from The Mirror

New movies coming out in August 2019 – upcoming UK film releases

New August 2019 UK film releases include Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, plus many more

By Lewis Knight

It’s set to be a varied month of cinema releases this August!

If action-packed blockbusters are what you are looking for then you will be pleased to know that Hobbs & Shaw has got you covered as Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham return for the latest instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise. 

Meanwhile, beloved director Quentin Tarantino returns with his new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which features Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as characters trying to survive in 1969 Los Angeles, while Margot Robbie plays tragic real-life starlet Sharon Tate. 

Here’s what we have to look forward to in August 2019.

A Million Little Pieces

Based on the book by James Frey, A Million Little Pieces follows a young drug-addled writer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonising detox at a treatment centre in Minnesota. Whilst at the centre, he meets an array of interesting characters. Sam Tayor-Johnson directs the film that also stars Billy Bob Thornton and Charlie Hunnam.

A Million Little Pieces release date: August 30, 2019

[ click to read full article at The Mirror ]

from BLACKGIRLNERDS

Lena Waithe on Meeting James Frey and Using The Story of ‘Queen & Slim’ as Protest Art

By Jamie Broadnax

Lena Waithe is on fire with a never-ending series of projects under her belt, and this holiday season, her next film Queen & Slim will take you on a wild ride through some unexpected adventures.

One evening at a party, author James Frey approached Lena Waithe about a story involving a Black couple. A Black man and a Black woman on a first date. It’s not going well, but not going horribly either. They’re on their way home. They get pulled over. A cop gets aggressive. They kill him in self-defense, and they go. Frey knew that this was a story worth telling, but not through his lens.

Enter Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe (Netflix’s Master of None) and filmmaker Melina Matsoukas — the mastermind behind Beyonce’s “Formation” music video — and now we’re telling a story through the lens of brilliant Black visionaries that can add nuance with ease.

The unflinching new drama Queen & Slim released by Universal Pictures, stars Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya as Slim and Nightflyers‘ Jodie Turner-Smith as Queen. After Queen and Slim are pulled over in their vehicle, the situation escalates and Slim is forced to kill the police officer in self-defense. In a complicated situation predicated on a history of state-sanctioned violence and criminal injustice against African-Americans, the two fear for their lives and is forced to go on the run.

Their story is complicated further when the incident is captured on video and goes viral. Queen and Slim become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief, and pain for people across the country. BGN was invited to the set a week before Mardi Gras in New Orleans to chat with the cast and crew of the impending feature film.

On Meeting James Frey and the Idea Behind the Script

One evening at a party, Lena Waithe meets novelist James Frey. He is notably known or notoriously known for his book “A Million Little Pieces” that became an Oprah book club selection. However shortly after reports emerged that his autobiography was more fiction than fact, the author was under fire. Oprah wasn’t all too pleased, and eventually, the beef between the two was squashed.  James Frey clearly has a creative mind, and negative scrutiny hasn’t stopped him from writing.

According to Waithe: 

“James Frey pitched me the opening at a party and [he] was like, “I can’t write this movie. I need a person to write it who understands it.” So all he gave me was an opening and that opening I was like, ‘Got it. I know what the movie is. Let me go figure this out.’ He had a different title that wasn’t right. Titles are really important.  [I thought] what are some things that I can do to make every Black man, every Black woman, no matter what your walk of life is or where you are coming from, can look at them and see a piece of yourself in them?”

The two exchanged emails, and Waithe asked Frey if he had an outline and if he had a title.

[ click to continue reading at BLACKGIRLNERDS ]

from MTV

QUEEN & SLIM INTRODUCES THE ‘BLACK BONNIE & CLYDE’

THE HARROWING AFTERMATH OF A TRAFFIC STOP GONE WRONG

by BRITTANY VINCENT

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith have joined forces for a harrowing new drama that looks like a terrifying story that could be a little too close to reality.

Queen & Slim, written by Lena Waithe (The Chi) and James Frey (A Million Little Pieces), follows a black couple (the titular “Queen” and “Slim”) who set out on their first date together when they’re forced to pull over for a minor traffic issue.

