Wicked film cast

Ava DuVernay ’s feature adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents has just added Niecy Nash -Betts, Jon Bernthal , Vera Farmiga , Nick Offerman , Jasmine Cephas Jones and Connie Nielsen to the movie, which is shooting in Georgia. The group joins King Richard Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis , who has the lead role. DuVernay is writing and directing, and producing alongside veteran collaborator Paul Garnes. A bestseller and shortlisted for several awards, Wilkerson’s Caste examines racism in America through the prism of social, economic and cultural delineation and “pillars” of exclusion. Nash-Betts, fresh off a Critics Choice Award win for her role in Netflix’s Dahmer , is reteaming with DuVernay after receiving an Emmy nomination for her turn in the Netflix limited series When They See Us. She is also the lead of ABC’s The Rookie: Feds . She is repped by WME and Artists First. Bernthal reunites … [Read more...] about Ava DuVernay’s ‘Caste’ Adds Niecy Nash-Betts, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Nick Offerman & More

Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34 th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today. Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga (whose characters never interact, save for one momentous glance). By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.” The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar … [Read more...] about ‘Saint Omer’ Takes Top Honors At 34th Palm Springs Film Festival

Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, Polite Society stars Priya Kansara ( Bridgerton ), Ritu Arya ( Umbrella Academy ) and Nimra Bucha ( Disney+ Ms. Marvel ). The Focus Features movie had its world premiere Friday in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival. The movie begins with Ria (Kansara), a Pakistani teenager in a karate class. She’s a purple belt who is serious about honing her skills to become a stunt woman. She records YouTube videos of her home training and recites the line “I am the fury.” Her older sister Lena (Ayra) is an art school dropout who mopes around her parents’ house and often helps Ria record her videos. Ria is obsessed with professional stunt woman Eunice Huthart, who she frequently emails but never receives a response. Ria and her two friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) attend a private all-girls school where they are constantly picked on by a girl name Kovacs (Shona Babayemi). The bullying reaches … [Read more...] about ‘Polite Society’ Sundance Film Festival Review: A Cultural Action Adventure Film Complete With Martial Arts And Wirefu

Angus MacLachlan wrote 2005’s terrific indie Junebug, which put Amy Adams on the big-time map and earned her a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in a heartbreaking performance. It also put MacLachlan on the map with his first screenplay, and it was an auspicious start. Since then he has added directing to his credits including Goodbye to All and Abundant Acreage Available but tonight returned to the Sundance Film Festival with his latest, A Little Prayer , shot and set in his hometown of Winston-Salem, NC. Perhaps the kind of small indie that defines the term “Sundance movie,” A Little Prayer is largely a showcase for an exceptionally talented cast who make up the troubled family in this tale. It drifts into some soapy territory before it is over but is rescued by some fine acting, even if at times it feels more like a TV production than a gritty independent film, perhaps because the cinematography looks like video more often than not. RELATED: Sundance … [Read more...] about ‘A Little Prayer’ Sundance Film Review: David Strathairn & Jane Levy Lend Gravitas To Southern Family Melodrama

Following in the slipstream of Shudder’s surprise hit Skinamarink , Laura Moss ’ birth/rebirth is a similarly non-conforming horror, this time one that prioritizes its intriguing but somewhat underdeveloped conceit above the traditional trappings of its genre. Very loosely inspired by Mary Shelley’s 19th century novel Frankenstein , the film centers on a decidedly post -modern Prometheus: by making its central scientist female rather than male, Moss’ feature debut short-circuits the usual blunt clichés of a crazy scientist bent on defying nature and instead enters the realm of David Cronenberg’s ’80s heyday with its focus on the human anatomy as a battleground for shady ethics. Of all Cronenberg’s body horrors, however, the touchstone here seems to be 1988’s Dead Ringers , one of the director’s most sophisticated and least gory, dealing with notions of duality in the story of doomed identical twin gynecologists. Moss touches on similar ideas of yin and yang … [Read more...] about Sundance Review: Laura Moss’ Midnight Section Film ‘Birth/Rebirth’

So far nearly all the 2023 Sundance Film Festival films I have seen are based on true stories, from a teacher in Radical, to a gay single father in San Francisco circa ’70s and ’80s in Fairyland, to Michael J. Fox as himself, and now yet another iconic character gets his story told on the big screen. World Premiering at Sundance tonight is Cassandro , a wild story of the first openly gay wrestler in the ultra macho sport of Mexico’s Lucha Libre. Although the Lucha Libre and their outragous contingent known as the Exotico is a well-known in Mexico, it is not so well known outside of the country. That is about to change thanks to this film which represents the narrative feature film debut of Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams ( Life Animated), who became fascinated with the life of famed wrestler Saul Armendariz — aka Cassandro — when he made a short docu on his life. Sensing this was perfect material for a theatrical movie, he joined with writer David … [Read more...] about ‘Cassandro’ Sundance Film Festival Review: Gael Garcia Bernal Dazzles In The Ring As The ‘Liberace Of Lucha Libre’

