The Queen’s Gambit (TV Program)

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    A Chess Champion Resolves Her ‘Queen’s Gambit’ Lawsuit Against Netflix

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    The fictional series had named Nona Gaprindashvili, a pioneering real-life chess champion, and falsely claimed she had “never faced men.” She sued for defamation.Lawyers for the pioneering chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili filed papers in federal court on Tuesday suggesting that they had settled her defamation lawsuit against Netflix over what they had described as a “devastating falsehood” about her in its fictional hit series “The Queen’s Gambit.”The agreement comes almost a year after Ms. Gaprindashvili, the first woman to be named a grandmaster, sued Netflix over a line in the final episode of the series that mentioned her by name and said, incorrectly, that she had “never faced men.” In fact, Ms. Gaprindashvili had played against many male champions over the course of her career, including before the episode in question took place.“An insulting experience” was how Ms. Gaprindashvili described her portrayal in the show in an interview last year with The New York Times.“I am pleased that the matter has been resolved,” said Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, a lawyer for Ms. Gaprindashvili. He provided no additional comment, and declined to say how the case had been resolved or whether any money had changed hands.In court documents filed in June, lawyers for Ms. Gaprindashvili and Netflix had said “parties are working with the Ninth Circuit mediator to explore settlement.”Netflix echoed Mr. Rufus-Isaacs’s statement, saying only that it too was “pleased the matter has been resolved.”In court papers, it had argued that Netflix had been exercising “its constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue” and that the line in question was “part of a fictional television series that addresses a number of significant matters of public interest, including the challenges women faced competing in the male-dominated world of elite chess during the 1960s.”“The First Amendment protects the creator’s artistic license to include the line in the fictional series,” lawyers for Netflix wrote in their motion to dismiss the lawsuit.On Tuesday, lawyers for Netflix also filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss its appeal in the case.“The Queen’s Gambit,” based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, became what Netflix described as its biggest limited scripted series ever. The series, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy, won two Golden Globes and has garnered 11 Emmy Awards; there are also plans for it to be adapted into a stage musical.Alain Delaquérière contributed research. More

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      Emmy Awards 2021: Watch to Watch For