The Queen & Slim clip first appeared during the 2019 BET Awards on June 23, and it looks like a heavy story to take in, but well worth the potential discomfort it might cause some viewers due to the subject matter. Here’s to hoping the star couple finds something of a happy ending in the end, or at least as happy as it can be due to the happenings that kick the movie off.

Queen & Slim is set to debut in theaters on November 27, 2019.

[ click to continue reading at MTV ]

See also…
The Hollywood Reporter
Chicago Tribune
SlashFilm
Entertainment Weekly
Deadline
Vanity Fair

from BET

Jodie Turner-Smith On Being The Malcolm X To Daniel Kaluuya’s MLK In ‘Queen & Slim’

The romantic drama from Lena Waithe explores a Black couple on a first date who find themselves on the run from the law.

Written by Jerry L. Barrow

Jodie Turner-Smith runs her fingers through her reddish brown, low-cropped fro and smiles through the Louisiana heat. Shooting for her first feature film, Queen & Slim, has taken her from the freezing polar vortex of Ohio to the outskirts of New Orleans. A tiger-striped dress clings to her lithe frame revealing a bandage tied around her thigh. The late February sun has just hit its peak in the sky, but it looks like she’s already had a really long day. She’s pleasant and engaged, but the trauma of her character, Queen, is still visible in her eyes.

TV watchers may know Jodie as the genetically enhanced first officer, Melantha Jhirl, from Syfy’s space odyssey, Nightflyers. When word first got out about a “Black Bonnie & Clyde” film being produced by Lena Waithe and directed by Melina Matsoukas(the gifted eye behind Beyonce’s “Formation” and Nike’s “Equality” campaign) she made it a point to get an audition.

In the script written by Lena Waithe and based on an original idea by bestselling author James Frey, Queen is a defense attorney who goes on a date with Daniel Kaluuya’s(Get Out, Black Panther)working-class character, Slim, and things go from bad to worse as the couple find themselves on a very unforeseen road trip.

[ click to continue reading at BET ]

from The Root

First Look: Behind the Scenes and on the Run With Queen & Slim

by Tonja Renée Stidhum

Y’all. Meet Queen & Slim. And instantly fall in lust, love and lure.

Penned by Lena Waithe (from an original idea by A Million Little Pieces author James Frey, who approached her about it at an industry party) and helmed by Melina Matsoukas, at first glance, Queen & Slim looks to bolt its way into the likes of classics such as Bonnie & Clyde and Thelma & Louise. Except we won’t have to compare it to those films anymore, we’ll have our own—and it’ll be black as fuck.

Two days after the 2019 Academy Awards, I hopped on a plane to New Orleans to visit the set of Queen & Slim with a bunch of other black-ass journalists on a mission to get the scoop from Waithe, Matsoukas, Kaluuya, Turner-Smith, and costume designer Shiona Turini. From that slick-ass Pontiac 400 (which Kaluuya drove around; there wasn’t a process trailer!) to the gritty cloth of their wardrobe, we immediately felt a part of the world Matsoukas and her crew had created. I was so geeked, I almost forgot about that oppressive ass humidity.

[ click to read full article at The Root ]

from COMPLEX

Lena Waithe’s ‘Queen & Slim’ Takes Aim at Police Violence

BY KHAL

When you’re Living While Black in America, life can come at you fast. There are countless stories of black folk minding their own business and being harassed, assaulted, or gunned down by the police. Rarely do you hear of those roles being reversed—or, at the very least, a situation where an interaction between a black person and a police officer ends with the officer being gunned down. That’s the premise of Queen & Slim, the Daniel Kaluuya-starring project that’s been whispered about for the last six months (and received major buzz during CinemaCon back in April). This film marks the first feature-length project for multi-hyphenate Lena Waithe and Melina Matsoukas (who serve as writer and director, respectively).

The week before Mardi Gras, Universal Pictures sent a select group of African American journalists and outlets to New Orleans to visit the set of what’s been described as a “black Bonnie & Clyde.” The film (which hits theaters on November 27, 2019) is essentially a road movie, taking viewers on a cross-country trek with a black couple featuring the eponymous Queen & Slim—portrayed by fresh-faced Jodie Turner-Smith and Kaluuya respectively—who are on the run from police after their terrible first date turns into a traffic stop that  ends with a cop being killed—but Waithe has described it in the past as “protest art.”

