Editor’s Note: This review was originally published at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Focus Features will release “The American Society of Magical Negroes” on Friday, March 15.
In one of the few laugh-out-loud scenes of “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” actor, writer and comedian Kobi Libii’s unevenly written but good-looking directorial debut that gradually runs out of steam, a Black man grabs an unsuspecting white person by the crotch to supposedly cure him of a prostatic illness.
The scene is a direct reference to Frank Darabont’s 1999 Oscar nominee “The Green Mile,” in which Michael Clarke Duncan’s prison inmate with a heart of gold (and supernatural powers) and Tom Hanks’ kind guard get similarly, well, acquainted. “The Green Mile” was only one of the then-recent barrage of popular movies like “What Dreams May Come,” “The Family Man,” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance” (also amusingly referenced in Libii...
In one of the few laugh-out-loud scenes of “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” actor, writer and comedian Kobi Libii’s unevenly written but good-looking directorial debut that gradually runs out of steam, a Black man grabs an unsuspecting white person by the crotch to supposedly cure him of a prostatic illness.
The scene is a direct reference to Frank Darabont’s 1999 Oscar nominee “The Green Mile,” in which Michael Clarke Duncan’s prison inmate with a heart of gold (and supernatural powers) and Tom Hanks’ kind guard get similarly, well, acquainted. “The Green Mile” was only one of the then-recent barrage of popular movies like “What Dreams May Come,” “The Family Man,” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance” (also amusingly referenced in Libii...
- 1/20/2024
- by Tomris Laffly
- Indiewire
The Art Directors Guild has announced nominations for the 26th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animation features, with nominees in the top categories including Licorice Pizza, Cruella, Dune, In The Heights, The White Lotus and Encanto.
Winners will be announced at the Adg Awards ceremony, which returns to a live-in person event at the InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles Downtown Hotel on Saturday, March 5. Today’s announcement was made by Adg President Nelson Coates, Adg, and Awards Producer Michael Allen Glover, Adg.
As previously announced, director Denis Villeneuve (Dune) will receive the William Cameron Menzies Award. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) will receive the Cinematic Imagery Award. The Adg Awards honor excellence in Production Design in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animated feature films.
The producer of the 2022 Adg Awards is Art Director Michael Allen Glover,...
Winners will be announced at the Adg Awards ceremony, which returns to a live-in person event at the InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles Downtown Hotel on Saturday, March 5. Today’s announcement was made by Adg President Nelson Coates, Adg, and Awards Producer Michael Allen Glover, Adg.
As previously announced, director Denis Villeneuve (Dune) will receive the William Cameron Menzies Award. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) will receive the Cinematic Imagery Award. The Adg Awards honor excellence in Production Design in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animated feature films.
The producer of the 2022 Adg Awards is Art Director Michael Allen Glover,...
- 1/24/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Nightmare Alley,” “Cruella,” “No Time to Die” and “In The Heights” are among the top films recognized for excellence in production design in the 26th annual Art Directors Guild nominations.
On Monday, the Adg announced nominations for this year’s awards show, which will return to a live ceremony on March 5 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.
“The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza,” “West Side Story” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” landed nominations in the period feature film category alongside “Nightmare Alley.” “Dune,” “Cruella,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “The Green Knight” earned recognition in fantasy feature film.
Missing out were Oscar contenders “Spencer,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Belfast” and “Cyrano.”
As previously announced, director Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”) will receive the William Cameron Menzies award. Jane Campion “(The Power of the Dog”) will receive the cinematic imagery award.
The Adg Awards honor...
On Monday, the Adg announced nominations for this year’s awards show, which will return to a live ceremony on March 5 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.
“The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza,” “West Side Story” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” landed nominations in the period feature film category alongside “Nightmare Alley.” “Dune,” “Cruella,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “The Green Knight” earned recognition in fantasy feature film.
