A couple (Issa Rae & Kumail Nanjiani) experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious – circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night.
The film opens in theaters April 3rd.
Watch the trailer below:
The comedian and actor Dave Chappelle on Tuesday officially endorsed Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur, for president.
“I’m Yang Gang,” Chappelle said, according to a statement from Yang’s 2020 campaign.
Chappelle is set to perform two shows in South Carolina, a crucial early-voting state, later this month to benefit Yang’s campaign.
“Dave is one of the most important voices in our country today and I’m thrilled he has thrown his support behind this campaign,” Yang said in the statement. “He and I share similar concerns about the future and hopes for what it could be. We are also parents who see the world that we are leaving to our kids and believe they deserve better.”
Chappelle is among the most famous comedians in the US. In October, he received the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Yang entered the 2020 campaign season as a relatively unknown figure but has managed to make a dent in the race and outlast better-known politicians who have already dropped out, such as Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.
The latest polling from Morning Consult places Yang in sixth place overall among Democratic primary voters.
With that said, Yang did not qualify for Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, which comes less than a month before the Iowa caucuses.
Andrew Yang✔@AndrewYang
Thank you @DaveChappelle and welcome to the #yanggang. You are the best. Let’s do this for our kids.
“12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen and actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal have inked deals with Amazon.
McQueen’s deal is an overall which will see him create and produce content for Amazon Studios. As part of the deal, the television project “Last Days,” a Lammas Park and See-Saw Films production, has been put into development.
“Last Days” is described as a gripping sci-fi thriller where the world’s governments have secretly created a controversial plan to selectively colonize Mars in the wake of a dying Earth and the rise of AI. The series will follow one woman’s journey to explore the truth about where she came from, at the risk of losing everything she knows.
“I’m thrilled about this new venture and partnership with Amazon. The idea of having a partner that will support and facilitate risk and change is more than exciting,” said McQueen.
Garcia Bernal and Luna’s deal is a first-look. The duo currently serve as executive producers on the upcoming “Untitled Cortés and Moctezuma” limited series from Amazon Studios and Amblin Television. As part of the deal, Bernal and Luna will create and produce content for Amazon Studios. The pair recently announced their new production house in Mexico, La Corriente del Golfo, an independent company for cinematic, theatrical, and television productions and a variety of community-oriented projects.
“We are delighted and grateful at La Corriente del Golfo for our first look deal with Amazon Studios,” said Bernal. “This provides an opportunity for us and for talent in Latin America to create ambitious and interesting projects.”
“This is an important moment for everyone at La Corriente del Golfo. We are very excited to work hand in hand with Amazon, as this will allow us to reach new audiences and to tell stories that represent us and reflect our realities,” added Luna.
In addition, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke announced an overall deal with Brad Pitt’s Plan B production shingle at the platform’s Television Critics’ Association press tour day.
Source: Variety
Based on the bestselling comic book, Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot by the RST corporation. With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he’s an unstoppable force –stronger than ever and able to heal instantly. But in controlling his body, the company has sway over his mind and memories, too. Now, Ray doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not – but he’s on a mission to find out.
Directed by: David S. F. Wilson
Produced by: Neal H. Moritz
Toby JaffeDinesh Shamdasani
Vin Diesel
Cast: Vin Diesel
Eiza Gonzalez
Sam Heughan
Oscar winner Jared Leto sinks his teeth into a Marvel Comics horror character who dates back to 1971 in the first trailer for Sony’s Morbius. For Sony’s Columbia Pictures, Morbius (July 31) is part of a mining expedition into the unexplored corners of the Spider-Man universe, an initiative that already has produced a sleeper hit in the review-proof Venom with Tom Hardy.
Morbius is another horror-tinged bad guy plucked from the decades of published Spider-Man adventures and given a tailored stand-alone screen story that doesn’t rely on Peter Parker as a protagonist. The most intriguing and unexpected element of the teaser: Oscar-winner Michael Keaton pops up in the preview reprising the role of Adrien Toomes, aka the Vulture, the now-imprisoned tech-scavenging villain from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Toomes presence in the trailer represents the first major bridge between the Sony expanded Spider universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Like many classic Marvel Comics characters (both villains and heroes), the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius is a figure of affliction — an outsider soul whose superhuman abilities arrive packaged with tragedy and calamity.
The Morbius synopsis from Sony: “Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success soon reveals itself to be a remedy potentially worse than the disease.”
Leto won an Oscar for portraying HIV-positive trans woman Rayon in Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club and, with Suicide Squad in 2016, he joined the celebrated roster of actors who have portrayed the Joker on the big screen — a list that includes Joaquin Phoenix, the late Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero and voice actor Mark Hamill.
Daniel Espinosa directed the film, working off a script by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and a story by Sazama & Sharpless. Morbius is produced by Matt Tolmach, Avi Arad, and Lucas Foster.
Leto leads a cast that also features former Doctor Who star Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane, the lab-created bloodsucker first appeared as a Spider-Man villain in a Halloween 1971 issue and over the years has been given a solo spotlight as a fan-favorite and one of the few non-supernatural vampires in pop culture.
Source: Deadline
Actor and rapper Method Man will star in a spinoff of Power at Starz.
He joins the previously cast Mary J. Blige on the show, titled Power Book II: Ghost. The premium cable outlet has said the drama is an extension of its flagship series Power, which is set to air its series finale on Feb. 9.