“I can’t always make it to the marches or the rallies,” Waithe explained during a break in shooting, primarily due to how often she’s working on shows like The Chi or other projects she’s involved in. “When I sit down at my computer, that’s me. That’s my rallying cry. That’s me trying to figure out who we are.” Waithe also understands why some might compare the film to Bonnie & Clyde or Thelma & Louise, but she had a different classic in mind. “It’s such a huge compliment. Bonnie & Clyde changed the conversation. Thelma & Louise is iconic. But the thing that they aren’t realizing is another reference for me would be Set It Off. In terms of black people being at a very difficult place with their back being against the wall and nothing that they [can] do [but] to keep going.”

[ click to continue reading at COMPLEX ]

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from Yahoo! UK

These female directors are changing the landscape of film as we know it

Melina Matsoukas

A music video director who has been behind the camera of some of your favourite Queen Bey, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Kylie Minogue vids, we’re all counting down until Matsoukas’ directorial feature film debut, Queen and Slim, written by Lena Waithe and James Frey and starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya, scheduled for release in November 2019.

[ click to continue reading at Yahoo! UK ]

from Gold Derby

2020 Oscar Predictions: Best Picture

by Paul Sheehan

Predicting the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture is never easy. We were sure the top prize at the 2019 Oscars would go to “Roma” but it was “Green Book” that won. In coming up with our 2020 Oscar predictions, we considered a slew of factors, starting with the preferential ballot used to determine the winner. Add in the pedigree of the filmmakers, the critical reception to the films, the box office tally and the track record of the studios. We take all of these into consideration again as we look ahead to the 2020 Academy Awards. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2020 Oscars predictions for Best Picture.)

Contenders began to emerge at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Others will be seen for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival in May. However, most of the top tier of Best Picture hopefuls won’t screen until September at four film festivals: Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York. And a few will be held back till the last weeks of eligibility, getting limited releases in December.

Please note: Only those films with confirmed release dates are listed below. Check back often as new contenders are scheduled while other are dropped due to delays or critical reaction.

“Knives Out” (Lionsgate – November 27)
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer.
Plot: A modern murder mystery in a classic whodunit style.

“Queen & Slim” (Universal – November 27)
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Writers:  James Frey, Lena Waithe
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Bokeem Woodbine, Jodie Turner-Smith
Plot: A couple’s first date takes an unexpected turn when a police officer pulls them over.

“The Souvenir” (A24 – May 17)
Writer/Director: Joanna Hogg
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Honor Swinton-Byrne, Tom Burke, Richard Ayoade
Plot: A film student in the early 1980s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.

[ click to read complete list of contenders at Gold Derby ]

from Backstage

Why There’s Magic to ‘Proper Indie Filmmaking’

BY ASHLEY LEE

Photo Source: Courtesy Tiff

On the first day of production for “A Million Little Pieces,” Aaron Taylor-Johnson was completely naked. Per the instruction of Sam Taylor-Johnson (his director, screenwriting partner, and wife), the actor began dancing for the camera, spinning wildly with vacant eyes before falling out a window.

“I wanted the audience to know, very quickly, exactly who he was, without repeating imagery we’ve seen before,” explains Sam Taylor-Johnson of introducing the film’s drug-addicted character. “I said, ‘You’re a broken human being, and your behavior has to be so raw and without any boundaries or sense of self. So, your nakedness, you have no sense of it being right or wrong. You have no shame. You have no anything, really.’ Of course, when we shot it, it’s like, ‘Oh, god.’ ”

[ click to continue reading at Backstage ]

from The Plain Dealer

Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith continue movie making on chilly Cleveland set of “Queen and Slim”

By James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer

(AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Stars and film crew continue to mine movie gold on St. Clair Avenue, despite bitter cold.

The movie being made here now is called “Queen and Slim,” staring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith. Filming, much of it at night, began this week and is expected to wrap here Friday.

After filming early Wednesday morning, Turner-Smith said in a Tweet it was “slightly chilly” in Cleveland with a screen shot of her weather app displaying a reading of minus-17 degrees, which likely was the wind-chill. Temperatures at that time were around zero.

