one glaring mistake in the remake of MILDRED PIERCE, the new HBO miniseries directed by TODD HAYNES is to make mildred's maid LOTTIE white!
the orginal featured the incredible BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN. here is her bio and info about her life-
Thelma McQueen attended public school in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from high school in Long Island, New York. She studied dance with Katherine Dunham, Geoffrey Holder, and Janet Collins. She danced with the Venezuela Jones Negro Youth Group. The "Butterfly" stage name, which does describe her constantly moving arms, actually derives from dancing the "Butterfly Ballet" in a 1935 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Her stage debut was in "Brown Sugar," directed by George Abbott for whom she did several other stage shows. In 1939 she appeared as the shop girls' assistant Lulu in The Women (1939) and in her most famous role, the irresponsible, whiny Prissy of Gone with the Wind (1939) ("Oh, Miss Scarlett, I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies").
Two other notable appearances among her string of silly maid parts were in Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) and Mildred Pierce (1945). From 1947 to 1951, she was a regular on the radio show "Beulah" and then in the TV version 1950-52.
In 1980, a Greyhound Bus Lines guard mistook her for a pickpocket and handled her roughly, throwing her against a bench and cracking several of her ribs. She sued for assault, and after several years of litigation, she was awarded $60,000. She chose to live very frugally on the money and retired to a small town outside Augusta, Georgia, where she lived in anonymity in a modest one-bedroom cottage.
nature fills our world with love- sung by butterfly mcqueen
On the night of Dec. 22, 1995, a fire broke out in her home, and she was found by firefighters lying on the sidewalk outside with severe burns over 70 percent of her body. She said her clothes caught fire while she was trying to light a kerosene heater in her cottage, which was destroyed by the fire. She was taken to Augusta Regional Medical Center, where she died at age 84.
"As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion."
"Now I am happy I did Gone with the Wind (1939). I wasn't when I was 28, but it's part of black history. You have no idea how hard it is for black actors, but things change, things blossom in time."- butterfly mcqueen
kate mcconn- inglewood antebellum corespondent
Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, father of the modern movie zombie and creator of the groundbreaking “Night of the Living Dead” franchise, has died at 77, his family said.
Romero died Sunday in his sleep following a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” according to a statement to The Times provided by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero died while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s
“The Quiet Man,” with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero,
at his side, the family said.
Romero jump-started the zombie genre as the co-writer (with John A. Russo) and director of the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead,” which went to show future generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. “Living Dead” spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s sequels included 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead,” 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” 1990’s “Land of the Dead,” 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” and 2009’s “George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead.”
The original film, since colorized, has become a Halloween TV staple. It also has earned socio-political points for the casting of a black actor in the lead role.
Best Picture “Arrival” ”Fences” ”Hacksaw Ridge” ”Hell or High Water” ”Hidden Figures” ”La La Land” ”Lion” ”Manchester by the Sea” ”Moonlight”
Best Director Denis Villeneuve, “Arrival” Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge” Damien Chazelle, “La La Land” Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea” Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Best Actress Emma Stone, “La La Land” Natalie Portman, “Jackie” Ruth Negga, “Loving” Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins” Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Best Actor Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge” Ryan Gosling, “La La Land” Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Best Supporting Actress Viola Davis, “Fences” Naomie Harris, “Moonlight” Nicole Kidman, “Lion” Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures” Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight” Jeff Bridges,”Hell or High Water” Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea” Dev Patel, “Lion” Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”
Best Adapted Screenplay “Arrival” ”Fences” ”Hidden Figures” ”Lion” ”Moonlight”
Best Original Screenplay “Hell or High Water” ”La La Land” ”The Lobster” ”Manchester by the Sea” ”20th Century Women”
Best Foreign Language Film “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, Denmark ”A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, Sweden ”The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, Iran ”Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, Australia, ”Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, Germany
Best Documentary Feature “Fire at Sea” “I Am Not Your Negro” “Life, Animated” ”13th” “O.J.: Made in America”
Best Animated Feature “Kubo and the Two Strings” ”Moana” ”My Life as a Zucchini” ”The Red Turtle” ”Zootopia”
Best Film Editing “Arrival” ”Hacksaw Ridge” ”Hell or High Water” ”La La Land” ”Moonlight”
Best Original Song “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls” “City of Stars,” “La La Land” “The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” “How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana”
Best Original Score “Jackie” ”La La Land” ”Lion” ”Moonlight” ”Passengers”
Best Cinematography “Arrival,” Bradford Young ”La La Land,” Linus Sandgren ”Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto ”Lion,” Grieg Fraser ”Moonlight,” James Laxton
Best Costume Design “Allied” ”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” ”Florence Foster Jenkins” ”Jackie” ”La La Land”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling “A Man Called Ove” ”Star Trek Beyond” ”Suicide Squad”
Best Production Design “Arrival” ”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” ”Hail, Caesar!” ”La La Land” ”Passengers”
Best Sound Editing “Arrival” ”Deepwater Horizon” ”Hacksaw Ridge” ”La La Land” ”Sully”
Best Sound Mixing “Arrival” ”Hacksaw Ridge” ”La La Land” ”Rogue One” ”13 Hours”
Best Visual Effects “Rogue One” ”The Jungle Book” ”Doctor Strange” ”Deepwater Horizon” ”Kubo and the Two Strings”
Check the history that was made by "Moonlight" at the Oscars last night:
1. First film to win Best Picture with an all-Black cast 2. First film to win Best Picture that is LGBTQ-themed 3. First LGBTQ-themed film to win Best Picture featuring
a Black same-gender-loving protagonist.
4. Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim to win an Academy Award for acting 5. Tarell Alvin McCraney became the first living Black openly same-gender-loving person
to win an Academy Award, especially in a writing category.
MOONLIGHT is a small film with a huge message. I sometimes get these feelings about films even before I see them, that they're destined to greatness. moonlight is an immediate modern day classic. it will go down in cinematic history as being the first of its genre. Not that films about black gay youth have not been seen. it's been done before. not that films about coming out haven't been created. Numerous films including Brokeback Moutain have done so. The much needed genre of Moonlight- that of a coming of age romance of a black gay male follows the classic storytelling formula, but it is all new. Moonlight is groundbreaking in that it gives voice to the minority in a way the majority cannot deny. What Brokeback Mountain, My Beautiful Laundurette and numerous films could'nt attain was mainstream acceptance. The time was not yet there. This time mainstream will get it... and they will love it. BTW- Moonlight is easily the best film of 2016.
Moonlight seems familiar because for many of us, that was our childhood, that was our adolescents, that was our inner-conflict, that was our coming of age story. I cried three times. Impacted by what I saw- I went next door in the generic movie complex and watched the remaining screening of GIRL ON A TRAIN, ( which I don't recommend) then came back and watched a second screening of Moonlighting. Once again I cried in those same three scenes.
The cinematography is beautiful by James Laxton. the writing is beautiful by Tarell McCraney, the score is beautiful by Nicholas Brittel, the directing is beautiful by Barry Jenkins and the acting... can we talk about the acting! There are so many great performances. As a whole all the cast is excellent. Naomie Harris as Paula- the mother will win an oscar. Aston Sanderson as teen-age Chiron will win an oscar- he has to at least be nominated. Mahershala Ali as Juan- the drug dealing father figure is excellent. I also loved him in House of Cards. Jharrel Jerome -as Kevin age 16- is excellent. Trevante Rhodes as the adult "Black" is excellent. Andre Holland as the adult Kevin is excellent. The last scene- between them is so honest, it's enough to make the most jaded of us give love another chance.
one glaring mistake in the remake of MILDRED PIERCE, the new HBO miniseries directed by TODD HAYNES is to make mildred's maid LOTTIE white!
the orginal featured the incredible BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN. here is her bio and info about her life-
Thelma McQueen attended public school in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from high school in Long Island, New York. She studied dance with Katherine Dunham, Geoffrey Holder, and Janet Collins. She danced with the Venezuela Jones Negro Youth Group. The "Butterfly" stage name, which does describe her constantly moving arms, actually derives from dancing the "Butterfly Ballet" in a 1935 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Her stage debut was in "Brown Sugar," directed by George Abbott for whom she did several other stage shows. In 1939 she appeared as the shop girls' assistant Lulu in The Women (1939) and in her most famous role, the irresponsible, whiny Prissy of Gone with the Wind (1939) ("Oh, Miss Scarlett, I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies").
Two other notable appearances among her string of silly maid parts were in Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) and Mildred Pierce (1945). From 1947 to 1951, she was a regular on the radio show "Beulah" and then in the TV version 1950-52.
In 1980, a Greyhound Bus Lines guard mistook her for a pickpocket and handled her roughly, throwing her against a bench and cracking several of her ribs. She sued for assault, and after several years of litigation, she was awarded $60,000. She chose to live very frugally on the money and retired to a small town outside Augusta, Georgia, where she lived in anonymity in a modest one-bedroom cottage.
nature fills our world with love- sung by butterfly mcqueen
On the night of Dec. 22, 1995, a fire broke out in her home, and she was found by firefighters lying on the sidewalk outside with severe burns over 70 percent of her body. She said her clothes caught fire while she was trying to light a kerosene heater in her cottage, which was destroyed by the fire. She was taken to Augusta Regional Medical Center, where she died at age 84.
"As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion."
"Now I am happy I did Gone with the Wind (1939). I wasn't when I was 28, but it's part of black history. You have no idea how hard it is for black actors, but things change, things blossom in time."- butterfly mcqueen
kate mcconn- inglewood antebellum corespondent
