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    Amy Adams to Have 'The Woman in the Window' Released on Netflix in First Half of 2021

    20th Century Fox

    Director Joe Wright reveals that the upcoming thriller, which has been delayed multiple times due to COVID-19, had to undergo reshooting over the complexity of its original story.

    Jan 9, 2021
    AceShowbiz – Amy Adams’ “The Woman in the Window” will arrive on Netflix “in the first half of the year”.
    The much-delayed thriller was initially set to be released by Disney before being transferred to the streaming giant. It will no longer undergo a cinematic release amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
    According to Entertainment Weekly, the motion picture is due out on the service in the coming months.
    Amy is set to play the role of Dr. Anna Fox in the film, who hides away in her New York home, where she drinks excessively and spends time spying on her neighbours.

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    After observing the close bond between the family who move in next door, she longs for a reunion with her own loved ones.
    However, things take a turn when she witnesses an act of violence.
    In addition to delays faced due to the global health crisis, director Joe Wright also had to reshoot some scenes because early viewers found the story too complex at times.
    “There were some plot points that people found a bit confusing — I would say possibly too opaque maybe,” the filmmaker told the publication. “So we had to go back and clarify certain points, but I think also we tried to make sure we didn’t oversimplify anything and make things too clear. “There’s an enjoyment in not knowing what’s going on, but at the same time, you have to give the audience something to hold on to — you have to lead them through the labyrinth of mystery and fear.”
    The cast also features Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie and Tracy Letts – who also wrote the script for the project.

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    Michael Apted, Versatile Director Known for ‘Up’ Series, Dies at 79

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMichael Apted, Versatile Director Known for ‘Up’ Series, Dies at 79His output included “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and a James Bond film. But he was best known for his long-running documentary series about life in Britain.The director Michael Apted with, from left, Jackie Bassett, Lynn Johnson and Susan Davis, three of the subjects of his documentary “28 Up” (1984), the fourth in a series that began with “Seven Up!” in 1964 and followed the lives of a group of British people in roughly seven-year intervals. (Ms. Johnson died in 2013.)Credit…Granada TelevisionJan. 8, 2021, 7:01 p.m. ETMichael Apted, a versatile director whose films were as varied as the James Bond picture “The World Is Not Enough” and the biographical dramas “Gorillas in the Mist” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and who made his most lasting mark with the “Up” documentary series, which followed the lives of a group of British people in seven-year intervals for more than a half century, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79.His agent in the United States, Roy Ashton, confirmed the death but did not specify a cause.Mr. Apted, who was British, was a researcher at Granada Television in England when he helped pick the 14 children, all of them 7, who became the subjects of “Seven Up!,” the initial documentary in the “Up” series, which was directed by Paul Almond and shown on British television in 1964.The film was intended as a one-off, but Mr. Apted picked up the ball seven years (more or less) later, acting as director of “7 Plus Seven,” broadcast in England in late 1970, in which he interviewed the same children, now at a more developed stage of life.Then came “21 Up” in 1977, “28 Up” in 1984 and so on, with new installments arriving every seven years, all directed by Mr. Apted. “63 Up” was released in 2019.Collectively, the films became a serial portrait of a group of ordinary people advancing through life, from childhood through adulthood, charting their different paths, changing perspectives and various fates (one participant, Lynn Johnson, died in 2013). The New York Times in 2019 called it “the most profound documentary series in the history of cinema.”The intent of the original program in 1964 was to look at different segments of Britain’s class system. Thanks to Mr. Apted’s persistence, “Up” became something more.“I realized for the first time, after 20 years on the project, that I really hadn’t made a political film at all,” he wrote in 2000. “What I had seen as a significant statement about the English class system was in fact a humanistic document about the real issues of life.”Mr. Apted in Los Angeles in 2012. His “Up” series, The New York Times said in 2019, was “the most profound documentary series in the history of cinema.”Credit…Robert Yager for The New York TimesManohla Dargis, summarizing “63 Up” in The Times, wrote, “There’s great pleasure in revisiting this series, seeing who turned out just fine and sometimes better than you might have expected or hoped.”While revisiting “Up” periodically across six decades, Mr. Apted worked in television and commercial film.“Agatha” (1979), a fictional drama about the novelist Agatha Christie, starred Vanessa Redgrave in the title role. Mr. Apted had particular success in the 1980s, beginning in 1980 with “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” about the country singer Loretta Lynn, played by Sissy Spacek, who won the best-actress Oscar.Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in Mr. Apted’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980). She won an Oscar for her performance.Credit…Universal StudiosThe next year he directed the John Belushi-Blair Brown comedy “Continental Divide”; two years later came the crime drama “Gorky Park,” based on the Martin Cruz Smith novel, starring William Hurt. In 1988 there was “Gorillas in the Mist,” the story of the naturalist Dian Fossey; its five Oscar nominations included one for Sigourney Weaver, who played Ms. Fossey.Mr. Apted’s 1990s films included “Thunderheart” (1992), a thriller with Val Kilmer, and the drama “Nell” (1994), a vehicle for Jodie Foster. Then came his entry in the James Bond franchise — “The World Is Not Enough” (1999), with Pierce Brosnan as agent 007.In a 2010 interview with The Times, Mr. Apted reflected on his one regret about the “Up” series — that his initial choice of children was unbalanced, 10 boys but only 4 girls — and how his choices of mainstream films might have been a way to compensate for that.“The biggest social revolution in my life, growing up in England, has been the change in the role of women in society,” he said. “We didn’t have civil rights and Vietnam in England, but I think that particular social revolution is the biggest thing, and I missed it by not having enough women. And because I didn’t have enough women, I didn’t have enough choice of what options were in front of women who were building careers and having families and all this sort of stuff.”He continued: “Looking at everything from ‘Agatha’ through ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ from ‘Nell’ and “Continental Divide,’ they’re all to do with women’s role in society and what women have to do to have a role in society, or the choices women have to make to stay in society or have a voice in society, in both straightforward and eccentric ways. That’s always interested me. And that, I think, stems from the feeling that I slightly missed out.”Alex Traub contributed reporting.A complete obituary will appear shortly.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Vanessa Kirby Defends Tom Cruise's Covid-19 Safety Rant on 'MI:7' Set

