Antoine Fuqua Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Will Smith is speaking at award ceremonies again. The 54-year-old actor attended the 14th annual African American Film Critics Association Awards in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday night and took the podium to say a few words. The speech marked the Oscar winner’s first in-person acceptance at an awards show since he slappedChris Rock onstage at the 2022 Academy Awards.Smith accepted the Beacon Award with Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua. His co-star, Charmaine Bingwa, and AAFCA cofounder Gil L.

Will Smith made his first in-person speech tonight at an awards ceremony since the 2022 Oscars incident with Chris Rock.

J. Kim Murphy Will Smith returned to awards season festivities Wednesday evening, taking the stage to accept the Beacon Award at the African American Film Critics Association Awards. The speech marked Smith’s first in-person speech at an awards ceremony since his controversy at the 2022 Oscars, in which the actor slapped Chris Rock onstage. Smith’s “Emancipation” costar Charmaine Bingwa and AAFCA cofounder Gil L. Robertson introduced Smith and Antoine Fuqua, the historical drama’s director, early in the evening’s ceremony. After Fuqua’s minute-long thanks to AAFCA, Apple TV+ and the film’s cast and crew, Smith took the microphone to recount the production of the film.

Katie Reul editor Will Smith won the NAACP Image Award for outstanding actor in a motion picture for his performance in “Emancipation” on Saturday night, marking his first award win since his infamous incident at the 2022 Oscars in which he slapped Chris Rock onstage. Smith was not present at the ceremony to accept his award in person. Set in 19th century Louisiana, Smith portrays a runaway slave who embarks on a treacherous journey to Baton Rouge while thwarting off violent plantation owners. “Emancipation” was inspired by an 1863 photograph known as “Whipped Peter,” which depicts a once-enslaved individual with severe lacerations on his back. The image’s circulation placed the brutality of slavery in front of the eyes of the American public.

EXCLUSIVE: Diamond-certified singer-songwriter Camila Cabello has found her next major acting gig on the heels of Prime Video’s Cinderella. The Cuban-born artist has closed a deal to join Jay Will, Mary J. Blige and Chiwetel Ejiofor in Rob Peace — the drama that Ejiofor is directing from his own script, as his sophomore feature effort.

Oliver Wood, an English cinematographer whose credits include “Die Hard 2,” “Face/Off,” “The Other Guys” and the original “Bourne” trilogy, died Monday, Feb. 13, following a battle with cancer. He was 80. With a career spanning across seven decades, Wood worked across a wide variety of projects, collaborating with directors like John Woo, Adam McKay, Antoine Fuqua, Barry Sonnenfeld and Larry Cohen. He was nominated for a BAFTA award for best cinematography for his work on 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” directed by Paul Greengrass. Born in London, Wood moved to New York City when he was 19. His first major credit came on Leonard Kastle’s 1970 crime film “The Honeymoon Killers,” making a strong impression for his technique of using available light to give the anachronistic dark comedy the look of a newsreel.

EXCLUSIVE: 2x Academy Award nominee Mary J. Blige (Mudbound) is set to star alongside Tulsa King‘s Jay Will in the upcoming drama Rob Peace. Through her banner Blue Butterfly, she’ll also exec produce the pic, written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, which is now in production.

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Ogg, notably recognized for his roles on The Walking Dead and Westworld, has signed with Buchwald for representation.

With a long and varied career under his belt, Jake Gyllenhaal has earned the right to develop whatever projects he wants — and it looks like he wants to work with every A-list action director he can get his hands on. With recent collaborations with Antoine Fuqua (“The Guilty“) and Michael Bay (“Ambulance“), as well as his upcoming remake of “Road House” with director Doug Liman,” Gyllenhaal is well on his way to building an impressive mid-career action resume.

The Terminal List is continuing — and becoming a franchise for Amazon Studios. I have learned that Prime Video has finalized a Season 2 renewal for the hit series starring and executive produced by Chris Pratt and also has picked up an untitled prequel/Ben Edwards origin series headlined and executive produced by Taylor Kitsch, from The Terminal List creator/executive producer David DiGilio.

It appears the question of who would land the lead role in Antoine Fuqua’s recently announced Michael Jackson biopic, simply titled “Michael,” isn’t a mystery anymore. Not only that, the filmmaker didn’t have to look too far to find his star, as Michael Jackson’s nephew landed the job.

EXCLUSIVE: Tulsa King‘s Jay Will has landed the title role in Rob Peace — the second feature from Academy Award-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, on the heels of the Netflix-acquired The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which he’s directing from his own script.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jackson will be played by the late icon’s 26-year old nephew Jaafar Jackson in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film biopic for Lionsgate. Fuqua just posted a confirmation on Instagram. The singer and songwriter is the son of Jermaine Jackson, who is the brother of Michael and member of The Jackson 5. Jaafar has been singing and dancing since age 12, and has showcased himself singing tunes from Sam Cooke to Marvin Gaye, along with originals.