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      “The Crown” and Netflix could have a big night and bring the streaming service its first top award for a series. Here’s what else to expect, and a look at the favorites and potential upsets.At long last, it should be the year that a streaming platform is triumphant at the Emmys.The tech companies upended the entertainment industry years ago but they’ve had mixed results breaking through with members of the Television Academy, who vote on the winners.That will likely come to an end on Sunday when the envelopes are unsealed at the 73rd Emmy Awards, which will be broadcast on CBS — and, fittingly, streamed live on Paramount+.“The Crown,” the lush Netflix drama chronicling the British royal family, is the heavy favorite to win one of night’s the biggest awards — best drama — on the strength of its fourth season, which took viewers into the 1980s as it portrayed the relationship of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.Seven of the show’s cast members landed acting nominations, including Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles) for best actor and Emma Corrin (Princess Diana) and Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth II) for best actress. Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher) and Helena Bonham Carter (Princess Margaret) are among the nominees for best actress in a supporting role.“The Crown” already picked up four Emmys in the first batch of awards handed out during last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which recognizes achievements in technical categories.Netflix built a considerable lead over its television and streaming rivals at the Creative Arts Emmys, all but guaranteeing that it will win more awards than any other studio, streaming platform or TV network. A best drama win for “The Crown” would also be a significant first for Netflix. The streaming service has never won a top series award, despite a whopping 30 nominations in best drama, comedy and limited series from 2013 to 2020. Only one streaming service, Hulu, has won best drama, an award that went to “The Handmaid’s Tale” four years ago.It would be a fitting win in a ceremony that is recognizing the best shows aired or streamed amid the pandemic. During the stay-at-home months last year and early this year, people increasingly turned away from cable and embraced streaming video entertainment, accelerating a trend that was already underway.While “The Crown” is the favorite, keep an eye out for spoilers in the best drama race. “The Mandalorian,” the Star Wars action adventure show on Disney+, picked up seven technical awards last weekend, and Television Academy voters love themselves some popular, action-packed entertainment, as evinced by “Game of Thrones” winning the best drama category a record-tying four times.A show with an outside shot is “Bridgerton,” the popular Netflix bodice-ripper from the super producer Shonda Rhimes. FX’s “Pose,” nominated for its final, emotional season, has the best chance at an upset of any of the cable or network series nominated.‘Ted Lasso’ and Jason Sudeikis are favorites.It looks like Apple’s streaming service, not quite two years old, is on the verge of getting its first major Emmys win, thanks to an aphorism-spouting, fish-out-of-water soccer coach.The feel-good Apple TV+ comedy, “Ted Lasso,” is the favorite in the comedy category. Nominated for its rookie season, which had its premiere in August 2020, the show already won best cast in a comedy last weekend. The winner of that award has gone on to win best comedy six years in a row. “Ted Lasso” also cleaned up at the Television Critics Association Awards earlier this month, winning best new series, best comedy and best overall show.Jason Sudeikis and his feel-good Apple TV+ comedy, “Ted Lasso,” are expected to take home multiple awards. Apple TV Plus, via Associated PressJason Sudeikis, the former “Saturday Night Live” stalwart, is poised to win multiple Emmys, including for best writing and best actor in a comedy series. Those would represent his first Emmy wins.A long shot competitor for best comedy is the HBO Max series “Hacks,” starring Jean Smart, who is also likely to win her fourth acting Emmy for her role as a Joan Rivers-like stand-up comic.When it comes to comedy this year, the broadcast and cable networks are on the outside looking in: They earned only one nomination in the category, from ABC’s “black-ish,” its lowest combined total in the history of the Emmys.Cedric the Entertainer hosts a potentially boozy ceremony.The Emmys will be an in-person event for the first time in two years, but it won’t be up to the level, in crowd size or spectacle, of the Before Time. Instead of taking place at the 7,100-seat Microsoft Theater, the ceremony will take place in a tent in downtown Los Angeles, with a few hundred people attending.Most nominees will be seated at tables, with food and drink, à la the Golden Globes, a dash of glamour that the show’s producers hope will provide a jolt to sagging ratings, which last year hit a new low. Some casts and production staffs plan to gather remotely. Nominees from “The Crown” will be ready to celebrate at a party in London, similar to the one “Schitt’s Creek” had last year in Toronto.Cedric the Entertainer will preside over the event, which have nominees seated at tables, with food and drink, à la the Golden Globes.G L Askew II for The New York TimesCedric the Entertainer, the stand-up comedian and star of the CBS sitcom “The Neighborhood,” will host. He has suggested that he won’t go for the kind of lacerating political commentary that figured in the onstage comments made by the recent Emmys hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Michael Che and Colin Jost.“I want to bring a familiarity that comes with my brand of stand-up,” he told The New York Times. “I’m somebody you know. I’m your cousin or your uncle, and we’re here to celebrate each other.”The downsized ceremony matches the reduced circumstance of the TV industry over the last year. Because of production delays during the pandemic, the number of shows submitted for the best drama and comedy races was down 30 percent.Michael K. Williams could win.Michael K. Williams, the beloved star of “The Wire” who was found dead on Sept. 6, is nominated for best supporting actor in a drama for the recently canceled HBO series, “Lovecraft Country.” If he does win — and he’s a slight favorite over Tobias Menzies from “The Crown” — it will not be because Emmys voters wanted to give him the award posthumously. The Emmy voting period ended before Williams’s death.Michael K. Williams, who died earlier this month, could win an Emmy for “Lovecraft Country.”HBO, via Associated PressA win for Mj Rodriguez could be one of the night’s biggest moments. Rodriguez’s performance as Blanca Evangelista on FX’s “Pose” earned her a nomination in the best actress in a drama race, the first time a transgender person has been up for the award. To pull it off, Rodriguez would have to beat Corrin, the favorite for her role as a young Princess Diana in “The Crown.”‘The Queen’s Gambit’ vs. ‘Mare of Easttown’As usual, the Emmys tightest race will come down to best limited series.Months ago, Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” seemed like a sure bet, especially after it claimed limited series honors at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Television Awards.Anya Taylor-Joy is nominated for her role as a chess prodigy in “The Queen’s Gambit.”Phil Bray/Netflix, via Associated PressKate Winslet could win an Emmy for her role as a detective in “Mare of Easttown.”Michele K. Short/HBOBut there are signs the race has turned into a dead heat. At the Television Critics Association Awards on Sept. 15, HBO’s gritty whodunit “Mare of Easttown” took best limited series honors, and Michaela Coel, the creator and star of another HBO limited series, “I May Destroy You,” won for best performer in any television drama.The best actress in a mini-series will be a showdown, pitting Coel against Kate Winslet, who played the weary detective of “Mare of Easttown,” and Anya Taylor-Joy, who played the chess prodigy in “The Queen’s Gambit.” More