By midday Wednesday, there was no evidence of a film on St. Clair Avenue, except for a lone City of Cleveland van. Filming was to resume at 5 p.m. as temperatures dipped below minus-5 with a wind chill in the minus-30s. St. Claire from East 61st to East 71st was to be closed for the second straight night.

Melina Matsoukas is directing the movie, with a script by Lena Waithe and author James Frey. The Hollywood Reporter and other film-focused outlets have called in a “Bonnie and Clyde” story.

“To me, this is protest art,” Waithe told Variety in July. “It’s about being black and trying to fall in love in a world that’s burning down around you.”

Variety called that “Queen & Slim” an “exploration of America’s social and political climate through the lens of a genre-defying love story. The film centers on a black man and black woman who go on a first date that goes awry after the two are pulled over by a police officer at a traffic stop. They kill the police officer in self-defense and rather than turn themselves in, they go on the run.”

[ click to read full article at Cleveland.com ]

from Dark Horizons

The Notable Films Of 2019: O-S

By Garth Franklin

“Queen & Slim”

Following his superb turns in “Get Out,” “Black Panther” and “Widows,” Daniel Kaluuya is set to lead this Lena Waithe-penned indie romance drama which sees “Insecure” and “Master of None” director Melina Matsoukas make her feature debut. Famed author James Frey came up with the initial idea for the project about a black man (Kaluuya) and a black woman (Jodie Turner-Smith) who go on a first date that goes awry after the two are pulled over by a cop. They kill the police officer in self-defense and rather than turn themselves in, they go on the run in a film that aims to “define black love as a revolutionary act.”

[ click to see full list of Notables at Dark Horizons ]

from Just Jared

Emma Roberts Is All Smiles After Purchasing James Frey’s ‘Katerina’ in LA!

Emma Roberts has some holiday reading in store!

The 27-year-old American Horror Storyactress was spotted heading out after purchasing a copy of James Frey‘s Katerina on Wednesday (December 26) in Los Angeles.

The novel, released earlier in 2018, is described as a sweeping love story alternating between 1992 Paris and Los Angeles in 2018.

[ click to continue reading at JustJared.com ]

from ABC News/Good Morning America

Best books of 2018 make great gifts for the holidays

By TONY MORRISON & ALISON EHRLICH via GMA

GMA, ABC News Photo Illustration

A perfectly selected book as a gift for the holidays can make you the most thoughtful of gift-givers.

Whether you’re looking for something new to pick up for yourself or stumped by what to get that very special bookworm in your life, check out our list of best reads of 2018. It’s curated by our “GMA” Book Editor, including what we just can’t wait to get our hands on in the New Year.

“The Kiss Quotient,” by Helen Hoang

“Sadie,” by Courtney Summers

“Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup,” by John Carreyrou

“Katerina,” by James Frey

[ click to continue reading list at ABC ]

from The Wrap

Black List 2018: Matt Drudge, Kobe Bryant Movies Top List of Best Unproduced Scripts

by Beatrice Verhoeven

The Black List 2018 is here — a survey of the best screenplays that have not yet gone into production.

This year, the 73 films included films about Serena and Venus Williams’ hard-driving father (Zach Baylin’s “King Richard”), the sexual assault case against former NBA star Kobe Bryant (Mike Schneider’s “Mamba”) and Cody Brotter’s “Drudge” about The Drudge Report founder Matt Drudge and how he broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The list also includes Emmy winner Lena Waithe’s “Queen & Slim,” a disgruntled Snapchat employee’s account of founder Evan Spiegel (Elissa Karasik’s “Frat Boy Genius”) and Gary Spinelli’s “Rub & Tug” a project that has been in limbo since Scarlett Johansson’s exit from the project because of objections to her playing a trans man.

[ click to continue reading at The Wrap ]

from PRNewswire

RIVAL X RAZER Holiday Showdown Tournament Culminates In $150,000 Prize Pool, Finals Hosted By AT&T In Los Angeles

3BLACKDOT, Razer, and AT&T host the top players who will compete on the Razer Phone 2 in final match in Los Angeles alongside guest influencers

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Razer™, the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers is collaborating with 3BLACKDOT, the leading Influencer-driven studio, and AT&T to produce the RIVAL X RAZER Holiday Showdown. This two-week event will feature 3BLACKDOT and Section Studios highly rated arena battle mobile game, “RIVAL: CRIMSON X CHAOS.” Participants will have the opportunity to play RIVAL: CRIMSON X CHAOS for a chance to win over $150,000 in total cash, Razer Phone 2, and other prizes.

