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I just knew he was the right person for the job – Oprah Winfrey on why Blitz Bazawule was the right director for The Color Purple
Oprah Winfrey has said that Ghanaian rapper turn filmmaker, Blitz Bazawule was the right fit for the upcoming re-imagined musical take on the epic film, The Color Purple.
Oprah made the comment during an exclusive online Q&A session with selected media personalities ahead of the official release of The Color Purple trailer last week.
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Oprah explained: “I think by the time we saw Blitz, he was like the fifth or sixth director that we had spoken to. Blitz presented these storyboards, and within five minutes of Zooming with him, I was texting to Scott Sanders and everybody else on the call, this is the guy. And they were texting, this is the guy, this is the guy. Because he just came in there knowing the stuff. It’s like he lived it. He walked in there, he was all preyed up. He was like, I’m getting this thing today.”
Blitz giving his account also added: “This was like, you know, you dream of things like this and then they happen. And I remember getting a phone call from my agent saying, they’re remaking The Color Purple. And the obvious instinct is to go, oh, that can’t be me. I mean, it’s so legendary. I mean, starting with, of course, Alice Walker’s beautiful Pulitzer Prize winning book, to Steven Spielberg’s classic, to a Tony Award winning Broadway show. I mean, the bar is so high. And then I sat with Steven and Oprah and Scott Sanders and the team and the Warner Brothers team. And it was clear that they were gonna allow us to really expand the canon of The Color Purple
So once we arrived at that point, then it became about, well, then how do you make it a musical? And I’ve been a musician for over 10 years. I’ve toured globally. I knew very quickly that music creates a level of empathy and a directness that we can lock into. And beyond that, African-American music has always set the pace for music globally. So I knew that all I had to do was lean on that and create some level of parallel between the music and the character. So we went back, we looked at gospel music as our genesis that evolved into blues, that evolved into jazz.
And that’s kind of how we arrived here. We had brilliant cast. I mean, you know, we can go on for days from Fantasia Barrino to Taraji P. Henson, to Daniel Brooks, to, of course, Coleman Domingo, the brilliant Coleman, the amazing Corey Hawkins, of course, Halle Bailey. We’ll be introducing some really fresh new voices like Felicia Pellen-Posse. And then musically, too, we knew that we needed to reach into just the icons of music, right? So we leaned into gospel, Ricky Dillard, Tamela Mann, the amazing Tamela Mann, who opens our movie with mysterious ways. We leaned into Cab Moe, who was our bluesman, who helped us arrange and bring blues to life. Christian McBride, who helped us kind of evolve jazz into what it is. And I think when you put it all together, you have a tapestry that is beautiful, it’s joyous, and as Oprah said, it’s healing.”
Warner Bros. Pictures invites you to experience the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in “The Color Purple.” This bold new take on the beloved classic is directed by Blitz Bazawule (“Black Is King,” “The Burial of Kojo”) and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.
“The Color Purple” stars Taraji P. Henson (“What Men Want,” “Hidden Figures”), Danielle Brooks (“Peacemaker,” “Orange Is the New Black”), Colman Domingo (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fear the Walking Dead”), Corey Hawkins (“In the Heights,” “BlacKkKlansman”), H.E.R. (“Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration”), Halle Bailey (“The Little Mermaid,” “Grown-ish”), Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (“King Richard,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”), and Fantasia Barrino (in her major motion picture debut).
The screenplay is by Marcus Gardley (“Maid,” “The Chi”), based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. The executive producers Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, Mara Jacobs, Adam Fell, Courtenay Valenti, Sheila Walcott and Michael Beugg.
Joining director Bazawule behind the camera are director of photography Dan Laustsen (“John Wick: Chapter 4,” “The Shape of Water”), production designer Paul Denham Austerberry (“The Flash,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) and editor Jon Poll (“Bombshell,” “The Greatest Showman”). The choreographer is Fatima Robinson (“Coming 2 America,” “Dreamgirls”) and the costumes are designed by Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (“Emancipation,” “One Night in Miami…”). The music supervisors are Jordan Carroll (“The Greatest Showman,” “Godfather of Harlem”) and Morgan Rhodes (“Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Selma”); the music is by Kris Bowers (“King Richard,” “Green Book”); and the executive music producers are Nick Baxter (“Babylon,” “CODA”), Stephen Bray (“Respect,” “Juanita”) and Blitz Bazawule.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Harpo Films Production, an Amblin Entertainment Production, a Scott Sanders Production/a QJP Production, “The Color Purple.” It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters in North America on December 25, 2023 and internationally beginning 18 January 2024.