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      Netflix and ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ dominate the Creative Arts Emmys.

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      Fueled by “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Crown,” Netflix dominated the competition at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards over the weekend.Netflix took home 34 Emmys at three separate ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday, while Disney+, the streamer’s closest competitor, won 13 awards. HBO and its streaming service, HBO Max, the perennial Emmys heavyweight, won just 10 awards.Each year, the Television Academy, which organizes the Emmys, announces the winners for dozens of technical awards in the lead-up to the biggest prizes that are announced at the main event, the Primetime Emmy Awards. This year’s prime-time ceremony will take place on Sunday and will be broadcast on CBS.“The Queen’s Gambit,” a limited series about a chess prodigy, won nine Creative Arts Emmys over the weekend, more than any other series. Its closest competitors, with seven awards each, were the Disney+ Star Wars action adventure show “The Mandalorian” and the NBC stalwart “Saturday Night Live.”Although the Creative Arts Emmys are not quite prime-time ready — they include awards like best stunt performance, best hairstyling and outstanding lighting direction for a variety series — they count all the same in the Hollywood record books, and the leaderboard for the 73rd Emmy Awards is now officially underway.The weekend ceremonies also handed out a few key acting awards. “The Queen’s Gambit” took the prize for best cast in a limited series. It beat out a pair of acclaimed HBO series, “I May Destroy You” and “Mare of Easttown.” “The Crown” won for best cast in a drama, and the Apple TV+ show “Ted Lasso” won for best cast in a comedy. Both are favored to take more prizes at the main event.Netflix’s dominance all but guarantees that it will win more Emmys than any other TV network, studio or streaming platform, making 2021 the first year it will beat out its chief rival, HBO, to claim ultimate bragging rights. Three years ago, in a first, Netflix tied HBO for top honors. Going into this year’s Emmys ceremonies, HBO, aided by HBO Max, led all networks with 130 nominations, one more than Netflix.The 73rd Emmy Awards will effectively be a showcase for television achievement during the pandemic. Because of production shutdowns and delays, the number of TV shows in the second half of last year and the first half of this year declined. Submissions for the top categories this year were down 30 percent.The ceremony, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, will take place indoors and outdoors on the Event Deck at L.A. Live, near the Emmys’ usual home at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Attendance will be drastically reduced, but in contrast to last year’s remote ceremony, most winners are likely to deliver their acceptance speeches in person. More

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      Moses Ingram Knows You Wanted to See More Jolene