The RIVAL X RAZER Holiday Showdown will take place from Thursday, December 6th and will conclude with a final event on December 15th at the new AT&T store in Los Angeles, California.  From December 6th to December 11th fans looking to compete in this exciting event can download RIVAL: Crimson X Chaos from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and compete in daily quests and leaderboard challenges for a chance to win daily cash and in-game prizes.  The top 24 players will be flown to Los Angeles to compete in the championship event. “Since launching Rival: Crimson x Chaos, fans around the world and our 3BLACKDOT influencers have been playing Rival and absolutely love this game,” says Rahshiene Taha, VP of Marketing at 3BLACKDOT. “The Rival x Razer Holiday Showdown takes it to a new level. There nothing like the energy of a live event that brings fans and our 3BLACKDOT influencers together and we couldn’t be more excited!”

Retailers and carriers around the world are making significant efforts in attracting the fast-growing mobile gaming community to their stores with tournaments, large prize pools, and other forms of entertainment.  Michael Breslin, Razer Mobile’s Global Head of Sales & Marketing, said: “Mobile gaming is the fastest growing platform in the space, with mobile gamers logging over 200% more game time than through any other platform,” adding “since Razer Phone 2 was designed specifically with mobile gaming in mind, we wanted to partner with companies whose mission to entertain and engage mobile gamers aligned with ours, and we found that in 3BLACKDOT and AT&T.”

“We’re thrilled to help bring the RIVAL X RAZER Holiday Showdown to gamers, culminating with the championship event at our newest L.A. retail location,” said Shiz Suzuki, assistant vice president of AT&T Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing. “Our commitment to gamers is all about enhancing their experience. We’re excited to see that come to life through this tournament where fans will have the opportunity to win cash and prizes, including the Razer Phone 2 –  just like the pros.”

[ click to continue reading at PRNewswire ]

from BLOUIN ARTINFO

Blum & Poe at New York is presenting “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor,” Friedrich Kunath’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery, which is on view through December 22.

This show follows Kunath’s “Frutti di Mare” (2017) —a carpeted, scented, multi-room installation flecked with tie-died tube socks and outfitted with mirrored floors, a mechanical spinning canvas, and a vertical piano.

According to the gallery press note, Kunath carries on his study of a dichotomous human condition—an exploration in happiness and sadness, romanticism, nostalgia, longing, the fetish of authenticity, and the myth of genius. This exhibition negotiates the facets of personal experience registered on a psycho-emotional pendulum that swings between the search for deep existential meaning and purpose, and a frenetic, nonsensical and humorous nihilism.

The gallery reveals that in conjunction with this exhibition, a new major monograph devoted to the last fifteen years of Kunath’s work will be released by Rizzoli Electa. Entitled “I Don’t Worry Anymore,” this book offers new insights into the artist’s work across media, organized conceptually rather than chronologically in eight chapters.

The book features new writing by four contributors—art historian James Elkins takes an historical approach to Kunath’s work, linking him to both recent and older traditions of European painting; Ariana Reines contributes a poem inspired by the artist’s work; James Frey offers a short essay motivated by Kunath’s persona; and the artist and John McEnroe, the famed tennis player, have a spirited conversation about their shared passion for the game of tennis.

[ click to read full article at BLOUIN ARTINFO ]

from VIBE

Jodie Turner-Smith To Share The Screen With Daniel Kaluuya In ‘Queen & Slim’

by Khaaliq Crowder

CREDIT: Getty Images

Lena Waite and Melina Matsoukas have finally found their “Queen.” Actress Jodie Turner-Smith, who audiences may recognize for her recurring role on The Last Ship and Nightflyers, has been chosen to star opposite Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther) in the Waithe-penned film Queen & Slim.

Reported Thursday (Nov. 8) by Variety, the budding actress confirmed the news on Instagram. The romantic drama has been described as a layered love story. After a first date, the duo is embroiled in a high-stakes case of murder when they kill a police officer in self-defense after a traffic stop. Instead of turning themselves in, they go on the run.