Missing out were Oscar contenders “Spencer,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Belfast” and “Cyrano.”
As previously announced, director Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”) will receive the William Cameron Menzies award. Jane Campion “(The Power of the Dog”) will receive the cinematic imagery award.
The Adg Awards honor...
- 1/24/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
“The French Dispatch,” “Nightmare Alley,” “West Side Story,” “Dune,” “The Green Knight” and “Don’t Look Up” are among the feature-film nominees for the 26th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, which are given out by the Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800).
Kicking off a four-day period in which 10 different Hollywood guilds and societies will announce their nominations, the Adg honorees were announced by guild president Nelson Coates and Adg Awards producer Michael Allen Glover.
In the period-film category, the Adg category that most closely matches the Oscar for Best Production Design, the nominees were “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “West Side Story.”
In the fantasy category, nominations went to “Cruella,” “Dune,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “The Green Knight” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
And in the contemporary category, the nominees were “Candyman,” “Don’t Look Up,” “In the Heights,” “The Lost Daughter” and “No Time to Die.
Kicking off a four-day period in which 10 different Hollywood guilds and societies will announce their nominations, the Adg honorees were announced by guild president Nelson Coates and Adg Awards producer Michael Allen Glover.
In the period-film category, the Adg category that most closely matches the Oscar for Best Production Design, the nominees were “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “West Side Story.”
In the fantasy category, nominations went to “Cruella,” “Dune,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “The Green Knight” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
And in the contemporary category, the nominees were “Candyman,” “Don’t Look Up,” “In the Heights,” “The Lost Daughter” and “No Time to Die.
- 1/24/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Your 9 to 5 might be (mostly) the same every day, but that is certainly not the case for production designers. “There are no typical days in designing. I think that’s why we all love this career,” Nelson Coates (“The Morning Show”) tells Gold Derby during our Meet the Experts: TV Production Design panel (watch above) with Gary Mackay (“Cowboy Bebop”), Rich Murray (“Only Murders in the Building”), Ondrej Nekvasil (“The Wheel of Time”) and Laura Fox (“The White Lotus”). “Every day is unexpected, no matter how it’s planned. That’s exciting. I think we all live off of that adrenaline.” Enjoy watching our group roundtable panel above. Click on each individual name to see that person’s solo interview.
For Nekvasil, he never dreads going into work. “I have the feeling that I would like to go to the office. I don’t have the feeling, ‘Oh, I would like to stay home,...
For Nekvasil, he never dreads going into work. “I have the feeling that I would like to go to the office. I don’t have the feeling, ‘Oh, I would like to stay home,...
- 11/17/2021
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Working and living at the Four Seasons Resort Maui sounds like a dream — if it weren’t for a pandemic. Mike White‘s “The White Lotus” filmed last fall entirely at the Four Seasons, which was transformed into titular resort and also served as the living quarters for the whole cast and production team in Hawaii.
“When I got the call about the job, they had already chosen the Four Seasons,” production designer Laura Fox tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Production Design panel (watch above). “I think HBO had approached Mike White about, ‘Maybe you have something in your bag of tricks that might work for small, pandemic, non-giant ‘Succession’-type shooting?’ And he had literally been thinking about a resort idea, not this one, but he rewrote it. But that’s sort of where it came from because I literally got on a plane after being...
“When I got the call about the job, they had already chosen the Four Seasons,” production designer Laura Fox tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Production Design panel (watch above). “I think HBO had approached Mike White about, ‘Maybe you have something in your bag of tricks that might work for small, pandemic, non-giant ‘Succession’-type shooting?’ And he had literally been thinking about a resort idea, not this one, but he rewrote it. But that’s sort of where it came from because I literally got on a plane after being...
- 11/17/2021
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Five top production designers will reveal secrets behind their programs when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Emmy and guild contenders. Each person from these TV shows will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Monday, November 15, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 7:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Joyce Eng and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“Cowboy Bebop”: Gary Mackay
Synopsis: A ragtag crew of bounty hunters chases down the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“Cowboy Bebop”: Gary Mackay
Synopsis: A ragtag crew of bounty hunters chases down the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals.
