Emmett Till Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

It’s that time again, when Deadline decamps to New York City to bring you the latest installment of our Contenders Film series, with the lowdown on some of our favorite Oscar-season possibilities.

“Till” is sixth on the box office charts after expanding to 2,058 theaters, grossing just $2.8 million for a per-theater average of $1,366 and a running total of $3.6 million. The good news for Chinonye Chukwu’s true-story drama about the murder of Emmett Till is that critical and audience praise has been overwhelming, with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A+ on CinemaScore.

A.D. Amorosi The import of crafting an original song for “Till,” director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu’s heart-wrenching biopic on the execution of Emmett Till and the quest for justice led by his mother, Mamie, was never lost on Jazmine Sullivan and Dernst “D’Mile’ Emile II, the songwriters, performer and producer, respectively, of “Stand Up.” Soon to be submitted for Academy Awards consideration, “Stand Up” was released on Oct. 7, as the film, “Till,” expands with its broad theatrical release planned for Oct 21. The lineage of “Stand Up” is beyond stellar. The emotional depth-defying vocals and songwriting skills of Sullivan won her 2022 Grammys for best R&B performance (“Pick Up Your Feelings”) and best R&B album (“Heaux Tales”). Equally emotive when it comes to crafting melody, D’Mile became the first songwriter in Grammy history to win song of the year two years in a row with H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” in 2021 and Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” in 2022, along with having won an Oscar for best original song for his “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021) track, “Fight for You,” with H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas.

Chinonye Chukwu’s Till got off to a solid start at the specialized box office, grossing over $15k per theater from 16 locations in five markets for an estimated weekend gross of $240.9k, possibly more depending on how Sunday plays out.

Daniel Craig is stepping out to support James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli at the premiere of her new movie!

Specialty film rollouts continues to accelerate with Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave and A24’s Stars At Noon joining releases from previous weeks to populate theaters as awards season gathers steam.  

Jalyn Hall plays the title character Emmett Till in the new movie Till and we caught up with the young actor to learn more about him!

Jazmine Sullivan has shared new song "Stand Up." The track features on the soundtrack to Oscar-contender Till and is Sullivan's first single since her 2021 album Heaux Tales, named Best R&B Album at this year's Grammys. Check it out below.

Danielle Deadwyler is stepping out for a special screening of her new movie.

The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till is one of the lesser-known turning points in U.S. history; but the details of his case, along with the pictures of his disfigured body, haunted the nation’s consciousness back in 1955.

Whoopi Goldberg has slammed a film critic for claiming she wore a "fat suit" in the new movie Till. During an appearance on The View on Monday, the Sister Act actress called out an unnamed reviewer who made a comment about her wearing a "distracting fat suit" to portray Emmett Till's grandmother, Alma Carthan, in the biographical feature. However, during a conversation on the talk show, Whoopi noted that she wasn't wearing a fat suit and looked different because she had suffered a variety of health issues in the lead-up to production beginning in September 2021.

Whoopi Goldberg is reacting to criticism of her role in the new movie “Till”.

Whoopi Goldberg is addressing head-on a criticism about her looks in the Emmett Till biopic. On Monday's episode of, the 66-year-old EGOT winner -- who portrays Emmett's grandmother, Alma Carthan, in  reacted to a review of the film that claimed Goldberg wore a fat suit for her role. «There was a young lady who writes for one of the magazines, and she was distracted by my fat suit, in her review,» she shared.

Chinonye Chukwu was certain of two things setting out to tell the story of a loving and lovely 14-year-old boy lynched in 1955 Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. First, the story had to be told from the perspective of Mamie, the mother of Emmett Till. “We had to follow closely her emotional journey. For without Mamie, the world, we, would not have known who Emmett Till was.”

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Growing up in Texas toward the tail end of the 20th century, I was not taught about Emmett Till. I’ve learned about him since, of course. Till’s name adorns this year’s overdue federal antilynching act, and his tragic fate has inspired plays and films, including 2018’s Oscar-nominated short, “My Nephew Emmett,” and now a powerful new feature from Chinonye Chukwu, who gave Alfre Woodard one of her greatest roles in 2019 Sundance winner “Clemency.” Till’s story — that of a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was kidnapped in the middle of the night and lynched while visiting his family in Mississippi — may have been omitted from my Southern schooling for racist reasons, though I suspect it had as much to do with Western culture’s “great man” bias. History, as a field of study, celebrates the achievements of heroic individuals. Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks. Those names were all taught. But Emmett Till was a kid whose murder galvanized the American civil rights movement, and it has taken a different kind of thinking — à la “Say Their Names” campaign or Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” — to position victims in the public’s mind.