The 2019 slated release will be directed by Matsoukas. This will be her first feature film debut. Currently, Matsoukas is the executive producer of HBO’s runaway hit Insecure. She’s also known for her previous gig as a music video director for the likes of Rihanna, Beyonce, Ciara, and Ne-Yo.

“Words cannot express how excited I am to be starting this journey with you,” Turner-Smith captioned to her Instagram post next to her co-star. “[Waithe and Matsoukas], thank you for choosing me to be your QUEEN.”

[ click to continue reading at VIBE ]

from Rolling Stone

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross Scoring Amy Adams’ Woman In the Window’

Thriller set to arrive in 2019

By JON BLISTEIN

David Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are composing the score for Amy Adams’ forthcoming thriller, The Woman in the Window, which is set to arrive in 2019.

The Joe Wright-directed film is based on A.J. Finn’s novel of the same name, which was published in January. The story is centered around a reclusive woman named Anna (Adams) who obsessively spies on her new neighbors until one night she sees something she wasn’t supposed to. The film will also star Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman.

Along with The Woman in the Window, Reznor and Ross are also composing the music for HBO’s forthcoming television adaptation of the famed graphic novel, Watchmen. Though an exact release date has yet to be announced, the show is expected to premiere in 2019.

More recently, Reznor and Ross composed the music for A Million Little Pieces – an adaptation of James Frey’s controversial memoir of the same name – and Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s. In June, Nine Inch Nails released their most recent record, Bad Witch.

[ click to continue reading at Rolling Stone ]

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from The New York Post

This week’s must-read books

Katerina
James Frey (Gallery/Scout Press)
Set in 1992 Paris and 2018 Los Angeles, a love story between a young writer and a young model, both on the verge of fame. Twenty-five years later, the writer receives an anonymous message that draws him back to that relationship and all the magic of that earlier time.

[ click to continue reading at NYP ]

from DEADLINE

[ click to view at DEADLINE ]

from DEADLINE

Sam And Aaron Taylor-Johnson Breathe Fire Into James Frey’s Controversial Addiction Memoir ‘A Million Little Pieces’

by Mike Fleming Jr

Entertainment One

A Million Little Pieces is as raw, bloody and messy as James Frey wrote it. With the startling intensity he shocked Toronto with in Nocturnal Animals two years ago, Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Frey through his evolution from a hopeless, cornered animal descending down a drug-induced death spiral to someone who pulls out of the nosedive after reluctantly embracing help from a group of fellow addicts to create distance from the seduction of crack cocaine and hard liquor ravaging his body.

The right filmmaker came along when the Taylor-Johnsons came knocking. Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been an inseparable couple since she cast him in her directorial debut, 2009’s Nowhere Boy, as a young John Lennon. They liked the idea of pulling something more modest together, after the miserable time Sam had directing the first Fifty Shades of Grey movie. She’d been expecting to make a trilogy out of E.L. James’s erotic fiction series, but even though her first chapter grossed $571 million, she withdrew. Speculation was that the unprecedented level of creative control Universal offered James, a first-time novelist, in order to beat out the offers pouring in from other studios, caused issues.

Sam had been captivated by Frey’s memoir since she read it shortly after its publication, when she was known for her eye as a still photographer, and before she ever made her feature debut. “I loved the way it was told,” she remembers. “90 miles an hour is a good way to describe the ferocity and pace of his writing. I remember feeling exhausted and elated at the end, thinking it would make an amazing movie. Later, I’d hear or read that some other filmmaker signed on and I’d feel a twinge of jealousy.”

After they met, she gave it to Aaron, who devoured it. He says: “The journey of redemption, the light at the end of the tunnel, and the rhythm James put into his writing which provides such energy, it made us want to try and translate that into a character on screen.”

[ click to read full article at DEADLINE ]

from Vanity Fair

Sam Taylor-Johnson on “the Dream” of Directing Husband Aaron in A Million Little Pieces

The adaptation of James Frey’s book—debuting at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday—is the couple’s first collaboration since Nowhere Boy.

by JULIE MILLER

Jeff Gros

Since making 2009’s brilliant John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, director Sam Taylor-Johnson and actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been looking for an excuse to work together again.

