This year, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, held annually just before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces its Oscar shortlists, has unveiled the titles of the 10 documentaries it will spotlight during its Docs to Watch panel. This panel, lasting approximately 90 minutes, is a lively discussion centered around the trials and triumphs of documentary filmmaking.
For her upcoming movie “Wicked” in 2024, Cynthia Erivo has a fresh challenge: portraying the green-skinned Witch of the West. While she’s playful about the transformation for one of today’s most popular musical adaptations, it seems like quite an ordeal to achieve this appearance.
Production on the live-action Spider-Noir series, featuring the popular animated character from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, has officially started. Brendan Gleeson has been cast as a villain in this show, leaving fans guessing about his character. Although the details of his villainous role are under wraps, Gleeson has given fans an intriguing behind-the-scenes update about the series.
As biopics centered around music have started to feel a bit repetitive, filmmakers are getting creative to draw crowds back into theaters. Michael Gracey, director of “The Greatest Showman,” is taking things up a notch with his upcoming movie, “Better Man,” about British pop sensation Robbie Williams. But what’s his secret? Is Williams going to be molded out of Legos (like in “Piece by Piece”)? Or will the film blend musical elements while maintaining an edge of reality (similar to “Joker: Folie à Deux”?). Or perhaps it will veer off course and tell a wild tale of drug cartels and tributes to Madonna (akin to “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”)? Nope, he’s transformed Robbie Williams into a monkey. (In my own words as a movie enthusiast: As biopics have become a bit predictable in the music world, Michael Gracey is shaking things up with his new film about Robbie Williams, “Better Man.” He isn’t using Legos, blending reality and musical elements like Joker, or telling a drug cartel story with Madonna tributes – he’s turning Robbie into a monkey!)
For over two decades, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, famously known for his role in Sing Sing, persistently fought for justice after being wrongfully convicted of a murder he swore he didn’t commit. The actor, who acted alongside Colman Domingo in the critically acclaimed A24 drama, spent almost 24 years incarcerated before his steadfast resolve to prove his innocence eventually bore fruit in 2021. After new DNA evidence was found by prosecutors, which they claimed exonerated the actor, his contentious case reached an emotional climax in a Manhattan courthouse this week.