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      The “Queen’s Gambit” actress was nominated for her first Emmy this year. It was her first major role out of drama school.Voting is underway for the 73rd Primetime Emmys, and this week we’re talking to several first-time Emmy nominees. The awards will be presented Sept. 19 on CBS.Moses Ingram realized how big “The Queen’s Gambit” was going to be when somebody tattooed her face on their body. Netflix released the series on Oct. 23, and by around November, a Brazilian man had sent Ingram a picture of his new tattoo.“I mean, I know it’s not about me; it’s more about Jolene,” Ingram said. “But it’s still my face. So it was like, ‘I’m happy you’re happy with it?’”Ingram plays Jolene, a rebellious teenager at the Methuen Home, an orphanage for girls, who becomes the closest childhood friend of the protagonist, Beth Harmon (played by, at different ages, Annabeth Kelly, Isla Johnston and Anya Taylor-Joy). The performance earned Ingram an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie, her first nomination for a major award.She said she was shocked when she got the call about the nomination. She wasn’t watching the Emmys announcement, nor did she know it was happening that day. She was just on her way to work.Her reaction was perhaps best captured in her Instagram post from that day: a throwback photo of Ingram as a child, looking absolutely flabbergasted, with the caption, “They said I’m what 🤯.”Ingram attended Baltimore School for the Arts, and class trips to local productions of plays like “A Raisin in the Sun” showed her that acting could be a career. After earning an associate degree at Baltimore City Community College, she attended Yale School of Drama. She auditioned for the role of Jolene fresh out of drama school.While viewers were drawn to the character, many wanted more of her — and more nuanced story lines. Some critics viewed Jolene as veering “dangerously into ‘guardian angel’ and ‘magical Negro’ trope territory,” referring to Black characters whose only apparent purpose is to aid and enlighten white protagonists.A monologue in the last episode seemed to anticipate this criticism. As Jolene offers to loan Beth the $3,000 she needs to travel to a chess tournament in Moscow, she explains: “I’m not your guardian angel. I’m not here to save you. Hell, I can barely save me. I’m here because you need me to be here. It’s what family does. That’s what we are.” But some viewers still saw a Black woman given too little screen time and not enough character development.Ingram has stayed busy since the release of “The Queen’s Gambit,” scoring roles in Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (debuting at the New York Film Festival this fall), the Michael Bay-directed action thriller “Ambulance” and the “Star Wars” mini-series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”Speaking on her way to the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” set in Los Angeles, Ingram discussed her first love, her first audition and her first major role. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.You have said that plays like “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Hurt Village” made a strong impression on you in high school because they made “the hood beautiful.” Did they change your view of acting and drama?Definitely, because I had never seen plays. It wasn’t something that was normal to me until I went to a school that made it a point for us to go and see live performances.And up until that point, everything I had seen was white people. It was like “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and Tennessee Williams and all of those kinds of things. So seeing people that looked like me, just looking like they were just living onstage — I didn’t even know.I mean, I knew I liked acting, but I didn’t really know it was a possibility until I was like: “Oh, people really do this! I could do this.”How was the transition from Baltimore City Community College to Yale? Did you feel any impostor syndrome?Absolutely. For the longest time, I walked around just sort of like, — I don’t know, I just felt like I had to work super hard. And I think I put more stress on myself than I needed to because I felt like I had to prove my worthiness of being there. Like, anything I was offered, I had to do because I had to be grateful.So I spent a lot of time that first year — and second year, honestly — just very drained. Because I was pushing way harder than I needed to. But I also had fun, so it wasn’t all bad.“The Queen’s Gambit” was your first audition after drama school. How did it feel to find success so quickly after such a hard road to get there?I felt really blessed, and I felt really relieved. Obviously, I had no idea what the show was going to do. I was just really happy to have a job and to be working, and to get to go to Germany on top of all of that. It felt nice to not have to worry because I spent a lot of time worrying about going backward, back to where I was before. So it really freed my mind up some, for a little while.The early part of the show is set in Kentucky, and Jolene has a very distinctive voice — literally and figuratively. Did you have any models or study anything to make it sound more authentic?One of the main things our vocal coach wanted to push, at least for me, was opening up the vowels more. But it wasn’t something I had to think super hard about because my natural tendency draws south. So she just wanted to take it from south to west.Unlike Beth, Jolene is played by the same actress from start to finish. What did you do to reflect her advancing age?I think especially with young Jolene, it was more about the freedom: freedom of what you say and your mouth and how you think. Really just unrestricted. And then also freedom in the body, just loose.Having no real structure, you’re hunching, you’re leaning, and you don’t really know what it’s like to be really in your body yet. So I think the main distinction going into adult Jolene was really solidly and firmly being in that body and confidently being woman.Unlike the character Beth, who was portrayed by three different actors, Jolene was played by Ingram throughout the series.NetflixDo you see any of yourself in Jolene?If anything I probably see myself more in young Jolene. At least at a period in my life. Just sort of rough around the edges. And, like, even if your way of doing things does not seem like it’s the best way to other people, it’s like: “Well, it’s my way, and it’s working for me now, and I’m going to let it work until it doesn’t. And that’s going to have to be fine.” I think, at a point in time, I very much was that younger version. I think I’m still working toward older Jolene’s pizazz.People have very mixed feelings about Jolene. You’ve acknowledged in previous interviews that she is a supporting character while also saying that we still need more stories where actors of color aren’t just supporting. Have you found that in any of the current projects you’ve been working on?It’s hard for people to accept that Jolene is a supporting character, I think because she is Black. If Jolene was white, I do not think it would be as much of a talking point. I think because of the story that my skin tells, there just naturally has to be an extra layer of care around storytelling, and what certain things look like. Optics play a huge role because when I walk into things, there are just certain realities.This is not me saying that supporting characters are not appropriate for people who look like me. That’s not what I’m saying. But the point — which with time I’ve been able to articulate better because I’ve been just watching that whole thing unfold — is that there has to be extra care around storytelling with Black bodies.Since leaving drama school, it’s been one series or movie after another for you. Do you plan to return to theater at some point?It’s absolutely my first love. And when I started, it was my only intention. It wasn’t until I got to school that I was like, “Oh, there are more” — I mean, obviously, I watched TV but my way in, before going to school, was theater.So I love the theater. It’s my first home, and I hope to get back to it sooner than later. I don’t want to get too far away from it. I think I’ll get scared if I wait too long. More

