Black in Period Films

Lovie Simone has been casted in the Apple TV+ true crime limited series "Manhunt" based on Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer  by James Swanson. The series follows the Lincoln assassination and the resulting aftermath. It will be lead by Tobias Menzies ("Rome, “The Crown,”, “Outlander”) as Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s war secretary and friend. Simone has been casted as Mary Simms, the first Black American to testify on May 25, 1865 during the conspiracy trial for the assassination of President Lincoln. Mary Simms was the former slave of Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated the leg injury of John Wilkes Booth (to be played by Anthony Boyle) and gave him safe harbor after his crime. Simms remembered her former enslavers dislike for Lincoln and discussed specific conversations during her testimony. Mary Simms' brothers Elzee Eglent,14 year old Milo Simms, and seven other formerly enslaved people also testified in the case so I'm looking forward to their c...

  Official Film Summary : Alice (Keke Palmer) yearns for freedom as an enslaved person on a rural Georgia plantation under its brutal and disturbed owner Paul (Jonny Lee Miller). After a violent clash with Paul, she flees through the neighboring woods and stumbles onto the unfamiliar sight of a highway, soon discovering the year is actually 1973. Rescued on the roadside by a disillusioned political activist named Frank (Common), Alice quickly comprehends the lies that have kept her in bondage and the promise of Black liberation. Inspired by true accounts, Alice is a modern empowerment fable tracing Alice’s journey through the post-Civil Rights Era American South. I love KeKe Palmer and the premise of the story is interesting so I'm looking forward to seeing this film. When the trailer says that the film is "inspired by true events" it is most likely referencing the story of Mae Louise Walls Miller. Mae Louise Walls Miller and her family were enslaved well into the 1960s. 

Inspired by real events and set in the roar of the 1920s, THE PORTER follows the journeys of an ensemble of characters who hustle, dream, cross borders and pursue their ambitions in the fight for liberation - on and off the railways that crossed North America. It is a gripping story of empowerment and idealism that highlights the moment when railway workers from both Canada and the United States joined together to give birth to the world’s first Black union.  Set primarily in Montreal, Chicago and Detroit as the world rebuilds after the First World War, THE PORTER depicts the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal - known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North.” They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S. via the Underground Railroad and through the Great Migration, and they find themselves thrown together north and south of the color line, in an era that boasts anything is possible - but if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it. By ...

  I am so glad the live musicals on NBC are back! They've made some really great ones and I always enjoy watching them with my family. This time around we get to see one of my musical favorites, Annie!  The 7-time Tony Award-winning musical is coming to NBC as a LIVE event featuring an all-star cast this Thursday at 8/7c on NBC. Annie Live! stars little Celina Smith as Annie, Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan, Tituss Burgess as Rooster Hannigan, Harry Connick, Jr. as Daddy Warbucks, Nicole Scherzinger as Grace Farrell,  and Megan Hilty as Lily St. Regis.

  In this newly released teaser trailer we get a nice look at Denée Benton as Peggy Scott and Audra McDonald as her mother Dorothy Scott. They don't say any lines but they do look intently at one another suggesting future juicy storylines. John Douglas Thompson will be her father, Arthur Scott.  Series Summary : The series begins in 1882 — introducing young Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Union general, who moves into the New York City home of her thoroughly old money aunts Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook. Accompanied by Peggy Scott, an accomplished African-American woman, Marian inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a social war between one of her aunts, a scion of the old money set, and her stupendously rich neighbors, a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife, George and Bertha Russell.

The ABC Limited Series Women Of The Movement premieres Thursday Jan 6 and Stream on Hulu. Based on the true story of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley, Women of the Movement is a limited anthology series event coming to ABC. The first season will focus on Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till played by Adrienne Warren and Cedric Joe. The series also stars: Tonya Pinkins as Alma, Ray Fisher as Gene Mobley, Glynn Turman as Mose Wright, Chris Coy as J.W. Milam, Carter Jenkins as Roy Bryant and Julia McDermott as Carolyn Bryant.

  Here is the trailer for musical Cyrano. Summary: Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles everyone with his ferocious wordplay and brilliant swordplay. However, he's convinced his appearance renders him unworthy of the affections of the luminous Roxanne, a devoted friend who's in love with someone else (Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian de Neuvillette). Cyrano is a classic that has been adapted numerous times and in many different ways. I look forward to this adaption because Joe Wright is directing the film. Joe Wright directed Atonement (2007), Pride and Prejudice (2005), and Anna Karenina (2012) which are all period films that I've seen and enjoyed; specifically Atonement and Pride and Prejudice. I am also interested in this adaption of the Cyrano story because the casting of Peter Dinklage and Kelvin Harrison Jr. adds additional layers to the story.  The cast includes Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, and Ben Mendelsohn. In theaters this December...