- 11/8/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In order to avoid splitting votes and allow for the possibility of netting two acting nominations this year, Searchlight Pictures will campaign Andrew Garfield’s performance as televangelist Jim Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” for supporting actor consideration, based on an invite that was sent to BAFTA voters for an upcoming virtual screening of the film.
Following the biopic’s bow at the Toronto International Film Festival and modest box office receipts, its Oscar prospects have been seemingly on the fringe, but the film, directed by Michael Showalter, could make a roaring comeback during the season. Garfield’s co-star Jessica Chastain, who plays his wife Tammy Faye, will angle for lead actress, and could become a central piece of a competitive race that includes Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”) and Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”).
The 38-year-old actor, who graced the cover of Variety‘s TIFF issue last month,...
Following the biopic’s bow at the Toronto International Film Festival and modest box office receipts, its Oscar prospects have been seemingly on the fringe, but the film, directed by Michael Showalter, could make a roaring comeback during the season. Garfield’s co-star Jessica Chastain, who plays his wife Tammy Faye, will angle for lead actress, and could become a central piece of a competitive race that includes Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”) and Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”).
The 38-year-old actor, who graced the cover of Variety‘s TIFF issue last month,...
- 10/4/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Production designer Laura Fox, who transformed the Four Seasons Maui into an uneasy pineapple-bedecked paradise for HBO’s “The White Lotus,” faced some similar challenges when creating the world of Tammy Faye Bakker for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”
Neither director Michael Showalter, nor producer-actress Jessica Chastain, who plays the title character, wanted to make fun of the flamboyant televangelist, yet parts of her life were undeniably over-the-top, such as her creepy doll collection. Fox says “research, research, research” was the key, although very few detailed descriptions of her surroundings existed, which allowed her to have creative license in building key sets such as the Bakker house and their studio. “It was about weaving ideas together and how to make them rich knowing they really had no exposure to taste or a decorator,” she says.
Fox shared sketches and insight into how she built the world of Tammy Faye and...
Neither director Michael Showalter, nor producer-actress Jessica Chastain, who plays the title character, wanted to make fun of the flamboyant televangelist, yet parts of her life were undeniably over-the-top, such as her creepy doll collection. Fox says “research, research, research” was the key, although very few detailed descriptions of her surroundings existed, which allowed her to have creative license in building key sets such as the Bakker house and their studio. “It was about weaving ideas together and how to make them rich knowing they really had no exposure to taste or a decorator,” she says.
Fox shared sketches and insight into how she built the world of Tammy Faye and...
- 9/18/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Oscars voters have always loved seeing actors whose startling physical transformations come after countless hours in the makeup chair.
After Renée Zellweger (“Judy”), Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”) and Charlize Theron (“Monster”) won Oscars for their impressively-altered looks, Jessica Chastain could be on a similar path for her role as the media-loving televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in Michael Showalter’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Following a world bow at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Searchlight Pictures dramedy, echoing previous Oscar embraces such as “I, Tonya,” could make Chastain a contender for her third nomination, and could bring in a few other notices if campaigned correctly.
Chastain’s previous Oscar noms came in supporting actress for “The Help” (2011) and actress for “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012). She also serves as one of the producers for the film, along with Kelly Carmichael, Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane. While “Tammy Faye” could...
After Renée Zellweger (“Judy”), Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”) and Charlize Theron (“Monster”) won Oscars for their impressively-altered looks, Jessica Chastain could be on a similar path for her role as the media-loving televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in Michael Showalter’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Following a world bow at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Searchlight Pictures dramedy, echoing previous Oscar embraces such as “I, Tonya,” could make Chastain a contender for her third nomination, and could bring in a few other notices if campaigned correctly.
