Here’s a key event that happened on this day brought to you by Black Facts 1927 – Sidney Poitier born On this day Sidney Poitier, who will be the first African American to win an Academy Award in a starring role, is born in Miami, Fl.
Taraji P Henson Takes Her Time Accepting Best TV Actress Golden Globe Congratulations are definitely in order for Taraji P. Henson , who took home the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Drama Golden Globe for her role as Cookie Lyon on “Empire.” The actress handed out cookies on her walk to the stage to accept her award, then warned “You’re going to have to wait” as tele-prompters asked her to wrap up her speech. She thanked her family, longtime agent and publicist, show producers and co-workers, leaving Terrence Howard for last by saying she was nothing without him and adding that Cookie is nothing without Lucious. They gave Taraji a “crack dealer” Golden Globe just like they gave Denzel a “gangsta” Oscar. #GoldenGlobes — Bossip (@Bossip) January 11, 2016 Many who watched the awards show probably noticed Taraji’s sarcastic tone as she acknowledged her award came as the result of playing an ex-con. Do you think Hollywood prefers to award black actors for playing stereotypes? Ironically, the other subject of our tweet has received some awards for questionable roles… Embed from Getty Images Sunday also proved to a big night for Denzel Washington who was initially “speechless” as he was joined at the podium by his family to become only the third African-American actor to accept the prestigious Cecil B Demille award (Morgan Freeman won in 2012 and Sidney Poitier won in 1982). He was introduced for the award by Tom Hanks who called him “a peer and equal of all the greatest legends of our craft.” Previous recipients include Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlton Heston, Gene Kelly, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Walt Disney, Martin Scorsese, Sophia Lauren and Cecil B. Demille. SplashNews/GettyImages
But I can’t teach you my swag… Denzel Washington Covers GQ Magazine Veteran Hollyweird man-candy Denzel Washington is showing these young bucks that he’s still got it. The Oscar-Award winning actor graces the cover of October’s issue of GQ magazine and talks that talk about who influences him as an actor, who he’d want to play him in a biopic and offers some words of wisdom to live by. Check out a few excerpts from the interview below: Is there an actor who has influenced you? There’s a scene in The Godfather II. De Niro’s in a theater. And he’s looking back. It’s just a look. I don’t think I’ve ever imitated another actor, but there’s nothing wrong with learning from them. Do you have any code you live by? I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word. I read something great yesterday. It said, “Don’t aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.” We interrupt this interview for a moment of silence to marvel at this masterpiece of a man… Ok. As you were…. In some ways, you’re a cipher. There’s not much you put out there. But that’s not my job to put stuff out there. Sidney Poitier told me this years ago: “If they see you for free all week, they won’t pay to see you on the weekend, because they feel like they’ve seen you. If you walk by the magazine section in the supermarket and they’ve known you all their life, there’s no mystery. They can’t take the ride.” My professional work is being a better actor. I don’t know how to be a celebrity. When the Denzel biopic is made, what would an actor need to have in his performance to make you say, “He got me”? That suggests I know what it is, and I don’t want to know what it is. That’s part of the mystery. It is what it is. I don’t go, “I gotta make sure I put some of that Denzel Washington-ism in the movie.” I don’t want tricks. I don’t want to lose my mojo. This man’s swag is truly timeless. These young black Hollyweirders have some pretty big shoes to fill if they plan on coming for this throne anytime soon. You’re welcome, ladies.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the poster for the 84th Academy Awards, and it’s… nice? I mean, Oscar looks sexy as ever, and all those foggy images of awards-night glories past recall both the champagne-fueled afterparties and the preponderance of white folks who take this hardware home every year. But isn’t something missing? Like, the host? After all that hullabaloo about Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy that the Academy worked to deflect, and after all the lengths that the Board of Governors went to just to replace Murphy with an ultrasafe, ultrastable emcee, and after years of advertising hosts from Chris Rock to Jon Stewart to Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to Anne Hathaway and Anne Franco, where is Billy Crystal? If I’m a casual viewer, I’m far likelier to take positive notice of the host than of the centrally positioned reminder that Driving Miss Daisy actually won Best Picture once upon a sad, sad time. Also: Can’t we get some more color in here? Sidney Poitier? Denzel Washington? Mo’Nique? If it has to be Best Picture alums, maybe Poitier and Rod Steiger from In the Heat of the Night ? Even Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker . I’m not sure what this says about the young demographic that the aging Academy claims to covet; I doubt they’re watching Giant and/or The Sound of Music . Or maybe they are! Are you “young” and obsessive-compulsively watching Gone With the Wind on a DVD loop in honor of white, uptight, vaunted Academy legacies? Tell us in the comments! [via Awards Daily ]
