Fighting for civil rights

Martin Luther King Jr. would be stunned by the rollback of voting rights in this country and efforts to suppress the teaching of the struggle for civil rights, according to his eldest son, Martin Luther King III . “People ask me, what do you think your father is doing? He’s not just turning over — he’s spinning in his grave,” MLK III told Deadline in a conversation at the SXSW Conference and Festivals. He imagines his late father thinking, “’What the heck is going on? Me, my team, we opened doors that should never be closed.’ And yet we’re going, it feels backwards — at least temporarily. Which is interesting because he prophetically wrote in his last book, Where Do We Go Here: Chaos or Community? , obviously he wanted us to revert to community, but we are seeing chaos constantly. Every day something else comes out that’s more extreme than the last thing. And, so, our work is cut out for us.” King and his wife Arndrea Waters King were among the panelists at an SXSW … [Read more...] about Martin Luther King III: My Father Is “Spinning In His Grave” Over Voting Rights Attacks — SXSW

Several prominent National Football League quarterbacks have gone down from injury and illness in the first two weeks of the season. But still, no one has called on former 49er Colin Kaepernick . Despite his agents contacting such teams as the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets, all of whom had their star quarterbacks either go down or retire, no teams appear interested in the controversial Kaepernick. He is known as the first player to take a knee during the National Anthem, allegedly in protest of police treatment of suspects and road stops on minorities. He has played up that rebel image in a series of Nike ads and filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging collusion in that he was denied an opportunity to play again, eventually settling out of court. Kaepernick hasn’t played since the end of the 2016 season, when he opted for free agency. All of that, combined with Kaepernick’s long absence from the game, may be … [Read more...] about Colin Kaepernick Waits As NFL Quarterbacks Suffer Injuries, Prompting A Boycott Call

EXCLUSIVE: A ban on drag performances in public places has been enacted in Tennessee, and more than a dozen other states may follow suit, a movement predicated on the fear that children who might glimpse such a show would be scarred by it. But an upcoming documentary defies that demonization by portraying drag performers as a force for good in their community. Emmy-winning media company World of Wonder ( RuPaul’s Drag Race , The Eyes of Tammy Faye ) and Gatekeeper Productions today announced they have wrapped production on The Little Pageant That Could , a feature documentary that chronicles the journey of L.A.’s Best in Drag Show to support the Alliance for Housing and Healing. “The event, which started as a spur-of-the-moment spoof of Miss America thrown by a few twenty-something friends in a tiny West Hollywood apartment in 1990, grew to become L.A.’s longest-running drag benefit including appearances by A-list actors, playing before thousands of people … [Read more...] about Drag Is A Force For Good, Shows Upcoming Documentary ‘The Little Pageant That Could’ From World Of Wonder & Gatekeeper Productions

Oscar-winning screenwriter, playwright and film director Christopher Hampton was on feisty form in a masterclass in Qatar earlier this week as part of the Doha Film Institute ’s Qumra talent incubator event (March 10-16). Hampton, who won Academy Awards for the screenplays of Dangerous Liaisons and The Father and was Oscar-nominated for Atonement , urged aspiring screenwriters in the auditorium to try to retain some sort of control of their work and creative vision. “I would advise anybody to try to get at least some sort of associate producer credit to maintain a grip on the material and you have to fight… fight with a lot of people,” he said. “They don’t want to give it to you. They don’t want to give you those powers, but I’ve always argued that since the writer is the origin of the piece, they deserve to be respected.” “Don’t be unreasonable because there is a very strong possibility that other people’s ideas will be as good as yours but there comes a … [Read more...] about Christopher Hampton Talks Screenwriter Control; ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ Sprint Against Miloš Forman – Qumra Masterclass

Imagine not only believing the world is coming to an end, but wanting it to happen. Eagerly. Then, take it a step further and imagine people with such a mentality engineering American politics and foreign policy to bring about the very thing they seek — the apocalypse. It may sound outlandish, but there are many well organized fundamentalist Christian leaders and their followers working hard to make this doomsday scenario a reality, an alarming movement explored in the documentary Praying for Armageddon . The film directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tonje Hessen Schei and co-directed by Michael Rowley makes its world premiere Monday night at the prestigious CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen. “What they are really pushing for is the destruction of our civilization. It’s quite outrageous and mind blowing, really,” Schei tells Deadline as we sit at a café in Copenhagen. “And I don’t think a lot of Americans realize that the sort of hidden end time Armageddon lobby… that … [Read more...] about New Documentary Shows How American Evangelicals Are ‘Praying For Armageddon’ And Pulling The Levers Of Power To Achieve It – CPH:DOX