But their personal collaborations complicated reunion possibilities for several years. Sam and Aaron fell in love after making the movie, got married, and had two daughters. (Sam also has two older daughters from her first marriage.) Rather than leave the kids in the care of strangers, husband and wife took turns making movies—with Sam adapting E.L. James’s bodice-ripping best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey into an artful blockbuster; and Aaron cycling through genres in Anna Karenina,Godzilla, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Nocturnal Animals.

Last year, though, the stars finally re-aligned for the Taylor-Johnsons. Sam signed on to direct an adaptation of James Frey’s 2003 book, A Million Little Pieces. And Aaron coincidentally had a gap in his schedule.

“The minute I knew he was available, it was clear that Aaron would be James. Absolutely, without question,” Sam said in an interview ahead of A Million Little Pieces’ premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. “I think it was serendipitous timing that he was available, the book rights were available, and the timing was perfect. . . . This was the dream since we first worked together. After [Nowhere Boy], we would both go to work on different projects, and I’d say, in my mind, ‘I’m leaving the best actor at home.’”

[ click to continue reading at VF ]

from Esquire

The Best Books of 2018 (So Far)

Get your to-read list ready: 2018 is already a good year for reading.

BY ANGELA LEDGERWOOD

We may live in challenging times, and there’s no better escape than through a good book. From new novels from beloved writers to compelling non-fiction examinations of our modern world, 2018 has already delivered some excellent reads.

KATERINA BY JAMES FREY

Would you respond to a cryptic Facebook message from an unrecognized user? Forty-two-year-old novelist-turned-screenwriter Jay does. He’s ambivalent about the messages at first, but their familiar tone piques his interest and reminds him of someone important from his past. Thus, begins this sexy and electric novel that flips between modern-day Los Angeles and Paris in 1992—back when Jay was 21 and burning with the desire to make art that was going to change the world. Frey, perhaps best known for his controversial book A Million Little Pieces, has penned a compulsive novel that speaks directly to the scandal that blew up his own life.

CLICK TO BUY KATERINA on Amazon

[ click to read the rest of the Best 2018 Books at Esquire ]

from Earn The Necklace

TIFF 2018: 5 Drama Films That Explore the Human Condition

By: Naveen Rao

Sam Taylor Johnson with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton (Photo: Instagram/samtaylorjohnson)

Even if they are from another part of the world and in another language, drama films moveus. Why? Because as humans, we share many of the same emotions and desires. The TIFF 2018 drama section is full of movies based on riveting stories about people caught up in harsh and even tragic circumstances beyond their control. We bring you five TIFF Festival films that will tug at your heart strings and leave a mark on your memory.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2018 is just around the corner, and the buzz is spreading fast that it’s going to be an exciting event. While films of all genres will be screened at the festival, people are eager to know which films will be shown in the “drama” section.

This year, there are fantastic films from all over the world that have entered the drama section and festival-goers will be hard pressed to choose which ones to watch in the limited time they have.

#1] A Million Little Pieces

Director – Sam Taylor-Johnson

Country – USA

James Frey’s controversial bestseller A Million Little Pieces gets the big screen treatment by director Sam Taylor-Johnson.

The film tells the story of an alcoholic crack addict (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who finds some peace in the company of a former crime lord (Billy Bob Thornton) and a former sex worker (Odessa Young).

It is a harrowing ride into the deepest darkest corners of a drug addict’s psyche and the devastation caused by drug addiction.

It’s a tale about the loss of one’s self-esteem and character but also of hope and the journey towards renewal. The protagonist finds his calling as a writer but only after he picks up the pieces of his shattered self.

[ click to continue reading at EarnTheNecklace.com ]

My first tour in awhile – looking forward to seeing you all again….

Click here to pick up a copy of KATERINA – bring it to a reading and I’ll sign it for you.

from Deadline

David Dastmalchian & Rhys Wakefield Join Hulu’s Femme Fatale Pilot ‘Reprisal’ From Warren Littlefield & A+E Studios

by Denise Petski

Photos courtesy of Persona PR/ICM Partners

David Dastmalchian (MacGyver, Twin Peaks) and Rhys Wakefield (True Detective, The Purge) are set as series regulars opposite Abigail Spencer and Mena Massoud in Hulu drama pilot Reprisal, from Warren Littlefield and A+E Studios.

