Author Archives: Jake Coyle

NEW YORK— Oprah Winfrey has heard this story before. A wave of high-profile films about Black people receives accolades. A heart-warming trend of greater on-screen equality is declared. Hollywood basks in its multiculturalism — and then returns to business as usual. From the slavery odyssey 12 Years a Slave to the day-in-a-life drama Fruitvale Station, […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Spike Lee will receive the 20th annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, which carries a reward of $300,000. The Gish Prize Trust announced the selection Wednesday. Selection committee chairman Darren Walker said Lee was chosen “for his brilliance and unwavering courage in using film to challenge conventional thinking.” Lee said in […]

TORONTO (AP) — The Nelson Mandela biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival with a heavy dose of reverence for its subject, and a few extra pounds of muscle, too. Idris Elba stars as the South African leader in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” which the Weinstein Co. will […]

NEW YORK (AP) — “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” served up a second helping at the box office, topping the weekend with $17 million according to studio estimates Sunday. That was enough to lead all films on a late August weekend known as a dumping ground for studios following their summer blockbusters and before the start […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Reginald Hudlin, director of films like Boomerang and House Party, never expected to be going to the Oscars as a best-picture-nominated producer of a slavery-era spaghetti Western by Quentin Tarantino. “I didn’t think it was happening when it was happening,” Hudlin says, laughing. The wide-ranging career of the 51-year-old filmmaker has […]