February 8, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz and Tom Pelphrey as Joe Mankiewicz/NETFLIX(LOS ANGELES) — Netflix’s inside-Hollywood film Mank, and the family drama Minari, topped the field of the film nominations for the 26th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 

Mank, which stars Oscar winner Gary Oldman as Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, earned the most nods, with 12. Minari, an acclaimed drama about a Korean-American family’s move to Arkansas, earned 10. 

Of note, Delroy Lindo was nominated in the Best Actor category, after having been previously passed over with the Golden Globes for Da Five Bloods, which earned multiple nominations. 

Chadwick Boseman’s performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was nominated for a posthumous award in the Best Actor category. The Broadcast Film Critics Association is the latest organization to do so, making it more likely that the actor, who died of cancer last year, could also receive a posthumous Oscar nomination.

Taye Diggs will again act as host for the ceremony, which celebrates both movies and TV, on Sunday, March 7 on the CW network beginning at 7 p.m. ET. 

Here are the nominees in the film categories: 

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Mank (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)

BEST ACTOR
Ben Affleck – The Way Back (Warner Bros.)
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Tom Hanks – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Anthony Hopkins – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Gary Oldman – Mank (Netflix)
Steven Yeun – Minari (A24)

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu)
Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman (Netflix)
Frances McDormand – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Zendaya – Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
Bill Murray – On the Rocks (A24/Apple TV+)
Leslie Odom, Jr. – One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Studios)
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman (Netflix)
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
Olivia Colman – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Amanda Seyfried – Mank (Netflix)
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari (A24)

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Ryder Allen – Palmer (Apple TV+)
Ibrahima Gueye – The Life Ahead (Netflix)
Alan Kim – Minari (A24)
Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
Caoilinn Springall – The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Helena Zengel – News of the World (Universal Pictures)

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)

BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari (A24)
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
David Fincher – Mank (Netflix)
Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Regina King – One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari (A24)
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Jack Fincher – Mank (Netflix)
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
Darius Marder & Abraham Marder – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Greengrass & Luke Davies – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Jon Raymond & Kelly Reichardt – First Cow (A24)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Christopher Blauvelt – First Cow (A24)
Erik Messerschmidt – Mank (Netflix)
Lachlan Milne – Minari (A24)
Joshua James Richards – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Newton Thomas Sigel – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Hoyte Van Hoytema – Tenet (Warner Bros.)
Dariusz Wolski – News of the World (Universal Pictures)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Cristina Casali, Charlotte Dirickx – The Personal History of David Copperfield (Searchlight Pictures)
David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas – Tenet (Warner Bros.)
Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale – Mank (Netflix)
Kave Quinn, Stella Fox – Emma (Focus Features)
Mark Ricker, Karen O’Hara & Diana Stoughton – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)

BEST EDITING
Alan Baumgarten – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Kirk Baxter – Mank (Netflix)
Jennifer Lame – Tenet (Warner Bros.)
Yorgos Lamprinos – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
Mikkel E. G. Nielsen – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alexandra Byrne – Emma (Focus Features)
Bina Daigeler – Mulan (Disney)
Suzie Harman & Robert Worley – The Personal History of David Copperfield (Searchlight Pictures)
Ann Roth – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Nancy Steiner – Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Trish Summerville – Mank (Netflix)

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Emma (Focus Features)
Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Mank (Netflix)
Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Greyhound (Apple TV+)
The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures)
Mank (Netflix)
The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Mulan (Disney)
Tenet (Warner Bros.)
Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros.)

BEST COMEDY
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Studios)
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
The King of Staten Island (Universal Pictures)
On the Rocks (A24/Apple TV+)
Palm Springs (Hulu and NEON)
The Prom (Netflix)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Another Round (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Collective (Magnolia Pictures)
La Llorona (Shudder)
The Life Ahead (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
Two of Us (Magnolia Pictures)

BEST SONG
“Everybody Cries” – The Outpost (Screen Media Films)
“Fight for You” – Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
“Husavik (My Home Town)” – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Netflix)
“Io sì (Seen)” – The Life Ahead (Netflix)”
“Speak Now” – One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
“Tigress & Tweed” – The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu)

BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Ludwig Göransson – Tenet (Warner Bros.)
James Newton Howard – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Emile Mosseri – Minari (A24)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Mank (Netflix)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste – Soul (Disney)

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 8, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Samir Hussein/WireImage(LONDON) — Daisy Ridley, who famously exited social media in 2016, says she has no plans to reactivate any of her accounts.

