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    Salma Hayek, Guillermo Del Toro Join Fundraisers for Mexican Struggling Movie Workers

    WENN

    The Mexican actors and filmmakers are joining forces to raise money to help the movie workers who lost employment due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
    Jun 14, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Salma Hayek and Mexican directors, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, have set up a fund to help Mexican movie workers who have lost employment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
    With productions halted across the world, including in Mexico, which has had more than 130,000 coronavirus cases and over 15,000 deaths, employees who’d normally be working on set are facing hardship.
    To help those in need, the actress and filmmakers have teamed up with The Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematograficas (The Mexican Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences) to launch the fund, which was announced on Thursday, June 11, 2020.
    Speaking via video call, Gonzalez Inarritu told The Hollywood Reporter the project is “an act of solidarity with our colleagues in this industry, without asking anybody else besides ourselves.”
    The fund has raised about $440,000 already, with the likes of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna also contributing with more donations expected. Currently, beneficiaries will receive a one-time payment of about $885.
    The money will go first to technical workers on set, costume, as well as sound and visual employees, with those who are suffering health problems or who are their family’s sole earners having priority.
    Mexico’s government is yet to announce a date when production of films can resume.

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    'Green Book' Director to Reunite With Viggo Mortensen for True-Story Movie Vietnam War

    WENN

    A year after his big win at the 2019 Oscars, Peter Farrelly is reportedly working on a big screen adaptation of ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War.’
    Jun 14, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Viggo Mortensen is set to reteam with “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly for an adaptation of “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War”.
    The pair will reunite for the as-yet-untitled film version of the bestselling book by Joanna Molloy and John Donohue, according to Variety. The story is based on Donohue’s attempts to find the friends he met while fighting in the Vietnam War.
    Brian Currie and Pete Jones will co-write the screenplay with Farrelly.
    Mortensen and Farrelly’s last collaboration, “Green Book”, was awarded the Best Picture Oscar in 2019.
    Meanwhile, Viggo’s first attempt at filmmaking, “Falling”, got a big thumbs up last week when it was named among the 56 movies selected for Official Selection at the cancelled 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

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    Bill Murray to Reunite With 'Ghostbusters' Co-Stars for Charity

    Columbia Pictures

    The cast members of the original movie are scheduled to get together with the original director for a virtual reunion to raise funds for Equal Justice Initiative.
    Jun 14, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Josh Gad has scared up the stars of the original “Ghostbusters” movie to take part in his latest YouTube reunion show.
    After bringing the casts of “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Goonies”, “Splash”, and “Back to the Future” back together for his Reunited Apart virtual chats, the “Frozen” star has recruited Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver for the latest instalment.
    The quartet agreed to appear after hearing Jason Reitman, the director of the latest “Ghostbusters” film, and his father Ivan, the original director, were taking part.
    Donations for the show, which will air on YouTube on Monday, June 15, 2020 at 12 P.M. ET, will benefit the Equal Justice Initiative. The reunion will be available on Gad’s YouTube channel.
    A preview is now available.

    Meanwhile, during a recent appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, Gad revealed he’s trying to reunite the casts of “Coming to America” and “The Princess Bride”.

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    'Dear Evan Hansen' Creators Support Fight Against 'Systemic Racism' With $100,000 Donation

    Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book writer Steven Levenson, director Michael Greif, and producer Stacey Mindich explain their initiative in an open letter to fans.
    Jun 13, 2020
    AceShowbiz – The creators of the Tony-winning Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” have announced they will donate their time and money “to fight systemic racism against Black people.”
    Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book writer Steven Levenson, director Michael Greif, and producer Stacey Mindich wrote an open letter to fans, which was posted on Instagram, announcing a $100,000 donation to two organisations “to help effect change both in our theater community and on a national level.”
    “We have spent the last several days listening to the Black members of our companies, our community, our country, and the world, as they share with us their pain, their suffering, and their heartbreak. These truths, we must admit, are not new. The systemic racism against Black people and communities is not new,” they wrote in the letter.”
    “A theatrical culture in which Black voices have been silenced and erased is not new. And as we mourn the unspeakable losses of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, we recognize that the brutal murder of Black people is not new.”
    As well as donating $50,000 to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, to sponsor an industry-wide ‘Continuing the Conversation’ Forum in early 2021, and $50,000 to Color of Change, the creators of the musical will be “examining” their own practices and “looking inward, assessing the personnel, policies, and systems of our show at every level, in every department, and at every location.”

    “The shameful reality is that, for all too long, the injustices and inequities endured by our fellow citizens, our peers, and our friends have gone unheard and unheeded. The shameful reality is that none of it is new,” they added. “What must be new is our commitment not merely to listen, but to act, and to act now.”