After 11 days of an exceptional edition, the Jury of the 77th Festival de Cannes, chaired by American director, screenwriter and actress Greta Gerwig, surrounded by Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, as well as Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu and French actor and producer Omar Sy, presented its winners’ list among the 22 films presented in Competition this year.
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Singer Sean Kingston has been arrested in California, hours after a police raid of his Florida mansion, during which his mother was also arrested. (more…)
The Short Films and La Cinef Jury presided by Lubna Azabal and comprised of Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret and Vladimir Perišić has awarded the 2024 La Cinef Prizes today during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films. La Cinef consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of 2 263 entries coming from 555 film schools around the world.
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Today at the Plage des Palmes, the Jury of the Immersive Competition of the 77th Festival de Cannes awarded the prize for Best Immersive Work, presenting one winner among the 8 in-competition virtual reality, augmented reality, video projection and holographic works.
The Jury, chaired by French filmmaker and screenwriter Marie Amachoukeli, included French writer, director and producer Mathias Chelebourg, American producer, writer, and director Vassiliki Khonsari, Israeli filmmaker Uri Kranot, and New Zealand and American filmmaker Raqi Syed.
The Award was presented to Colored created by Tania de Montaigne, Stéphane Foenkinos, Pierre-Alain Giraud.
For its inaugural year, more than 3000 tickets were booked by Festival attendees to experience this new movement taking place at the 77th Festival de Cannes.
The selected works – En amour, Evolver, Human Violins: Prelude, Maya: the Birth of a superhero, Noire, TELOS I, The Roaming and Traversing the Mist – each used a variety of technologies and techniques to pave the way for new methods of storytelling.
“With the Immersive Competition, the Festival de Cannes is showcasing a new art form that draws in part on the heritage of cinema. This approach is in line with our desire to explore new stories and new experiences. This is not the first time the Festival de Cannes has exhibited an immersive work. In 2017, Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Carne y Arena was presented in the Official Selection, and it was a great success. Today the medium is more mature and we’re once again pioneering our approach, offering immersive art pride of place at the Festival, with a selection of 8 works in competition and an awards ceremony hosted by an international jury,’ says Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival de Cannes.
“The Immersive Competition is a continuation of the original values of the Festival, exploring new stories with the new tools available,” says Elie Levasseur, Immersive Competition Project Director.
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list culminates today with the much-anticipated reveal of the top 10 albums of all time and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hillcrowned No. 1.
Upon receiving the news, Lauryn Hill told Apple Music, “This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love.”
10. Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé
Beyoncé’s genre-obliterating blockbuster sixth album is furious, defiant, anguished, vulnerable, experimental, muscular, triumphant, humorous, and brave — a vivid personal statement, released without warning in a time of public scrutiny and private suffering. Every second of Lemonade deserves to be studied and celebrated.
9. Nevermind (1991), Nirvana
Nevermind and its opening salvo “Smells Like Teen Spirit” didn’t just mark an unlikely breakthrough for the Seattle trio, it upended popular culture in ways never before and never since. Punk became pop, grunge became global vernacular, industry walls broke into rubble, and lead vocalist Kurt Cobain was anointed the reluctant voice of a generation in need of catharsis — all seemingly overnight.
8. Back to Black (2006), Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse’s presentation and otherworldly, timeless vocals make her music feel different — not so much an attempt to re-create the past as to honor the music she loved while still being true to the trash-talking, self-effacing millennial she was. The sound of Back to Black might appeal to retro-soul fans and jazz classicists, but the attitude is closer to rap. Yes, she was funny. But she wasn’t kidding.