TMZSports.com Floyd Mayweather 's jeweler tells TMZ Sports Jake Paul is fibbin' about the way things went down in Miami earlier this month ... saying there were nowhere near 50 guys in TBE's entourage during their altercation outside of a Heat game. Shuki International had a front-row view of the two fighters' tiff in the South Florida street back on March 8 -- as he attended the NBA game with the legendary boxer -- and he says there were only about eight guys with Floyd at the time of the ruckus. He also tells us Mayweather didn't seek out Jake -- saying their encounter was strictly coincidental. TMZSports.com "Jake is exaggerating," Shuki said. "We just finished the game, pulled out, and Jake was there. Floyd was with his eight bodyguards." "And [Jake] just run like a rabbit." Of course, Jake's side of the story is a little different ... he said Floyd waited outside the arena for him in order to confront him with several dozen other … [Read more...] about Floyd Mayweather’s Jeweler Says Jake Paul’s Lying About Miami Altercation

Jacqueline Lesko has been promoted to President of Production at Word Games — the production company founded by multiple Emmy-winning writer, producer and director Craig Mazin , which is best known for its work on HBO’s smash hit series Chernobyl and The Last of Us . Lesko co-exec produced The Last of Us Season 1 and will exec produce the second season of the post-apocalyptic zombie show, co-created by Mazin and Neil Druckmann. She was also a co-producer on Mazin’s 2019 limited series Chernobyl , examining the fallout of the Soviet nuclear disaster, prior to Word Games producing the award-winning short George Lucas in Love , as well as the award-winning feature doc Spinning Plates . “Jacqueline has been an integral part of our company’s growth and success for a decade now, and the proof of her value is right there on the screen for everyone to see,” said Mazin in a statement. “I couldn’t ask for a better partner as we continue our journey with my own … [Read more...] about ‘The Last Of Us’ Producer Word Games Ups Jacqueline Lesko To President Of Production

Lille’s Series Mania Forum is kicking off today with a packed schedule of talks, screenings and competitions. Fighting it out in International Competition are the likes of Prime Video’s Toni Collette starrer The Power , Haven of Grace from Magnetic Beats director Vincent Maël Cardona, and Quoc Dang Tran’s Apple TV+ series Drops of God . They compete against Greek series Milky Way , which opened the festival, Viaplay’s futuristic Russell Tovey drama The Fortress , Red Skies from Israel, The Actor from Iran and Fleeting Lies from Spain. Each will have its world premiere at the event. The Power is a fantasy series set in a world where the physical balance of power between men and women switches when electric arcs emerge from the fingers of teenage girls all around the world. Debuting later this month, it comes from Sister, the UK producer behind Chernobyl and is based on Naomi Alderman’s sci-fi novel. Drops of God is the latest series from Call … [Read more...] about Series Mania Kicks Off With ‘The Power’, ‘Drops Of God’ & ‘Haven Of Grace’ In Competition

There’s a reason they call him The Darkling. Ben Barnes ‘ General Kirigan is on a downward spiral in Season 2 of Netflix ‘s Shadow and Bone as he seeks to expand The Fold and reign over Ravka. While in Season 1, the then-leader of Ravka’s Grisha army was a respected and charismatic Shadow Summoner, Kirigan has done away with the facade for Season 2. After surviving a Volcra attack that led everyone to believe he’d died, Kirigan has returned — very much alive and with a literal shadow army at his disposal that he’s using to stoke enough fear in the remainder of the Grisha army that they will help him defeat Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), who has set out to find the supposedly mythical creatures that can amplify her powers enough to destroy The Fold. “[Kirigan] was always on the wrong side. He’s always the villain. But in this season, it’s unleashed a little bit and he doesn’t have an army to rely on. He doesn’t have these masks of charm to rely on,” Barnes told … [Read more...] about Ben Barnes Breaks Down General Kirigan’s Dark Spiral In Season 2 of ‘Shadow And Bone’

Aaliyah 's been dead nearly 12 years ... but a music publisher is still fighting over the rights to her songs, suing a record company for allegedly hawking bootleg Aaliyah jams on the Internet. Reservoir Media Management filed the lawsuit against a company called Craze Productions, claiming Craze has been illegally selling songs from Aaliyah's double-platinum albums "Aaliyah" and "One in a Million" on iTunes. Reservoir claims it's the sole owner of the songs in question ... acquiring the music rights in 2012 ... and it never gave Craze permission to sell the music. Reservoir wants a judge to block Craze from peddling any more Aaliyah music ... and it wants $$$. … [Read more...] about Aaliyah — Legal Dogfight Over Dead Singer’s Music