Chastain’s previous Oscar noms came in supporting actress for “The Help” (2011) and actress for “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012). She also serves as one of the producers for the film, along with Kelly Carmichael, Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane. While “Tammy Faye” could...
- 9/13/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
After Douglas Sirk but before reality TV, there was bird-voiced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, the bighearted, spotlight-seeking American success story laid low by her misplaced love for a crooked husband, blind trust in schemers, and old-fashioned greed. Had Jim Bakker not come along to hustle their young marriage into a cash cow of a ministry, one could see the cheery, hard-working, socially liberal Tammy Faye leading a perfectly flush life entertaining the adoring faithful, leaving only her cosmetic boldness as a source of tabloid derision. (Or was it a facial armor that could only arise from being married to Bakker?)
Yet scandal did come for Tammy Faye, after which queer art swooped to rescue her with the 2000 documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” from Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. A sympathetic case of gay adoption that teased as only family could, it also stressed where redemption and pity was warranted for so melodramatic a life.
Yet scandal did come for Tammy Faye, after which queer art swooped to rescue her with the 2000 documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” from Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. A sympathetic case of gay adoption that teased as only family could, it also stressed where redemption and pity was warranted for so melodramatic a life.
- 9/13/2021
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
“The White Lotus” creator Mike White gave production designer Laura Fox a unique direction when it came to designing the sets of his new HBO series: “Think of The Madonna Inn and The Four Seasons having a baby.”
Fox’s job was to take the normally restrained and tasteful decor of the Four Seasons Maui just a few steps farther, with too many patterns, too many tropical colors and too many slightly-dated accessories. The series follows a group of American tourists who stay at a luxurious Hawaiian resort that doesn’t quite live up to their standards. The mood is set through the production design, their costumes and the golden cast of the cinematography, which combine to make their stay feel slightly dreamlike and surreal.
Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Sydney Sweeney and Steve Zahn all star as the spoiled rich guests around whom Fox centered her designs,...
Fox’s job was to take the normally restrained and tasteful decor of the Four Seasons Maui just a few steps farther, with too many patterns, too many tropical colors and too many slightly-dated accessories. The series follows a group of American tourists who stay at a luxurious Hawaiian resort that doesn’t quite live up to their standards. The mood is set through the production design, their costumes and the golden cast of the cinematography, which combine to make their stay feel slightly dreamlike and surreal.
Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Sydney Sweeney and Steve Zahn all star as the spoiled rich guests around whom Fox centered her designs,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Troop Zero is the kind of film you just wish they made more of. A simple, good natured story, well told without an ounce of pretentiousness. A feel-good movie about a ragtag troop of girl scouts called ‘Birdies’? Unless you’ve just fallen into a crocodile infested pit (for heaven’s sake call somebody), Troop Zero cannot fail to make you smile.
Costume designer for Troop Zero is Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, she of Moonlight (2016), Under the Silver Lake (2018), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and many, many others. Intuitive and meticulous, Caroline Eselin is someone who really ‘feels’ the projects she works on. Troop Zero is indicative of this approach. Very kindly she has agreed to share with us her inspiration and process for the movie. Read on – if you’ve got this far it just gets better.
Troop Zero features a predominantly young cast and is set in 1977. Moreover it is...
Costume designer for Troop Zero is Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, she of Moonlight (2016), Under the Silver Lake (2018), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and many, many others. Intuitive and meticulous, Caroline Eselin is someone who really ‘feels’ the projects she works on. Troop Zero is indicative of this approach. Very kindly she has agreed to share with us her inspiration and process for the movie. Read on – if you’ve got this far it just gets better.
Troop Zero features a predominantly young cast and is set in 1977. Moreover it is...
