“Does Captain Marvel Have A Star And Director Lined Up?”

“With the release of Captain America: Civil War less than two weeks off, Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to shift into overdrive. It may be a long time before Captain Marvel sees action in 2019, but is it possible that Marvel’s already got the perfect lead actress and director in mind?

During this week’s episode of Meet The Movie Press, The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider had some interesting insight into the forthcoming Captain Marvel flick. Although cryptic, Sneider did offer up a curious possibility.

“There was a rumour about an actress being up for it; an already existing rumour, that’s not new. I’ve definitely heard there’s some truth to that rumour, and that there’s a director with the same first name who has also been eyed. I don’t think that [an announcement] is too far off. If they can make it to Comic Con, they will.”

If there’s truth to the rumor, it would seem the actress and director share the same first name. So far, there have been a number of actresses associated with the Captain Marvel role. List toppers include Charlize Theron, Rebecca Ferguson and Brie Larson. In particular, Emily Blunt has been heavily connected with the role.

Depending on how accurate the rumor is, it’s entirely possible Emily Blunt is Marvel’s top choice for the role. But who would direct Captain Marvel? CBM has a few suggestions, such as British director Emily Young (Veronika Decides to Die), Emily Ting (Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong), web-animator and short film director Emily Carmichael (Penny Arcade), or filmmaker wunderkind Emily Hagins (Pathogen)…”

http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/does-captain-marvel-have-a-star-and-director-lined-up/

“Disney to Make Maleficent and Jungle Book Sequels”

“A second Jon Favreau-directed Jungle Book will be made and Angelina Jolie will reprise her role in a Maleficent sequel, Disney has announced.

The studio also confirmed a Mary Poppins sequel, starring Emily Blunt, and 101 Dalmatians spin-off, Cruella.

The Mary Poppins film will also star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and performed in Broadway hit, Hamilton.

A Tim Burton-directed Dumbo and a “Tinker Bell project” starring Reese Witherspoon are also in development.

Also confirmed by Disney were a live-action adaptation of Madeline L’Engle’s fantasy novel A Wrinkle In Time, the Dwayne Johnson-starring Jungle Cruise and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a Christmas story based on ETA Hoffman’s 19th Century tale.

The studio also confirmed writers for the projects, which include Kelly Marcel, who wrote the screenplays for Fifty Shades of Grey and Saving Mr Banks, penning the Cruella film, and Jennifer Lee, who wrote Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, scripting A Wrinkle In Time…”

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36137808

 

“What Marvel’s Push Toward Superhero Diversity Really Means”

“Recently Marvel Comics unveiled their entire lineup for the fall. These new comics, coming after the current Marvel universe effectively self-destructs, feature some bold new choices. Once relegated to what-if scenarios and alternate-universe storylines, people of color and women are now taking center stage in the upcoming Marvel reboot. With over 55 issues restarting at number one, Marvel’s taken a look at the world around it and made some major changes to places like Asgard and the Negative Zone. But are they inspired by an honest drive to make their titles more progressive and representative, or simply following consumer trends?

This time last year, Marvel unveiled their new, female Thor on The View and Marvel’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada announced that the new Captain America was black on The Colbert Report. Since then, there’s been a steady push for Marvel toward diversity. Of the 45 new covers revealed, 15 directly feature a female protagonist or a person of color. While that number may not seem huge at first blush, the slate of comics is a Benetton ad when you compare it to the medium’s history history. Of the more than 35 comics released by Marvel in 1990, only one, Sensational She-Hulk, featured a female protagonist, and only one four-part miniseries, Black Panther: Panther’s Prey, featured a protagonist of color. The Marvel universe is changing in newly inclusive ways. Ms. Marvel stars a young Muslim-American from Jersey,City; Hawkeye and Wolverine are both women now, and there’s even an all-female Avengers team.