Emilia Jones earned a lot of attention as the star of 2021’s big Sundance winner and eventual Best Picture Oscar winner CODA, and the praise should be continuing this year as she not only stars in Cat People but also Fairyland , which had its world premiere in Park City on Friday. Sofia Coppola serves as lead producer for this American Zoetrope production of Andrew Durham’s feature film writing and directing debut, and it is a memorable one that is unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house. It had me in quiet tears by the end of this film adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s moving 2013 memoir of growing up in San Francisco with her widowed father just as gay pride was taking hold and the AIDS epidemic was on the horizon. This is not a sweeping panorama of what happened there in the 1970s and ’80s, but rather a personal coming-of-age story of the unconventional relationship between a gay single father and the daughter he must bring up alone after the tragic death of his wife. … [Read more...] about ‘Fairyland’ Sundance Film Festival Review: Emilia Jones & Scoot McNairy In Touching Memoir Set Against San Francisco’s AIDS Epidemic

Magazine Dreams is a drama and second feature directed by Elijah Bynum , which stars Jonathan Majors , Haley Bennett, Taylor Paige, and Harrison Page The film opens with a beautiful shot of Killian Maddox (Majors) showing off his chiseled physique under an orange hue of lights as if he’s at a bodybuilding competition. This is overlaid with a voice over of him having a discussion with his therapist having a discussion about his erratic behavior after a stint in the hospital. Killian takes working out very seriously and takes steroids to achieve the perfect body. He seems to be on the ASD spectrum and writes letters to his favorite bodybuilder Brad Vanderhorne (Michael O’Hearn) in hopes of hearing from him. He has no friends, only his grandfather (Page) whom he takes care of. There is Jessica (Bennett), a woman at the local grocery store who he has a crush on. He asks her on a date, but before she even responds he runs away because Killian is afraid of rejection. It’s … [Read more...] about ‘Magazine Dreams’ Sundance Film Festival Review: Jonathan Majors Does All The Heavy Lifting In Bodybuilding Psycho-Drama

Chad Stahelski ( John Wick franchise) has been tapped to direct the Tom Clancy adaptation Rainbow Six for Paramount Pictures , Deadline can confirm. Details as to the plot of the film, starring Michael B. Jordan , are under wraps. But it marks the studio’s follow-up to the actioner Without Remorse , which went to Amazon for distribution in April 2021, following the Covid pandemic’s throwing of theatrical into disarray. While it’s not yet clear whether the new film will go to theatrical or streaming, Jordan reprises his role as the CIA operations officer and former Navy SEAL, John Clark. Producers are Jordan and Elizabeth Raposo for Outlier Society, Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans for Weed Road Pictures, and Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec for The Saw Mill. Stahelski, Jason Spitz and Alex Young will exec produce for 87Eleven Entertainment. Stahelski launched his career as a stuntman and stunt coordinator before making his directorial debut with 2014’s John … [Read more...] about ‘John Wick’s Chad Stahelski Tapped To Helm Michael B. Jordan-Led ‘Rainbow Six’ For Paramount

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Nighy ( Living ) and Jeremy Swift ( Ted Lasso ) have signed on to join the voice cast of CG animated family comedy 10 Lives . The pair will join already-announced cast members Mo Gilligan ( That’s My Jam ), Simone Ashley ( Bridgerton ), Sophie Okonedo ( Hotel Rwanda ), Dylan Llewellyn ( Derry Girls ), and musician Zayn Malik. Nighy, who picked up an Oscar nom this week for his leading role in the Kazuo Ishiguro-scripted Living , will voice the character of Professor Craven, while Swift will lend his voice to a wise-cracking dog called Happy. The pic tells the story of Beckett, a pampered and selfish cat who has taken the lives he’s been dealt for granted. After carelessly losing his ninth life, he begs to be given a second chance and an opportunity to show he can learn from his mistakes. Eventually, his wish is granted, but with certain stipulations. The film is directed by Chris Jenkins ( Duck Duck Goose ) and produced by Guy … [Read more...] about Bill Nighy & Jeremy Swift Join Voice Cast Of Animated Feature ‘10 Lives’