Till directed by Chinonye Chukwu and written by Chukwu, Keith Beauchamp, and Michael Reilly follows Mamie Till, a woman who moved the nation with her resilience in the face of her teenage son’s death. The film stars Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Whoopi Goldberg, and Haley Bennett.

The stars of Till are stepping out to promote their highly-anticipated new movie.

Apple held its first showing today of Emancipation, the Antoine Fuqua-directed thriller that stars Will Smith an enslaved man who, after recovering from a whipping that nearly killed him, braved the swamps of Louisiana armed with only his wits, to escape cold-blooded slave hunters and be free.

Clayton Davis We have Denzel Washington’s single teardrop. We have Viola Davis’ runny nose. And now, we have Danielle Deadwyler’s lip quiver, expertly executed in Chinonye Chukwu’s deeply moving drama “Till.” Another best actress contender emerges although I wish the film could rise to the level of Deadwyler’s performance.   The sturdy drama follows Mamie Till (Deadwyler), the mother of Emmett Till, whose abduction and lynching in 1955 sparked global outrage and served as an important catalyst in the civil rights movement. “Till” charts Mamie’s grief, as well as her pursuit of justice. But getting people to see a movie about such a horrific event will be a tough sell, even if the film avoids depicting much of the brutality of Emmett Till’s killing.  

Clayton Davis Grammy-winner Jazmine Sullivan has teamed up with Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter Dernst “D’Mile’ Emile II for a possible Oscar contender for best original song. Variety has exclusively learned the song “Stand Up,” which will be featured in Orion and United Artists Releasing’s upcoming drama “Till,” will be submitted for Academy Awards consideration. The song will be released on Oct. 7. Written by Sullivan and D’Mile, the end-credits song captures the moving spirit of the harrowing true story of Mamie Till Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) and her relentless pursuit of justice after her 14-year-old son Emmett Till (Jalyn Hill) is lynched in 1955.

Andrew Barker Senior Features Writer In September 1963, the first ever New York Film Festival was held in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, and it counted as something of an experiment, an early test case as to whether the sort of serious, artistically inclined fests that were quickly becoming established in Europe could find real purchase stateside. The inaugural lineup included Luis Buñuel’s “Exterminating Angel,” Roman Polanski’s debut, “Knife in the Water,” and Yasujirō Ozu’s swan song “An Autumn Afternoon.” According to a Film Comment report at the time, the inaugural fest sold more than 20,000 tickets before a single film had unspooled. Not bad for a first time out.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of one of Netflix’s biggest films of the summer in Purple Hearts, Netflix has moved fast to work with the films star as sources tell Deadline Sofia Caron is set to join Taron Egerton in the Netflix and Amblin thriller Carry On. The streamer is also reuniting with Harder They Fall breakout Danielle Deadwyler, who has also joined the ensemble that also stars Jason Bateman. Jaume Collet-Serra is directing. TJ Fixman penned the first draft of the screenplay, with Michael Green doing the most recent polish. Dylan Clark will produce. The film marks the first production to come out of the overall deal Amblin signed with Netflix last June.

The mix of musical genres in the title of this Toronto Film Festival Gala Presentation reflects the wildly uneven tone of this rare drama from Tyler Perry Studios, a lush romantic musical telling the story of a Southern lynching with echoes of the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi 1955. An imminent bow on Netflix is probably the best strategy for it; Perry may have his following, but it’s hard to imagine a crossover audience for A Jazzman’s Blues.

The deal, which will see Warner receive a new stream of incremental revenue through distribution fees, comes just two months after Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca left their position as heads of MGM to become co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

said in a statement.Directed by Chukwu, the film also stars Whoopi Goldberg, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Sean Patrick Thomas.The trailer, released on Monday, shows Emmett’s mother (played by Danielle Deadwyler) fighting back tears as she says, “This was my boy, Emmett Till.”The clip then shows Emmett (played by Jalyn Hall) preparing for his visit to see his cousins.“The lynching of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all,” Emmett’s mother says in the trailer.Carolyn Bryant Donham — then just Carolyn Bryant and 21 years old — accused Till of making improper advances and obscene comments toward her while she was working the register of her family’s store in Money, Miss., in August 1955.Till, who was in town from Chicago to visit relatives, allegedly whistled at her, according to a cousin who witnessed the interaction. Such an interaction violated the racist code of behavior in the Jim Crow-era South.Donham told her husband, Roy Bryant, about the alleged encounter.

The official trailer for the upcoming movie Till has been released online.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaChinonye Chukwu’s “Till” will world premiere at the 60th New York Film Festival.The announcement comes on what would have been the late Emmett Till’s 81st birthday, as the country is remembering the impact that Till’s 1955 abduction, torture and lynching had in drawing attention to the brutality and persecution of African Americans in the United States. “Till” stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till Mobley and Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till.

The tragic story of Emmett Till is being brought to life on the big screen.