Of all the big changes, people seem to be talking about the introduction of Miles Morales as Spider-Man in the main Marvel universe the most. Morales, who has a black father and a Puerto Rican mother, was previously the Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe, which was where Marvel tried out new ideas and told different stories without committing to making the changes in their big-deal “main” universe. But now they’re bringing this Spider-Man of color into the foreground of their franchises. As Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis explained to the New York Daily News: “Our message has to be it’s not Spider-Man with an asterisk, it’s the real Spider-Man for kids of color, for adults of color, and everybody else…”

http://www.vice.com/read/what-marvels-push-toward-superhero-diversity-really-means-757

“Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ Is a Revolutionary Work of Black Feminism”

“Is Beyonce’s new visual album, Lemonade, a feature film? It’s a 56-minute narrative movie mixing music, documentary and experimental elements. This Womanist fairytale — featuring American Southern, Voodoo, and Afrofuturist utopian imagery — is most of all a personal film, though co-directed by seven people, including Beyonce Carter-Knowles herself. (Director, star, and something more, Beyonce is redefining authorship. As a black woman, that’s a necessity; she has to rewrite all the rules if she wants to work and evolve in movies.)

And, as she gets more personal, she gets more political. “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman,” Malcolm X says early in the film in archival footage. This is a movie made by a black woman, starring black women, and for black women, especially for herself and her daughter Blue. It shows the personal journey she’s been on, a sort of awakening, and remarkably brings the viewer on that same journey.

Her last visual album, 2013’s Beyonce, was a collection of videos, one for each song on the album, some of which she also co-directed. The treat of that was seeing the variety of roles she could play, like a Greta Garbo or Elizabeth Taylor acting out many scenarios yet always maintaining her own persona. Beyonce was like an old-fashioned movie star. The imagery for “Partition” was especially classic Hollywood, and an oh-so-rare opportunity to glimpse a black woman as the lead in a film noir.

Lemonade digs even deeper. It cuts back all the macho gristle leaving only a strong matriarchal line. Visual references are from an (unfortunately) secret canon of women, black women directors like Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou) and Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust).

What’s most revolutionary and cathartic about Lemonade, though, is that it dares to make a new canon, finding references in the unphotographed past and future simultaneously, a land of no men…”

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341839/beyonce-lemonade-black-feminism

“Doctor Strange Writer Says Ancient One Was Changed To Avoid Upsetting China”

“Much has been made lately of Hollywood’s tendency to whitewash characters in movie adaptations, including the casting of Scarlett Johansson as “The Major” in the live-action anime adaptation Ghost In The Shell and the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Marvel’s big-screen adaptation of Doctor Strange. Some excuse the practice as just part of the cost of doing business in Hollywood, where investors want to be assured of a maximum return on their investment by seeing the biggest-name actors cast in the movies they’re bankrolling, while others see it as an outmoded practice that needs to be stopped.

Either way, the casting choice has already been made and production has already wrapped on Doctor Strange, so Marvel will be continuing forward with Swinton as the Ancient One despite the public pushback. According to the movie’s co-writer C. Robert Cargill, however, they did not take the decision lightly when writing the part or casting for it.

Cargill spoke to Double Toasted in a video interview posted to YouTube. During the interview, the subject of the Ancient One’s casting was brought up, and Cargill likened the decision to the Kobayashi Maru, an unwinnable scenario for Starfleet cadets in the Star Trek universe first presented in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan…”

Tibet is indeed a very hot-button issue in China, and the Chinese government has been quick to ban artists or art that display any sympathy for the Free Tibet movement. This could have been a serious blow for Marvel given the size of the market (in the case of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, for example, China accounted for over $115 million in ticket sales – a quarter of the total international box office)…”

http://screenrant.com/doctor-strange-ancient-one-whitewash-china/

 

“Pearl Mackie Announced as New Doctor Who Companion”

“The actor Pearl Mackie has been revealed as the new companion for Doctor Who. The announcement was made in a specially shot clip broadcast during half-time at the FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Manchester United, shown on BBC1 on Saturday. In the sequence, Capaldi and Mackie are shown exchanging barbs while hiding from a Dalek.