Apple has confirmed Deadline’s scoop on winning an all-night bidding battle for the John Carney-directed Flora and Son, as Apple’s Heads of Worldwide Video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht and their head of features Matt Dentler burned the midnight oil to make the label’s biggest Sundance Film Festival deal since they acquired CODA in 2021. That film went on to establish Apple as the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar, with the film also winning Best Adapted Screenplay for director Sian Heder and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur.

EXCLUSIVE: Antoine Fuqua is set to direct Michael, a Lionsgate drama with script by telling the complex life story of the iconic singer Michael Jackson. A script is in by John Logan, and the film will be produced by Graham King, who turned the Freddie Mercury Queen story into the blockbuster Best Picture nominated Bohemian Rhapsody. GK Films will produce alongside co-executors of Jackson’s estate, John Branca and John McClain.

Deadline on Thursday launched its streaming site for Contenders Film LA3C: Conversations With Contenders, the awards-season event that took place Saturday as part of the lineup of the LA3C culture and music festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Following a selective path that led to the first Oscar Best Picture for a streamer in CODA, Apple Original Films’ heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht’s 2022 offerings have broken records for the 3+ year old company.   

EXCLUSIVE: Universal and Working Title have set Melissa McCarthy to star in an untitled Christmas-in-New York movie that will be written by Love Actually scribe Richard Curtis and directed by Sam Boyd.

Paramount+ has dropped a new trailer for season 2 of Mayor of Kingstown, which will debut on Sunday, January 15. Starring Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest, the series will premiere the following day in the U.K. and Australia.

With all the talk about the diversification of the “new” Hollywood Foreign Press Association, particularly in terms of recruiting Black members to make up for the sheer paucity of them as revealed originally in a now-infamous Los Angeles Times report, it might be one of this morning’s key surprises in the nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards, that not a single film with strong Black themes or actors or behind the camera talent was among the Best Picture nominees in either Drama or Comedy/Musical categories. Most egregiously missing in those key categories, as well as directing and writing were hotly awards-buzzed The Woman King, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Till, the latter film completely shut out despite heavy Oscar attention expected for its star Danielle Deadwyler who last week was named Best Lead Performance at the Gothams as well as Best Actress at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema & Television. Will Smith’s return in Emancipation from director Antoine Fuqua also was AWOL, although considering its decidedly mixed critical reception and inherent controversy (although not with the Globes) that isn’t all that surprising to see it snubbed.

Deadline’s signature Contenders event hits downtown Los Angeles on Saturday for a hybrid in-person/virtual edition, partnering with the inaugural LA3C, the cultural festival developed by Deadline parent company PMC.

Partnering with this weekend’s inaugural LA3C developed by Deadline parent company, PMC, Deadline’s signature Contenders event hits Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday December 10 for a live in person/virtual edition and final Contenders -film opportunity before Oscar nomination voting begins. With films not previously highlighted at our previous LA and NY outings this Fall, A Man Called Otto, The Woman King, The Banshees Of Inisherin, Emancipation, and The Pale Blue Eye will be front and center for voters and public along with newly produced visits with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Elvis, and Top Gun: Maverick all with talent appearing live at our venue, the J. W. Marriott at LA Live. Also returning to Deadline Contenders will be filmmakers from Till, Thirteen Lives, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.

It was fascinating to see my good colleague Valerie Complex describe, in her review of the Antoine Fuqua/Will Smith slavery drama Emancipation, having almost walked out of the film, not because it was unworthy, but because she found the depiction of Black suffering and death almost too much to watch.

“Whipped Peter” spent 10 days traveling through the alligator- and insect-filled Louisiana swamps to join the Union Army after his escape from Lyons plantation in Louisiana. During his medical examination, onlookers marveled at the constellation of raised scars on his back from constant whippings. When war photographers took a picture of his back, and shared it with others, it reminded white people of the viciousness experienced by the enslaved. Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation retells the story of Peter and his blood-soaked journey to freedom. Written by Bill Collage (Exodus: Gods and Kings), the film is an unforgiving portrait of a man separated from his family and risking his life to reunite with them.

Apple Original Films finally unveiled the Will Smith movie Emancipation tonight at The Regency Village Theatre in Westwood.

, Smith appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to promote his upcoming film Emancipation and discuss how he's spent his year post-slap.Noah immediately turned his attention Smith's starring role in Emancipation, a slavery epic from director Antoine Fuqua about Whipped Peter—an escaped slave whose heavily scarred back was photographed and became one of the most graphic depictions of slavery, helping to galvanize abolitionists to end the institution once and for all. “Emancipation is not the kind of film we would expect to see you in as Will Smith,” said host Trevor Noah.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony has rounded out its cast for The Equalizer 3, with Eugenio Mastrandrea (From Scratch), Remo Girone (Ford v Ferrari), Sonia Ammar (Scream), Daniele Perrone (Baaria), Andrea Scarduzio (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One) and Andrea Dodero (Blocco 181) signing on for roles.