall in August. The radio and TV presenters were pictured outside a home in Tycoch with cameramen and equipment but gave nothing away to curious nearby fans.

Marion Cotillard and Kit Harington are joining the cast.

Apple TV+ is not afraid to show off its seemingly endless bank account to hype up an upcoming project. From the first moment Apple TV+ was announced, the marketing was a parade of famous actors and filmmakers, all promoting some new TV series or film.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+’s climate change anthology drama series Extrapolations has added more big names to its cast.

celebrities have been pictured in Wales. This year alone, we’ve seen Hollywood stars like Forest Whitaker and Tom Hardy shooting for their latest Netflix series, and the likes of Alan Carr and Russell Brand holidaying in North Wales.

Best Feature The Green KnightDavid Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M.

Prince Harry is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio for a good cause.

Prince Harry and Leonardo DiCaprio are joining forces for a good cause.

Angelique Jackson Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is set to be recognized for his dedication to social activism during the 2022 International Peace Honors.The actor, filmmaker and producer will be celebrated during the January 2022 ceremony, presented by PeaceTech Lab, the non-profit organization founded by the United States Institute of Peace.The International Peace Honors celebrates the global leaders and change-agents who “make philanthropy and humanitarian service a hallmark of their lives, to