Movie will reportedly be directed by Jessy Terrero (‘Soul Plane’). By Aly Semigran 50 Cent Photo: C. Flanigan/ FilmMagic Like many before him, 50 Cent is making the transition from hip-hop to Hollywood. The rapper, who has a finger in various projects — from his own film-production company, called Cheetah Vision Films, to distributing a line of earphones — has signed on for yet another movie role. According to Variety , Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will star in an upcoming crime drama called “Freelancers,” in which he’ll play the son of a murdered New York City police officer who joins the force and finds himself “on a team of rogue Gotham cops.” The movie will reportedly be directed by Jessy Terrero (“Soul Plane”), who has previously worked with 50 on some of his most-memorable videos such as the MTV Video Music Award-nominated “Candy Shop.” The latest news is just another step in 50 Cent’s plan to move from music to movies. Making his big-screen debut in 2005’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” the star shocked fans a few years later when he tweeted a picture of himself looking frighteningly thin in preparation for his role in his passion project “Things Fall Apart.” In fact, the 35-year-old seems to be continuing to take his craft very seriously. When MTV News caught up with him at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — which he attended alongside his friend, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., to promote their newly launched film company, Mayweather Productions — 50 seemed as ambitious as ever. He not only said he feels as though he’s “growing” as an actor , but also that he hopes to have a career akin to trailblazing Oscar-winner Sidney Poitier . As 50 put it, “Shoot for the stars if you would do that.” Does 50 Cent have the acting chops to make it in Hollywood? Sound off below! Related Photos The Evolution Of: 50 Cent Related Artists 50 Cent
The 83rd annual Academy Awards nominations are in and of course there were a lot of snubs, heartbreak and questionable nods but there was also what some critics believed to be a fundamental “breakdown when it comes to honoring black actors.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Film Editor Gregg Kilday, who wrote the article “Whitest Oscar in Ten Years” back in September agrees, that “this year there wasn’t a real small, serious-themed movie about African American subjects that the Academy could turn to for nominations.” Movieline’s S.T. VanAirsdale, however, lays some of the blame directly on the Academy. In an interview with Popeater’s Jo Piazza he says the voting members were “a historically lazy group of viewers who aren’t going to discover or nominate anything independently.” Just last year, many black actors and producers represented in films like The Blind Side, Precious and Invictus. The Best Actress nominees included Gabourey Sidibe and winner Mo’Nique. It was also the same year that Geoffrey Fletcher became the first black winner of a Best Screenplay Oscar. The years before that usually had at least one black actor or actress nominated from Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis in 2008, Ruby Dee in 2007, Will Smith and Forest Whitaker in 2006, Terence Howard in 2005, and so on. So what exactly happened this year? Some claim it was a lack of “films that take a serious look at African American themes,” while others blame it on the fact that “Hollywood is making fewer serious, a.k.a. Oscar-worthy films,” in general. But why does the film have to necessarily address so called African American themes? Why not just hire the best actor/actress for the role. Then again, this is Hollywood. While many of these things leave me scratching my head. One thing I can say for sure is that in 2011, there still seems to be an underlying problem of casting any minority as a lead actor or actress in a film. Do we even need to address the whitewashing of “The Last Airbender” or the whole “Prince of Persia” fiasco. Now whether this all stems from a fear of the film becoming stereotyped, a box-office flop or the fear of not being able to attract the cross marketing/multimillion-dollar campaigns necessary to garner Oscar attention is still up for debate. All I can say for sure is that Hollywood needs to get it together asap. Or should I start to address the other issue of why 90% of GLBT actors do not play GLBT roles in TV or film? Or is that asking too much? Discuss…. Source
When it comes to Movieline’s “On This Day” feature, there are always plenty of historic occasions to commemorate on April 13 — say, Sidney Poitier’s groundbreaking Academy Award win for Best Actor in 1964, or Rick Schroeder’s birthday 40 years ago (go ahead, gasp). But today around ML HQ, there’s another momentous birthday we can’t overlook celebrating as well: Ours.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice 83-year-old Sidney Poitier was involved in a car accident on Sunset Blvd. earlier this week, TMZ has learned. A rep from the Beverly Hills PD tells TMZ the accident occurred Monday around 4 PM — emergency vehicles responded to the scene.A witness … Permalink