    Paramount Pictures

    The actress who plays White Widow in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise insists her co-star was angry because he’s just trying to ensure everyone was safe on the set.

    Jan 9, 2021
    AceShowbiz – Vanessa Kirby has defended Tom Cruise for his now infamous rant on the “Mission: Impossible 7” set last month (Dec20), insisting the actor was just trying to ensure everyone’s safety amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
    In a clip shared online by Britain’s The Sun newspaper, Tom lost his cool when he spotted two assistants huddled around a monitor, watching playback and ignoring social distancing rules he had helped to introduce.
    “If I see you do it again, you’re f**king gone. And if anyone in this crew does it, that’s it,” he was heard shouting in the audio clip.
    The outburst saw five staff members quit the project, according to reports, but Vanessa – who stars alongside Tom in the film franchise – insisted he was just doing his bit to keep everyone safe.

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    Asked for her opinion on Tom’s rant during an interview with “Extra”, Vanessa replied, “I think being safe is the message for everybody, really.”
    The actress’ sister works as part of the assistant’s director’s team on the film, with Vanessa adding, “For me, seeing my sister doing it on the ground and every day coming home from work and it all going well, it was all inspiring. The whole industry has been shut down – cinemas, theatres, film sets. Seeing her go and do it and be one of the first ones up gave me hope.”
    Vanessa also revealed she’s going to be returning to the “Mission: Impossible 7” set “next week or something” and is looking forward to getting stuck back into the physically-demanding role.
    “I’m really excited. I think with every Mission… the stunts get riskier and there’s ones on this that have been terrifying, and there’s many more to be filmed… It’s a pleasure for all of us to be back,” she smiled.

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    Laverne Cox Exits Sex Industry Doc Following 'Outrage' for the Sake of Her 'Mental Health'

    Instagram

    As one of the executive producers alongside Meryl Streep and Rashida Jones, the ‘Orange Is the New Black’ alum is under fire for supporting Sarah Jones’ project that would examine the sex industry.