- 1/20/2020
- by Lord Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
You’ve probably seen a version of “Troop Zero” before. Whether that version was called “Troop Beverly Hills,” “The Mighty Ducks,” or an edited-for-tv showing of “The Bad News Bears,” it’s unlikely that anything here will be particularly fresh to anyone but the youngest of viewers. But novelty does not appear to have been high on the filmmakers’ priorities. An aggressively whimsical, ‘70s-set family comedy about a misfit group of off-brand Girl Scouts, directing duo Bert & Bertie’s crowdpleaser neither reinvents the wheel nor even attempts to redesign it all that much, but at least it gets where it wants to go, thanks in no small part to the work of Allison Janney, Viola Davis, and young actor Mckenna Grace.
Say this much for “Troop Zero,” which premiered at Sundance in 2019 and hits Amazon streaming this weekend: in spite of its relentless insistence on steering the plot exactly where you think it’s going,...
Say this much for “Troop Zero,” which premiered at Sundance in 2019 and hits Amazon streaming this weekend: in spite of its relentless insistence on steering the plot exactly where you think it’s going,...
- 1/17/2020
- by Andrew Barker
- Variety Film + TV
Epix drama “Perpetual Grace Ltd” brings a modern noir take on lawlessness and duplicity to the Old West. To play up a sense of timelessness, the crew mixed ingenuity and modern technology in realizing creators Steve Conrad and Bruce Terris’ seemingly simple idea of using black and white for the series’ key flashback scenes.
Set decorator Adrian Segura used the monochrome setting on his iPhone to get an idea of how things would look on camera. “The challenge was definitely to deliver a good set in color that was also going to shoot well in black and white,” he says.
The series wraps its 10-episode first season Aug. 4. It stars Jimmi Simpson as a young grifter and Ben Kingsley as his target, a pastor who turns out to be far more dangerous than he appears.
Segura recognized that for the actors to do their jobs well, the sets had to be believable in person,...
Set decorator Adrian Segura used the monochrome setting on his iPhone to get an idea of how things would look on camera. “The challenge was definitely to deliver a good set in color that was also going to shoot well in black and white,” he says.
The series wraps its 10-episode first season Aug. 4. It stars Jimmi Simpson as a young grifter and Ben Kingsley as his target, a pastor who turns out to be far more dangerous than he appears.
Segura recognized that for the actors to do their jobs well, the sets had to be believable in person,...
- 7/31/2019
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
"I'll bravely say this: it probably will be one of my favorite films I'll ever work on," Dustin Lance Black said to me a day before the premiere of his directorial debut "What's Wrong With Virginia" at the Toronto Film Festival. These words seem even braver considering the odd predicament Black found himself in when we spoke; in one of the peculiarities of the festival, the film's press and industry screening wasn't well-received yet there's still hope that the public could embrace it when the film makes its official premiere this evening.
"What's Wrong With Virginia" is an unusual film, to be sure, but also a heartfelt one, the result of an experiment where Black was egged on by a friend early in his career to write a script he wouldn't show to others. What came spilling out was something that Black says "freed me up to start talking about...
"What's Wrong With Virginia" is an unusual film, to be sure, but also a heartfelt one, the result of an experiment where Black was egged on by a friend early in his career to write a script he wouldn't show to others. What came spilling out was something that Black says "freed me up to start talking about...
- 9/15/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Whether it's the depleted Americana represented in the chesterfield brown bungalow that the title character from Hesher decides to make his temporary shelter, or the knowledge of what makes for a cubicle layout of an office space easily filmable in (500) Days of Summer, it takes an architecturally sound understanding, a strong know how for the aesthetic described on the pages of a script to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character's dwellings into life size representations of the world he inhibits. Production Designer Laura Fox has now made a place for herself in what I could call the medium to high-end budgeted sized indie projects. Fox's most recent work will be seen via television's Lonestar this fall, and in Dustin Lance Black's What's Wrong with Virginia due out sometime this festival season. When not working on film sets, Fox impressive resume includes some gnarly work on commercials and music videos -...
- 7/19/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
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