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      Chloé Zhao Becomes Second Woman to Win Top Directors Guild Award

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      The “Nomadland” filmmaker is the first woman of color to take the feature-film directing prize. She’s now the prohibitive front-runner for the Oscar.The Directors Guild of America made history Saturday night, giving the group’s top prize for feature-film directing to Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), the first woman of color to receive the award and only the second woman ever to win in the category, after Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”).Zhao was considered the heavy favorite after a dominant awards-season run for her film that has also included top honors at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and Producers Guild Awards, and she will now enter Oscar night as the prohibitive front-runner, since the DGA winner has won the best-director Oscar 13 of the last 15 times.A best-picture victory for “Nomadland” appears increasingly likely, too: Few films have gone on to take Oscar’s top prize without first winning at the DGA or PGA. Still, one of those curveballs came just last year, when “Parasite” won best picture without either of those trophies but after netting a high-profile win at the Screen Actors Guild.That may provide a path forward for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which also pulled off a SAG victory last week. But though that film’s director, Aaron Sorkin, was nominated alongside Zhao for the DGA Award, he was snubbed for a directing nomination at the Oscars.In her acceptance speech, Zhao offered fulsome praise for Sorkin — “I can feel my heart beating with yours when I watch your film,” she said — as well as for the other nominees, Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), and David Fincher (“Mank”).And though he didn’t win, Fincher may have gotten the line of the night when he was asked to sum up his career: “Directing,” Fincher said, “is a bit like trying to paint a watercolor from four blocks away through a telescope, over a walkie-talkie, and 85 people are holding the brush.”In other news at the virtual ceremony, the award for first-time feature-film directing went to Darius Marder for “Sound of Metal,” while the documentary prize went to Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw for “The Truffle Hunters,” which was snubbed by Oscar.Here is the full list of winners:Feature: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”First-Time Feature: Darius Marder, “Sound of Metal”Documentary: Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, “The Truffle Hunters”Television Movies and Limited Series: Scott Frank, “The Queen’s Gambit”Dramatic Series: Lesli Linka Glatter, “Homeland”Comedy Series: Susanna Fogel, “The Flight Attendant”Variety/Talk/News/Sports (Regularly Scheduled): Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live”Variety/Talk/News/Sports (Specials): Thomas Schlamme, “A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote”Reality Programs: Joseph Guidry, “Full Bloom”Commercials: Melina Matsoukas, “You Love Me” for Beats by Dr. DreChildren’s Programs: Amy Schatz, “We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest” More

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      SAG Awards Go to ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7,’ Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis