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    Oscars Releases New Guidelines to Ensure Nominees Pass Diversity Test

    Instagram

    The bosses at Academy Awards have formed a new task force to make sure the competing movies meet the ‘representation and inclusion standards’ following nationwide protests against racism.
    Jun 13, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Film bosses putting their movies forward for Oscars Best Picture consideration must now tick a number of diversity boxes before their project can be processed.
    Officials at the organisation behind the Academy Awards have released a set of new guidelines that filmmakers will have to meet in order for their work to be eligible for the big award.
    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chiefs have implemented a five-year project to boost diversity at the awards show after years of criticism surrounding the ‘so white’ Oscars.
    A new task force of industry leaders will oversee “representation and inclusion standards” and any films that fall short will not be eligible.
    “We know there is much more work to be done in order to ensure equitable opportunities across the board,” Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said. “The need to address this issue is urgent.”
    The rules will not apply to films vying for next year’s Oscars.
    Among other changes, the Best Picture category will now feature a fixed 10 films annually. For several years, Oscar voters have been told they can nominate up to 10 films but only the films that reached a certain number of votes could be included. Now, the most popular 10 films among voters will make up the category.

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    Spike Lee Urges HBO to Bring Back 'Racist' Movie 'Gone with the Wind'

    WENN

    The ‘Da 5 Blood’ filmmaker calls the 1939 movie ‘one of the most racist films ever’ and wants HBO to bring it back following removal to let reviews decide for themselves.
    Jun 13, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Spike Lee has called on HBO Max bosses to reinstate “Gone with the Wind” on the streaming service because he feels “one of the most racist films ever” should be seen.
    The 1939 movie adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel about the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era South has been temporarily removed from the new platform due to the “racial prejudices” on display in the movie in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice following the death of George Floyd last month, May 2020.
    But filmmaker Spike, who included footage from the film in his hit 2018 movie “BlacKkKlansman”, is urging the powers that be to reverse the decision and let viewers decide for themselves.
    “I think that that should be seen,” Lee told “The View”. “I think that one of the most racist films ever, D.W. Griffiths’ Birth of a Nation, should be seen. I show that film in my class. I’m a tenured professor at New York University… I show Birth of a Nation.”

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    Ridley Scott Confirmed to Work on Script for Really Challenging Sequel of 'Gladiator'

    DreamWorks Pictures

    The follow-up to the 2000 critically-lauded epic movie is confirmed to be in development with the original director working on the script for the really challenging project.
    Jun 13, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Ridley Scott is working on a script for the sequel to his Oscar-winning historical epic “Gladiator”, according to one of its producers.
    Doug Wick, who produced the 2000 film about Roman general turned gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe, alongside David Franzoni, and Branko Lustig, believes a long-mooted sequel may be a challenge, but the director is already working on a screenplay.
    He told ComicBook.com, “Ridley would love to do it. It’s really all about getting something on paper. Everyone loves the movie too much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it and making something that’s a shadow of it.”
    “It’s just really a clear creative problem, working on a script, and if we can ever get it to a place… Ridley’s working on it, it’s really just a question of whether we can get it to a place where it feels worthy to make it. It’s a real challenge.”
    The film won five awards at the 2001 Oscars, including Best Picture, with Crowe taking home the Best Actor award – however, he may be unlikely to return for a follow-up given his character’s fate at the end of the first film.
    Last year 2019, producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, who have been trying to make a sequel happen, said it would likely be set 25 to 30 years after the original, which depicted the reigns of Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, adding they “wouldn’t touch” a sequel unless it was worthy of the original.

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    Spike Lee Keen to Make American Indian War Movie From Native Americans' Perspective

    WENN

    The ‘Da 5 Blood’ filmmaker bans the remake of his classic movie ‘Do the Right Thing’ and reveals his desire to make a movie about the Battle of Little Bighorn.
    Jun 13, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Spike Lee will never allow anyone to remake his classic 1989 film “Do the Right Thing” – even after he’s dead.
    The “Da 5 Bloods” filmmaker’s movie about life in his beloved Brooklyn confirmed his status as one of Hollywood’s top auteurs and is often listed among the greatest films of all time.
    When answering questions from stars and readers of U.K. newspaper The Guardian, Spike was asked if he would make a new version, given the timeliness of its themes of racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
    In response, the star gave an unequivocal no, saying, “No. As long as I’m alive, there will be no remake and, if they try, I’m coming back from the dead to stop it.”
    The 63-year-old even went on to joke that he, its stars who have passed away, and even Frank Sinatra would return from beyond the grave to stop anyone remaking it.
    “I promise you, I will come back from the pearly gates, from the upper room, to stop a remake,” he added. “So help me God. I will bring him with me, and Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Bill Nunn, Frank Sinatra. Anybody that’s passed; we’ll all come back to stop a remake.”
    Spike does, however, have one project in mind for the future, making a film about controversial United States Army cavalry commander George Custer – who was killed after his troops were overwhelmed by Native American warriors at the Battle of Little Bighorn – from a new perspective.
    “I would do that film, but Custer would not be the hero,” he explains. “He would be the villain and I would tell it from the viewpoint of the Native Americans. One day!”

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