    Jan 8, 2021
    AceShowbiz – Laverne Cox has parted ways with Sarah Jones (II) in making a documentary about sex workers. The actress has decided to pull out from “Sell/Buy/Date”, in which she was originally set to serve as executive producer alongside Meryl Streep and Rashida Jones, following a string of criticism from the sex industry workers.
    “Just what the world needs,” one person sarcastically wrote on Twitter. “Another movie where non SWers debate whether sex work is exploitative or empowering.” Tagging @Lavernecox, the critic added, “this project is everything you’re supposedly against. Stop trying to tell sw stories by ignoring and doxxing them.”
    Another voiced disapproval of the project, “As a sex worker– I get being misrepresented. I mean– people in Hollywood are still doing SWer documentaries without talking to actual sexworkers.”
    Noticing the negative feedback, Laverne took to Twitter to announce her withdrawal from the documentary. “When I agreed to come on as an executive producer of ‘Sell, Buy Date’ I did so because I was so deeply moved by Sarah Jones’ brilliant play and her unbelievable, undeniable talent as an artist, as an actor. I signed on to support her incredible talent,” she began her statement.
    She explained her decision to exit the project, “I have so much love for her as a human being. But I am not in an emotional place to deal with the outrage by some around my participation in this project. So I have decided to pull out.”
    “To be clear I am no longer involved in any capacity in ‘Sell. Buy, Date.’,” she stressed, citing her mental health as her priority, “I have to take care of my mental, physical and emotional health, This is all I have to say on the matter.”

    Laverne Cox announced her exit from ‘Sell/Buy/Date’.

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    Respecting Cox’s decision, Jones responded to the “TRANSform Me” co-host’s announcement. “I’m so grateful to you Laverne for coming on the journey with me thus far, and I’m looking forward to continuing my work on the film,” she wrote back to the actress, before asking “that everyone give Laverne her space while keeping an open mind about the project before judging it.”

    Sarah Jones responded to Cox’s tweet.
    Jones herself has addressed people’s concern about misinterpretation of sex workers in her upcoming movie. “As a Black feminist artist, I have always centered the stories of traditionally marginalized people, especially women and femmes struggling for liberation and self-determination. My sisters in the sex industry are no exception,” she said in her own statement. “I am committed to deep listening to folks with lived experience, not only in my interviews but also in those we hire behind the scenes.”

    She added in a statement to THR, “As I do with all my work, I’m approaching this documentary with compassion and in an attempt to understand the nuance and complexity of how sex work affects everybody, especially women of color. For too long, BIPOC women have had our narratives controlled by others. Thanks to this new moment, I have the opportunity to finally share mine.”
    She went on assuring, “I am committed to making this an inclusive, respectful documentary about my personal experience as a Black woman, informed by various voices of people with lived experience around this topic. As a feminist who cares deeply about the wellbeing and freedom of ALL people, I am looking forward to sharing my story in the creative way I know how. I hope those who have never lived in my shoes allow me the chance to express my own experience as a Black woman.”
    “Sell/Buy/Date” is billed as a documentary that will tackle the themes of “inequality (criminal justice, race, sexism, poverty) through the lens of the debate around the sex industry. The documentary asks the question, ‘Is sex work exploitative or empowering?’ ”

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    Raven Goodwin Celebrates Hattie McDaniel in Casting Announcement for New Biopic

    WENN/Judy Eddy

    ‘Behind the Smile’ will detail the racism and racial challenges the ‘Gone With the Wind’ icon, who made history by becoming the first African-American ever to win an Oscar, had to face in Hollywood.

    Jan 8, 2021
    AceShowbiz – “Snatched” star Raven Goodwin is bringing trailblazing actress Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American ever to win an Oscar, back to life for a new biopic.
    The “Gone With the Wind” icon’s inspiring life story is the subject of a new independent movie titled, “Behind the Smile”, and now Goodwin has been cast to portray her on film.
    The project, written by Gregory Blair, will detail the racism and racial challenges she had to face as a black actress in Hollywood in the 1930s and ’40s, and the backlash she endured from her own community for taking on stereotypical maid or slave roles onscreen, reports Deadline.
    Her role as housemaid Mammy in “Gone With the Wind” earned her the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, but she was forced to sit separately from her co-stars at the ceremony due to segregation rules, while she was banned from attending the movie’s premiere as it was held at an all-white theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

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    Celebrating the casting news in a statement about the biopic, Goodwin writes, “Hattie YOU did it. Because of your legacy, we are able to write and portray OURSELVES in whatever light we choose. I am forever honored. I look forward to bringing this important historical and relevant life story to the screen.”