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      Daniel Kaluuya and Yuh-Jung Youn took supporting actor honors. On the TV side, “The Crown” and “Schitt’s Creek” won top honors.Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” finally notched a significant award-season victory Sunday night, winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for best cast in a motion picture.Over the last decade, five of the films that won SAG’s top prize went on to take the best-picture Oscar, including last year, when a big win for “Parasite” gave it a gust of momentum going into the Academy Awards. After “The Trial of the Chicago 7” lost the Golden Globe for best drama to “Nomadland” and the Writers Guild Award for original screenplay to “Promising Young Woman,” the film’s triumph at the SAG Awards could give it a similar jolt.Two men who’ve been sweeping the season continued to steamroll at SAG: The late Chadwick Boseman won the best-actor award for his work in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” while “Judas and the Black Messiah” star Daniel Kaluuya won the supporting-actor trophy.The actress and supporting-actress races have been more suspenseful this season, and SAG delivered two notable victories in the form of best-actress winner Viola Davis for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Minari” scene-stealer Yuh-Jung Youn, who won the supporting-actress award.Last year, all four SAG acting winners went on to repeat at the Oscars. If that happens this year, it will be the first time that all the acting Oscars were won by people of color. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” would also become the first film since “As Good as It Gets” (1997) to win both the best-actor and best-actress Oscars — though unlike that film, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” missed out on a best-picture nomination. (“As Good as It Gets” lost that prize to “Titanic.”)In the television categories, “Schitt’s Creek” and “The Crown” continued their award-season dominance, winning the comedy and drama categories, respectively.Here is a complete list of winners:FilmOutstanding Cast: “The Trial of the Chicago 7”Actor in a Leading Role: Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”Actress in a Leading Role: Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”Actress in a Supporting Role: Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari”Actor in a Supporting Role: Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”Stunt Ensemble in a Movie: “Wonder Woman 1984”TelevisionEnsemble in a Drama Series: “The Crown”Actor in a Drama Series: Jason Bateman, “Ozark”Actress in a Drama Series: Gillian Anderson, “The Crown”Ensemble in a Comedy Series: “Schitt’s Creek”Actor in a Comedy Series: Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”Actress in a Comedy Series: Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”Actor in a TV movie or limited series: Mark Ruffalo, “I Know This Much Is True”Actress in a TV movie or limited series: Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit”Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series: “The Mandalorian” More

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      Making Chess Sing: ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to Be Adapted for the Stage

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMaking Chess Sing: ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to Be Adapted for the StageA creative team has not yet been set for the proposed show, which would be based on the 1983 novel that spawned the hit streaming series.Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in the Netflix adaptation of the novel “The Queen’s Gambit.”Credit…via NetflixMarch 8, 2021, 11:02 a.m. ETBeth Harmon is making her next move.A production company led by a Disney heir is planning to adapt “The Queen’s Gambit” into a stage musical. The fictional story is about an orphan girl — that’s Harmon — who becomes a pill-popping prodigy in the overwhelmingly male world of chess.Level Forward, a company whose founders include Abigail Disney, a grandniece of Walt Disney, said on Monday that it has won the rights to adapt Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel, which has become newly noteworthy thanks to the enormous success of last year’s streaming series adaptation on Netflix.Level Forward is not yet announcing a creative team or any other details of the project.The company has a decidedly progressive bent (it describes itself as “an ecosystem of storytellers, business people and social change organizers”), and is a relatively recent but active player in the theater industry, co-producing four Broadway shows in 2019: “What the Constitution Means to Me,” “Slave Play,” “Jagged Little Pill” and a revival of “Oklahoma!”The game of chess, although seemingly unlikely fodder for song-and-dance, has inspired at least one other musical: In the 1980s, the lyricist Tim Rice collaborated with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of Abba to write “Chess,” a fictional account of a tournament between an American and a Soviet grandmaster. The show had a well-received score that remains an object of affection and fascination for some, but, despite repeated efforts at revisions, it has not found success onstage; it ran for two months on Broadway in 1988.“The Queen’s Gambit” project is just at the start of its developmental life, and it’s not yet clear when or where there might be a production.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Golden Globes 2021: Where to Stream the Winners