Dastmalchian recently wrapped production on the upcoming film adaptation of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, and Netflix’s Bird Box opposite Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson. He has also been cast for a key role in upcoming feature Die in a Gunfight, opposite Josh Hutcherson, Helen Hunt, Olivia Munn, and Kaya Scodelario, as well as psycho-thriller The Killing Kind,alongside Aaron Paul and Jane Lynch. His recent credits include Ant-Man and the Wasp, Blade Runner 2049 and recurring roles on MacGyver and Twin Peaks among others. Dastmalchian is represented by Hansen, Jacobson Teller Hoberman.

[ click to read full article at Deadline ]

from INQUISITR

Lena Waithe Tabs Daniel Kaluuya To Star In New Movie, ‘Queen & Slim’

by Stephanie Barnes

Get Out and Black Panther actor Daniel Kaluuya has been tabbed to take the lead role of Slim, in an upcoming film, Queen & Slim, a romance drama written by Emmy award-winning writer Lena Waithe.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the script is being described as the black version of Bonnie and Clyde’s love story. The film will focus on a black couple out and about enjoying their first date together when things take a turn for the worse. The couple ends up killing a police officer in self-defense and have no other option but to head to Cuba.

“Queen & Slim is an exploration of America’s social and political climate through the lens of a genre-defying love story,” according to Variety.

The movie is said to be based on an idea and treatment from best-selling author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces) and story created by Waithe and Frey. Melina Matsoukas is also set to join the star-studded team as director, making this her directorial debut for a featured film. Matsoukas is known for her work on HBO’s Insecure and has directed a number of music videos, including Beyonce’s “Formation.”

[ click to continue reading at INQUISITR ]

from The Bookseller

New James Frey novel from John Murray

by Katherine Cowdrey

James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces (John Murray), is publishing a new novel with John Murray called Katerina.

Katerina, pitched as a sweeping love story that alternates between 1992 Paris and 2017 Los Angeles, will be published in September this year. John Murray acquired UK and Commonwealth rights through Jenny Meyer of Jenny Meyer Literary Agency on behalf of Eric Simonoff at WME.

At the centre of the novel is protagonist Jay, who is 21 when he moves to Paris to live the artist’s life, and falls in love for the first time. Cut to 25 years later: he is a middle-age family man living in California when he receives an anonymous message that draws him back to the life, and possibly the love, he abandoned years before.

North American rights have sold to Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, while the film rights to the book have been pre-emptively acquired by Makeready, the new production outfit launched in 2017 by former New Regency c.e.o Brad Weston. Frey will write the script and be executive producer. Guymon Casady is producing through Entertainment 360, the production arm of Management 360. WME negotiated the sale.

[ click to continue reading at TheBookseller.com ]

from Variety

‘Assassination Nation’ Star Odessa Young Joins ‘A Million Little Pieces’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Justin Kroll

CREDIT: STEPHEN LOVEKIN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

After a breakout role in the Sundance hit “Assassination Nation,” Odessa Young is boarding Sam Taylor-Johnson’s “A Million Little Pieces.”

Young will be joining the previously announced cast of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Charlie Hunnam, and Giovanni Ribisi.

The story follows a young man who awakens on an airplane to Chicago with no recollection of his injuries or of how he ended up on the plane. He then heads to a rehab and begins his journey to sobriety. Young will play Lilly, a crack and heroin addict who falls in love with the man.

[ click to continue reading at Variety ]

from DEADLINE

David Dastmalchian Joins ‘A Million Little Pieces’ & ‘Die in a Gunfight’

by Amanda N’Duka

REX/Shutterstock

EXCLUSIVE: Ant-Man And The Wasp actor David Dastmalchian has landed two back-to-back projects. He’s set for A Million Little Pieces, the Sam Taylor-Johnson directed film adaptation of the James Frey book, which is currently in production. The pic stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Juri, Charlie Hunnam, and Giovanni Ribisi.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Taylor-Johnson adapted the book, loosely based on Frey’s life. It follows a young drug-addled writer, who enters a treatment center in Minnesota. Makeready’s Pam Abdy is producing with The Picture Company partners Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman. Makeready is also fully finance the film with eOne distributing Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales.

[ click to continue reading at DEADLINE ]