    McDaniel, who died of breast cancer in 1952, was most recently played onscreen by Queen Latifah on the Ryan Murphy Netflix series, “Hollywood”.
    The project won’t be her first time portraying a real-life character on camera – Goodwin also co-starred with Latifah and Mary J. Blige in last year’s TV biopic “The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel”, chronicling the rise of sibling trio The Clark Sisters.

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    Jordan Peele Has No Plan to Return to Acting Gig

    WENN

    The director behind critically-acclaimed movies ‘Get Out’ and Us’ insists he is done with acting as he doesn’t enjoy watching his own onscreen performances.

    Jan 8, 2021
    AceShowbiz – Jordan Peele has ruled out taking on any more acting gigs as he hates watching himself on screen.
    The star made a name for himself in shows such as “Fargo” and “Mad TV” before going on to find fame behind the camera, directing flicks including 2018’s “Get Out” and “Us” in 2019.
    However, in a new interview with Bradley Whitford as part of an ActBlue fundraiser, Jordan admitted he can’t see himself acting in the future.
    “I like watching my movies. I can watch the films I direct (but) watching me perform just feels like, it’s a bad kind of masturbatory. It’s masturbation you don’t enjoy.”

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    “I feel like I got to do so much and it is a great feeling. When I think about those great moments when you’re basking in something you said that feels funny. When I think about all that, I think I got enough.”
    Peele is currently working on an unknown horror film project, with his next directorial offering coming in July 2022.
    Jordan Peele was last seen on the big screen in Spike Lee’s 2018 biographical crime movie “BlacKkKlansman”. He later appeared as himself in documentary film “Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror” and lent his voice to one of the animated characters in “Toy Story 4”.
    Last year, he explained why his movies always centered on black characters. “The way I look at it, I get to cast black people in my movies,” he said. “I feel fortunate to be in this position where I can say to Universal, ‘I want to make a $20 million horror movie with a black family’. And they say yes. I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie. Not that I don’t like white dudes, but I’ve seen that movie.”

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    ‘Mean Girls’ Won’t Return to Broadway

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Mean Girls’ Won’t Return to BroadwayAdapted by Tina Fey from her 2004 film, the musical played 834 performances. A national tour is expected to resume when theaters reopen.Taylor Louderman, center, and Erika Henningsen, standing right, in the original Broadway cast of “Mean Girls.”Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesJan. 7, 2021, 7:34 p.m. ETThe coronavirus pandemic has felled another Broadway show: “Mean Girls.”The musical’s producers, led by Lorne Michaels of “Saturday Night Live,” announced on Thursday that they would not seek to reopen in New York once the pandemic eases. However, the producers do plan to restart the show’s national tour.The show is the fourth Broadway closing prompted by the pandemic: Disney announced last spring that it would not reopen “Frozen,” and the producers of two plays that had been in previews, Martin McDonagh’s “Hangmen” and a revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” decided not to wait out the shutdown at all.The “Mean Girls” closing was prompted by the costs of keeping the production intact while theaters are dark. Broadway has been closed since last March, and it seems likely that most shows will not return until the fall or later.The musical, adapted from a 2004 film, features a book by Tina Fey; music by Jeff Richmond, who is married to Fey; lyrics by Nell Benjamin; and direction by Casey Nicholaw.It opened in 2018 and was a hit, recouping its $17 million capitalization costs and grossing $124 million over 834 performances, according to the production. But it won none of the 12 Tony Awards for which it was nominated, and its weekly box office had softened over time.The “Mean Girls” national tour began in Buffalo in 2019, and a London production, which was in the works before the pandemic, is still planned, according to Michaels. Paramount Pictures announced last January that it would make a film version of the stage musical, produced by Michaels and Fey.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More