7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar’s sophomore album good kid, m.A.A.d city is one of the defining hip-hop records of the 21st century. West Coast hip-hop elders like Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre anointed Lamar to carry on the legacy of gangsta rap, and the legacy of this album is a crucial example of American storytelling that established the future Pulitzer Prize winner as perhaps his generation’s most accomplished writer.
6. Songs in the Key of Life (1976), Stevie Wonder
In 1974, Stevie Wonder was the most critically revered pop star in the world; he was also considering leaving the music industry altogether. So when Songs in the Key of Life was released two years later, demand was so high that it became, at the time, the fastest-selling album in history. The album, which runs nearly 90 minutes, is effortlessly melodic, broad in scope, and deeply personal. Sonically, culturally, and emotionally, Songs in the Key of Life is much more than a gigantic collection of songs — it forms an entire worldview.
5. Blonde (2016), Frank Ocean
Though Blonde packs 17 tracks into one quick hour, it’s a sprawling palette of ideas, a testament to the intelligence of flying one’s own artistic freak flag and trusting that audiences will meet them where they’re at. They did. And Ocean established himself as a generational artist uniquely suited to the complexities and convulsive changes of the second decade of the 21st century.
4. Purple Rain (1984), Prince & The Revolution
With half its track list comprising top 10 singles, this soundtrack is what truly turned Prince Rogers Nelson into one of the most instantly recognizable and distinctive pop artists ever. Prince often drew comparisons to Jimi Hendrix for the way he mixed music that felt Black and white, sacred and profane. The reality is that he had no precedent then and no comparison now.
3. Abbey Road (1969), The Beatles
The Beatles’ Abbey Road is an ageless, unmatched collection of songs by a world-changing band at their creative peak. The band’s 11th and penultimate album sounds like nothing more or less than four extremely gifted humans playing one indelible song after another in the same room together.
2. Thriller (1982), Michael Jackson
There are few pop albums, or even works of art, that denote a wholesale shift in time and space the way Michael Jackson’s Thriller did in 1982. It did nothing less than define the modern pop blockbuster and redefine the scope and reach of music. Seven of its nine original cuts were top 10 singles, and it became one of the bestselling albums ever made.
1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill’s debut — and only — solo studio album was a seismic event in 1998: a stunningly raw, profound look into the spiritual landscape not just of one of the era’s biggest stars, but of the era itself. She was, and remains, a once-in-a-generation talent whose inspiration and innovation can be heard through the decades. Artists exhaust long discographies hoping for a cohesive piece of work resonant enough to reshape culture and inscribe its creator into the pantheon; Lauryn Hill did it in one.
Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been killed in a helicopter crash in a mountainous area of north-western Iran, the country’s state media has said.
He was travelling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who also died after the aircraft came down on Sunday.
It was initially reported that the helicopter carrying the men and their entourage had made a rough landing in foggy conditions.
Mr Raisi, 63, was tipped as a potential successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The helicopter came down in a remote area of north-western Iran on the way back from Azerbaijan where Mr Raisi had been meeting President Ilham Aliyev.
On Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent confirmed the bodies of the president and others who died in the crash had been recovered and search operations had ended.
“We are in the process of transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz [in Iran’s northwest],” the organisation’s chief said on state television.
According to local media he had been in the area to open the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams.
Ahead of the confirmation of the death, vigils had taken place in the capital, Tehran, with pictures showing people kneeling in prayer.
Mr Raisi, 63, was a hard-line cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was considered to be a potential successor to the 85-year-old.
His election as president in 2021 consolidated the control of conservatives over every part of the Islamic Republic.
In a statement following his death, the Iranian government said it would continue to operate “without disruption”.
A number of countries have expressed their condolences following President Raisi’s death.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a national day of mourning and described the Mr Raisi and Mr Amir-Abdollahian as “good friends of Iran”.
Writing on social media, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” by the deaths.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was “in full contact and co-ordination with the Iranian authorities” and was ready to “provide any necessary support”.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his condolences and said the president and foreign minister were “true, reliable friends of our country”.
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Super OD and I dated for 10 yrs; he took advantage of me on our first date – Actress Janet Ackom
Don’t marry someone you’ve not dated for more than 7 years – Tic
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“I went to a cemetery at 2am to sprinkle powder” – Amerado recounts doing ‘for girls’
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