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonGolden Globes: What HappenedBest and Worst MomentsWinners ListStream the WinnersRed Carpet ReviewAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGolden Globes 2021: Where to Stream the WinnersNearly all of the big winners from the evening are available to stream. Here’s a look at where to find them and what The Times first had to say about them.Sacha Baron Cohen in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which won the award for best musical or comedy at the Golden Globes.Credit…Amazon StudiosMarch 1, 2021, 11:31 a.m. ETDuring a normal year, when many of the awards-contending movies are released late in the season, home viewers often have to wait for a month or two to catch the winners on various streaming services. But the one benefit to an awards show during a pandemic year is that all the winners are immediately available — or so we might have assumed.To the surprise of many Golden Globes prognosticators — and to the actress herself — Jodie Foster won best supporting actress for “The Mauritanian,” a 9/11-themed legal drama that’s currently in theaters, but will arrive on VOD on Tuesday, March 2nd. (Our critic, Jeannette Catsoulis, would advise you to proceed with caution.) Otherwise, the night’s big winners on the film side are scattered among the streaming giants, with “Nomadland” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” on Hulu, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” on Amazon Prime and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “I Care a Lot” on Netflix.The awards were not distributed quite so democratically for the TV slate, where the fourth season of Netflix’s “The Crown” took best drama as well as prizes for three of the four acting categories. Netflix also has The Queen’s Gambit,” which won for best limited series or TV movie and for Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as an American chess grandmaster of humble origins. And the service is streaming all six seasons of the best musical or comedy winner “Schitt’s Creek.”Here’s a guide to the major-category winners that are currently a click away, along with excerpts from their New York Times reviews or features.Movies‘Nomadland’Won for: Best picture, drama; best director“In a fine Emersonian spirit, the movie rebels against its own conventional impulses, gravitating toward an idea of experience that is more complicated, more open-ended, more contradictory than what most American movies are willing to permit.” (Read the full Times review by A.O. Scott.)Where to watch: Stream it on Hulu.‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’Won for: Best musical or comedy; best actor, musical or comedy“Would I call this the best movie of 2020, from the standpoint of cinematic art? Look, I don’t know. It’s been a weird year. But I would insist that this sequel to a cringey, pranky, 14-year-old classic is undeniably the most 2020 movie of all time.” (Read the full Times article on the Best Movies of 2020, in which A.O. Scott put Sacha Baron Cohen’s satire at #1.)Where to watch: Stream it on Amazon Prime.‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’Won for: Best screenplay“‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is a mixed bag. While [Aaron] Sorkin draws some of his dialogue from court transcripts, he also exercises the historical dramatist’s prerogative to embellish, streamline and invent. Some of the liberties he takes help to produce a leaner, clearer story, while others serve no useful purpose.” (Read the full Times review by A.O. Scott.)Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix.‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’Won for: Best actor, drama“Of course it’s hard to watch Levee — to marvel at [Chadwick] Boseman’s lean and hungry dynamism — without feeling renewed shock and grief at Boseman’s death earlier this year. And though ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ has been around for a long while and will endure in the archive, the algorithm and the collective memory, there is something especially poignant about encountering it now.” (Read the full Times review by A.O. Scott.)Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix.‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’Won for: Best actress, drama“Andra Day, who plays Holiday, is a canny and charismatic performer, and the film’s hectic narrative is punctuated with nightclub and concert-hall scenes that capture some of the singer’s magnetism. Rather than lip-sync the numbers, Day sings them in a voice that has some of Holiday’s signature breathy rasp and delicate lilt, and suggests her ability to move from whimsy to anguish and back in the space of a phrase.” (Read the full Times review by A.O. Scott.)Where to watch: Stream it on Hulu.‘I Care a Lot’Won for: Best actress, musical or comedy“An unexpectedly gripping thriller that seesaws between comedy and horror, “I Care a Lot” is cleverly written (by the director, J Blakeson) and wonderfully cast. Marla is an almost cartoonish sociopath, and [Rosamund] Pike leans into her villainy with unwavering bravado.” (Read the full Times review by Jeannette Catsoulis here.)Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix.‘Judas and the Black Messiah’Won for: Best supporting actor“‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ represents a disciplined, impassioned effort to bring clarity to a volatile moment, to dispense with the sentimentality and revisionism that too often cloud movies about the ’60s and about the politics of race.” (Read the full Times review by A.O. Scott.)Awards Season More

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      This Year’s Standout Moments in the Arts

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      The Best of This Year in the ArtsThe Culture DeskLooking back on 2020 ��Natalie Seery/HBOAround the world, museums, theaters and galleries were closed, and concerts and festivals canceled; still, many artists continued creating indelible work.Here are our critics’ highlights → More