Speaking recently to Spanish magazine S Moda, the Star Wars actress expressed doubt that she would return to social media.

“I have managed to separate my personal life well from my professional life, partly probably because I’m not on social media,” said the 28-year-old actress, translated from Spanish. “I don’t want to go back, but sometimes I think about it.  But the truth is that no, I won’t be returning.”

The actress is set to star in Chaos Walking her first post-Star Wars movie, which is due out in March.

Ridley isn’t the only Star Wars alum to exit social media due to a negative experience.  He co-star, Kelly Marie Tran who will star in the upcoming Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon, briefly shut down her social media accounts after being targeted by racist attacks.

Both actresses have spoken out about how social media has nearly ruined their experiences on the films, with Ridley telling the DragCast posdcast last April, “You know, everyone’s entitled to not like something but it feels like it’s changed slightly. I think in general that’s because social media and what have you.”

Tran also opened up about the racist abuse she endured online, telling Variety in 2018, “Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was “other,” that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them. And that feeling, I realize now, was, and is, shame, a shame for the things that made me different, a shame for the culture from which I came from. And to me, the most disappointing thing was that I felt it at all.”

Lucasfilm is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 8, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Amazon Studios/Hilary Bronwyn Gayle(NEW YORK) — As you might guess, it takes a lot of work to get Salma Hayek to look ugly. That was the takeaway with ABC Audio’s chat with the 54-year-old stunner who stars opposite Owen Wilson in the new Amazon Prime film, Bliss. 

The movie has Wilson playing a depressed working stiff who is convinced by Hayek’s character that the real world is just a simulation projected by cutting-edge technology that she created.  Or is the whole thing just a drug-addled fantasy? 

The film has the pair crossing back and forth between an “ugly” world — that is, the one we live in — and the postcard-perfect “real” one, which was sumptuously shot in stunning Croatia.

The actors’ appearance also reflects the two worlds: both performers are essentially homeless in the “ugly” world, and their appearance reflects that, while in the scenes set in the glamorous “real” world, they’re red-carpet ready. 

“I found it kind of easier to inhabit the what we called the ugly world, because that was just, yeah, a lot less time in hair and makeup and you just kind of roll out,” Wilson admitted to ABC Audio. 

But Hayek had a different take. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to sound vain. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way. But actually, I would take a lot longer to get ready for the ugly world, because of the ugly hair, and the ugly makeup,” Hayek said, as Wilson laughed.

Salma says her “ugly” look, “was very specific, as you can see. And it was a production that hair and the makeup.” 

Bliss is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 8, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Quicken Loans/Rocket Mortgage(NEW YORK) — While not as crowded as it usually is, there were plenty of celebrity-stocked ads during this year’s Super Bowl, and this year, USA Today says Rocket Mortgage’s “Pretty Certain” ads with Tracy Morgan, blew away the competition. 

The spots, which also featured Dave Bautista, actress Liza Koshy and NFL star Joey Bosa, took both the first and second slots of the paper’s 33rd annual “Ad Meter” rating the Super Bowl’s commercials. 

According to BusinessWire, voting for the top spots took place on the Ad Meter platform at admeter.usatoday.com starting on Wednesday, Feb. 3, and remained open until Monday, Feb. 8 at 1 a.m. ET. 

Amazon’s “Alexa’s Body” spot, which featured thirst object Michael B. Jordan, ranked third. M&M’s “Come Together” spot with Dan Levy placed fourth, and Toyota’s “Upstream” ad, which featured double-amputee Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, rounded out the top five.

The two 60-second Rocket Mortgage ads, which highlighted the difference between being “pretty certain” and “pretty sure” about home buying, likely cost the company a fortune: ad rates for the big game ran $5.5 million for a 30-second spot.

Here are the top five Super Bowl ads of 2021, according to USA Today‘s Ad Meter panelists:

1) Rocket Mortgage, “Certain Is Better — Tracy Morgan, Dave Bautista & Liza Koshy”
2) Rocket Mortgage, “Certain Is Better — Tracy Morgan & Joey Bosa” 
3) Amazon, “Alexa’s Body” 
4) M&M’S, “Come Together”
5) Toyota, “Upstream”

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.