Mackie will be the Doctor’s 41st companion, and the ninth since the show was rebooted in 2005 – give or take (fans are divided on the official status of several characters who travelled only briefly with the Doctor). Mackie, who will play a character called Bill, takes over from Jenna Coleman to star alongside the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi. She will make her debut at the beginning of the show’s next season in 2017.

On joining the cast in her first major television role, Mackie said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Doctor Who family. It’s such an extraordinary British institution – I couldn’t be prouder to call the Tardis my home. I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space.

“Reading the script at the audition, I thought Bill was wicked. Fantastically written, cool, strong, sharp, a little bit vulnerable, with a bit of geekiness thrown in.” The actor described shooting the trailer as “absolutely mental”.

“There were pyrotechnics and smoke and I met my first Dalek. I’m not sure it will ever become ‘the norm’ seeing crazy monsters on set, but I cannot wait to meet some more. The weirder the better – bring it on!”

Capaldi said it was “a genuine delight” to welcome Mackie to Doctor Who. “A fine, fine actress with a wonderful zest and charm, she’s a refreshing addition to the Tardis and will bring a universe of exciting new possibilities to the Doctor’s adventures…”

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/23/pearl-mackie-announced-as-new-doctor-who-companion

“Peabody Award for Netflix/Marvel’s ‘Jessica Jones’ is a Win for Adapted Comic-book Fare”

“WHEN “Jessica Jones” debuted in November, The Post wrote that “for gritty thrills, it surpasses” Netflix’s other dramatic content.

On Friday, the Peabody Awards judges revealed that they hold the neo-noir detective show in quite high esteem as well.

“Jessica Jones,” based on the mature Marvel Max comic-book series, is one of three Netflix honorees announced Friday morning by the 75th annual Peabody Awards, which are bestowed by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Peabodys also recognized two other Netflix shows: the Aziz Ansari comedy “Master of None” and the African civil-war drama “Beasts of No Nation.”

The win by “Jessica Jones” is especially notable, though, because it is uncommon Peabody recognition of comics-adapted material — the win necessarily reflects on the inspired source material. The series is part of Netflix and Marvel’s five-show collaboration that kicked off with “Daredevil.”

“Jessica Jones” has shown an audience appeal beyond some “superhero shows” — in part, of course, because the title character, uncannily portrayed by Krysten Ritter, is a failed superhero turned superpowered noir detective. (“One episode in, you’ll begin to get it: ‘Jessica Jones’ is that Big Bang moment that sparked a meaner, edgier and more seductive Marvel universe,” The Post’s Comic Riffs wrote in its review.)

In praising “Jessica Jones,” the Peabody judges said the show “asks unpopular questions about power and consent, while constructing vivid and compelling characters.

Friday’s entertainment honors are among 30 total prizes that the Peabody jurors award in such areas as news, public service and education. The winners will be feted on May 21 at a ceremony in New York.

To see the full list of entertainment winners, click here.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/04/22/todays-peabody-award-for-netflixmarvels-jessica-jones-is-a-win-for-adapted-comic-book-fare/

“Why Prince Is a Powerful Example of Artistic Activism”

“Prince himself transcends racial stereotyping because, as he once put it, ‘I never grew up in one particular culture.’ One suspects that as time goes on, more and more American pop will reflect a similarly biracial orientation. If that’s so, Prince’s black-white synthesis isn’t just a picture of what could be, it’s a prophecy.”

From calling out poverty in his lyrics to his support of coding, the legendary artist pushed the world to care about more than music.

“With the sudden, tragic passing of Prince on Thursday, people are taking to social media to reminisce about the many moments when his Purple Badness rocked the world: Prince riding his motorcycle along the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Purple Rain—OK, let’s keep it real: All of Purple Rain. His epic 2007 Super Bowl performance, when it rained while he belted out “Purple Rain.” That time in 1983 when he performed with both Michael Jackson and James Brown (yes, that really happened).

“Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent,” President Obama wrote on Facebook, summing up the sentiments of so many.

Yet, along with being a musician, Prince is also being remembered for his social activism.

