Ava DuVernay
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Warner Bros. Confirms Ava DuVernay's New Gods 'Will Not Be Moving Forward'
On Thursday, some disappointing news came out of Ava DuVernay’s anticipated project from Warner Bros. film slate. According to The Hollywood Reporter, WB confirmed that it will not be going forward with DuVernay’s film, New Gods. DuVernay had been developing the project with comic book writer Tom King since 2018, which would’ve highlighted characters created…
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Following HFPA’s 13 Percent Black Member Mandate, Reports Surface Regarding Its Rejection of Black-Led Project Press Conferences
Do you remember during school lunch, there was always this one kid begging you to share your snacks with them, and after their relentless efforts, you just threw a few chips (let’s say they were Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for the full visual) onto an errant sheet of notebook paper and flung them toward the soliciting…
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Live and Let Die Actor Yaphet Kotto Dead at 81
Yaphet Kotto, the actor known for movies such as Alien and The Running Man has died, The Root has learned. His wife Tessie Sinahon shared the heartbreaking news in a post to social media on Monday, with the news later being confirmed to The New York Times by Kotto’s agent. The actor was 81 years…
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Ava DuVernay’s Naomi Gets Pilot Order at CW, The 4400 Also Set to Make Its Debut
Last December, we told you that the CW was developing a new series revolving DC Comics character “Naomi,” with Ava DuVernay at the helm. Now, it looks like things are ramping up. In a press release sent to The Root, the network officially announced a pilot order for the series, though there’s still no official…
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Funko’s Gotta Have It: Spike Lee Set to Get His Own Funko Pop! Figurine
Legendary filmmaker and director Spike Lee will be headed to a small shelf near us soon—and if you don’t understand what I mean, allow me to explain. The Hollywood Reporter announced on Tuesday that the Da 5 Bloods director will be getting the “Funko Pop! treatment,” becoming the latest addition to the fun-sized line of…
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Ava Duvernay's ARRAY Partners With Spotify to Produce Scripted, Unscripted Podcasts: 'We Couldn't Be More Excited'
From Selma to Queen Sugar to When They See Us to whatever the hell else has dominated the pop culture landscape, Ava Duvernay has made it her mission to bang us in the head with an endless ARRAY— (see what I did there?)—of dope content. And after conquering the film and television industry, the 48-year-old…
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Shonda Rhimes Called Trump an 'Ignorant Bitch Baby': How Black Hollywood Responded to the D.C. Dumpster Fire
Wednesday happened. January 6, 2021, happened. That really happened, y’all. I wanted to make sure that I—The Root’s staff entertainment writer who routinely deals in fiction—noted that this thing that seems to only happen in the movies…happened in real life (because to be fair, we can’t forget the attempted Michigan governor kidnapping plot from a…
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Ava DuVernay Introduces Diverse Database 'Array Crew'—We Better Not Hear Anymore Excuses, Hollywood
Far too often, Black and other Film/TV crew members of color often hear a variation on trite excuse, “We keep hiring this white person because there aren’t a lot of [insert specific POC identifier here] directors, producers, cinematographers, production designers, costume designers, editors, etc.!” It’s a lie. It’s not that they don’t exist; it’s that…
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DC’s Naomi Finds a New Home at The CW, Thanks to Ava DuVernay
Fans of the 2019 DC comic Naomi will soon get the chance to see their favorite character come alive in a brand new way onscreen. Deadline announced that The CW will develop an adaptation of the series with Queen Sugar and Selma’s Ava DuVernay and former Arrow writer Jill Blankenship with both set to write…
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It Goes Down in the DMZ: Ava DuVernay’s New Futuristic Drama Is Headed to HBO Max
If there’s one thing that deserves the GOAT award for 2020, it’s streaming platforms. From Netflix to Hulu, Amazon Prime to HBO Max—the amount and quality of content this year has been increasingly overwhelming, yet creatively astounding. And it doesn’t seem like things are about to let up anytime soon. In a press release sent…