Method Man (seen in character in the image at the top of this post) will play an attorney named Davis Maclean. Brilliant, ethically challenged and harboring a few secrets of his own, Davis is drawn into the Power world on multiple axes, and in a world riddled with murder and drugs, the only thing he’s addicted to is winning.
Power creator Courtney Kemp said Ghost will “continue the journey of some of Power‘s most controversial characters,” though despite its title it won’t necessarily focus on James “Ghost” St. Patrick, played by Omari Hardwick.
Details of Blige’s role in the show are being kept quiet.
Power is Starz’s most-watched original series, with season five having averaged 12 million viewers across all platforms. Kemp’s overall deal at Starz parent Lionsgate includes the development of “projects inspired by the world of” the show.
Method Man is coming off HBO’s The Deuce. The Wu-Tang Clan member’s acting credits also include The Wire, TBS’ The Last O.G., VH1’s The Breaks and the feature films Keanu, Trainwreck and How High. He is repped by CAA, Shauna Garr and Frankfurt Kurnit.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Comedy Central today announced a season two pickup for the highly-anticipated Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, ahead of its series premiere on Wednesday, January 22 at 10:30pm ET/PT.
Golden Globe winner Awkwafina (The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians) stars in the half-hour scripted comedy inspired by her real-life growing up in Queens, NY. Raised by her Dad (BD Wong) and Grandma (Lori Tan Chinn) alongside her cousin (Bowen Yang), Nora Lin leans on her family as she navigates life and young adulthood in outer borough-NYC. Watch the season one trailer here.
“We are in awe of Awkwafina’s creative genius on every level and we could not be more excited to embark on a season 2 with the entire Lin family in Awkwafina is Nora From Queens,” said Sarah Babineau and Jonas Larsen, Co-Heads of Original Content.
Awkwafina is Nora From Queens is executive produced by Nora Lum, Karey Dornetto, Lucia Aniello, Teresa Hsiao, Peter Principato and Itay Reiss of Artists First. Sarah Babineau and Rachel Olson are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.
Star’s Meagan Good, Empire’s Grace Byers, Mother’s Milk’s Jerrie Johnson and I Am The Night’s Shoniqua Shandai are to star in Amazon’s half-hour comedy from Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver.
Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee is set to direct the first two episodes of the ten-part series, which comes from Universal Television, and Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions.
In July, Amazon Studios has ordered the female-focused comedy, which was created, written and executive produced by Oliver. The show, formerly known as Harlem, is a single-camera comedy following the lives of four black women – friends from their college days at NYU – as they navigate sex, relationships and chasing their dreams.
Meagan Good plays Camille, a stylish, sunny professor of anthropology course “Sex and Love” at Columbia University. While Camille has extensive knowledge about the dating and mating norms of many cultures, she has a hard time navigating the dating choices within her own life. Grace Byers plays Quinn, an optimistic, creative, and romantic talented fashion designer, Quinn is a trust fund kid who lives a life paid primarily by her parents. Shoniqua Shandai plays Angie, a smart, filter-free party, aspiring singer, who never met an impulse she did not follow and is living with Quinn rent-free. Jerrie Johnson plays Tye, an alpha, fierce, queer successful app developer who prefers keeping vulnerability and feelings at arm’s length, causing her to date women who are not always her intellectual equal.
Oliver executive produces with Paper Kite’s Poehler and Kim Lessing and 3 Arts’ Dave Becky.
Oliver is the creator, executive producer/showrunner and a director on BET’s television adaptation of The First Wives Club, starring Michelle Buteau (Enlisted), Jill Scott (Why Did I Get Married?) and Ryan Michelle Bathe (This Is Us). Oliver co-wrote the screenplay for Girls Trip, which grossed more than $100 million at the global box office.
Source: Deadline
The resurgence of Eddie Murphy continued on Sunday night at the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award as well as two wins for Dolemite Is My Name including the award for best comedy film.
The 58-year-old comedy icon has been enjoying a brighter spotlight in recent months thanks to his portrayal of Rudy Ray Moore, the struggling comedian who fashioned an alter ego for himself as the cartoonishly obscene pimp king known as Dolemite. Murphy also made a triumphant return to Saturday Night Live in December and is setting his sights on a return to the stage with a stand-up comedy tour.
On Sunday, Murphy was feted by the Broadcast Film Critics Association during their Critics’ Choice Awards gala at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica. A montage of his screen career (with scenes from SNL, 48 Hours, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, The Nitty Professor, Dreamgirls, and Bowfinger, to name just a few) put the star in a reflective mood as he accepted the lifetime achievement trophy.
“To make your living making people laugh is the highest blessing on Earth,” Murphy said. He added:“I’ve played everything: a cop, a robber, a doctor, different ethnicities, animals. I’ve been a donkey. I’ve even played a spaceship once. When young actors come up to me on the street and say, ‘Do you have any advice?’, I say, ‘Never play a spaceship.’”
The donkey gig, of course, was for the Shrek franchise, a pivotal success for Dreamworks Animation. The spaceship role, on the other hand, was for the widely forgotten 2008 film Meet Dave. A few minutes after the standing ovation for Murphy’s lifetime achievement honor the comedy star was back on stage and wearing a satisfied smile after hearing Dolemite’s name called out in a key competitive category.
Dolemite claimed the prize for best comedy, topping a strong and eclectic field that also included Jojo Rabbit, Booksmart, The Farewell, and Knives Out. Ruth E. Carter took home the Netflix film’s second trophy of the night when her blaxploitation era recreations won in the best costume design category.
Source: Deadline