Back in 1981, The New York Times called Prince “the most controversial contemporary rock star precisely because he challenges sexual and racial stereotypes.” Along with his androgynous appearance, he challenged American complacency with songs against war, poverty, and police brutality and supported an effort to get low-income black and brown youths prepared for the tech jobs of the future…”

http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/04/21/prince-artist-activism

“Nina Simone Film Raises More Questions about Hollywood’s Approach to Diversity”

“Initially, it looked like a Hollywood coup: Zoe Saldana, a high-profile star, will play the jazz singer Nina Simone in the biopic Nina. And although Saldana isn’t known as a singer, neither was Reese Witherspoon before she won an Oscar playing June Carter Cash.

The backlash began immediately. A petition at Change.org, launched in 2012, objected to a “light complexioned” actress (Saldana’s mother is Dominican; her late father Puerto Rican) from playing the dark-skinned Simone. “Appearance-wise this is not the best choice,” the late singer’s daughter, Simone Kelly, told The New York Times. A tweet from Simone’s estate earlier this year demanded the actress “take Nina’s name out your mouth. For the rest of your life.”

The furor over Nina is the latest in a series of Hollywood controversies over not just race but sexuality, gender and biological status. Hollywood has seen the pro-gay film Stonewall boycotted for marginalising people of colour, the transgender film The Danish Girl criticised for casting a non-transgender actor as its star, and the upcoming Marvel film Doctor Strange blasted for giving the role of an Asian male to Tilda Swinton.

These vocal objections – along with the outcry over this year’s all-white Oscar acting nominees and complaints by actresses about lesser pay and opportunities – may seem like identity politics run rampant. But they clearly indicate a deep dissatisfaction with Hollywood’s approach to diversity. They also raise a question: Is the old Hollywood model of making crowd-pleasing movies with bankable stars – usually white ones – still working?

“Every year, people of colour are increasing their population by half a percent,” says Darnell Hunt, a UCLA sociology professor who publishes a yearly report on diversity in the media. “Do the math, and within two decades the country will be more than half people who are minorities. The question we’re asking Hollywood is: ‘Whose stories are you really telling?..”

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/nina-simone-film-raises-more-questions-about-hollywoods-approach-to-diversity-20160417-go8her.html

“20th Century Fox, Paramount Have No Female Directors Through 2018”

“A tally by TheWrap found 22 consecutive films from Fox — not counting Fox Searchlight — and 25 from Paramount had no women directors in sight

Female directors in Hollywood have spoken out about gender discrimination again and again and again. So it is surprising that not a single female director appears on the upcoming release slate for 20th Century Fox or Paramount, two of Hollywood’s major studios.

A tally by TheWrap found 22 consecutive films from Fox — not counting Fox Searchlight, the studio’s art-house division — and 25 consecutive releases from Paramount had only male directors attached. So far, that covers all movies scheduled to hit theaters this year, next year and 2018 too.

Representatives for Fox declined to comment; Paramount did not respond to repeated requests from TheWrap. Neither studio disputed the statistics.

“It is always shocking, though unfortunately not surprising, to see that studios continue to not give women opportunities to direct,” Melissa Silverstein, founder and publisher of Women and Hollywood, told TheWrap. “This is a complex issue. The film business is layered with sexism so that when you peel away one layer, you still have many layers to get through.”

A plethora of disappointing data about the lack of women directors in Hollywood has received a great deal of attention in the past few years. A long-term study by Martha Lauzen found that only 9 percent of the top 100-grossing movies were directed by women last year.

Meanwhile, Hollywood keeps pledging to change. Stacey Snider, who joined Fox in 2014 as co-chairman and CEO of the film studio with Jim Gianopulos, has addressed the obstacles facing women in Hollywood. “The issue of opportunity for women is real, and it’s in front of us,” she said last fall. “It’s incumbent upon us as business leaders to really address it seriously.”

But aside from Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni’s “Kung Fu Panda 3,” the DreamWorks Animation hit which Fox distributed earlier this year as part of an output deal, the studio has not released a single movie with a female director since Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum’s “Ramona and Beezus” in 2010…”

http://www.thewrap.com/20th-century-fox-paramount-have-no-female-directors-through-2018/