Tag: Biography

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

a/k/a Billie

Release Date:  2/26/21; Hulu
Genre: Drama/Biography
Rating:  NR
Director:  Lee Daniels
Studio(s):  Paramount Pictures
Running Time:  TBD

Cast:  Andra Day as Billie Holiday; Trevante Rhodes as Jimmy Fletcher; Garrett Hedlund as Harry J. Anslinger; Tyler James Williams as Lester ‘Prez’ Young; Natasha Lyonne as Tallulah Bankhead; Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Roslyn; Evan Ross as Sam Williams; Dana Gourrier as Sadie; Erik LaRay Harvey as Monroe; Melvin Gregg as Joe Guy; Miss Lawrence as Miss Freddy.

Story:  Based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari, the film follows Holiday during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. The pic will intimately examine Holiday’s struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreaking love.  Source:  Wikipedia; IMDB.

Trailer:

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Seberg

a/k/a Against All Enemies

Release Date:  12/13/19; In Theaters
Genre:   Biography
Rating:  R
Director:   Benedict Andrews
Studio(s):   Amazon Studios, Universal Studios, Phreaker Films, Bradley Pilz Productions, Automatik Entertainment, Ingenious Media, Nelly Films.
Running Time:  96 mins.

Cast:   Anthony Mackie (Hakim Jamal), Zazie Beetz (Dorothy Jamal), Kristen Stewart (Jean Seberg), Margaret Qualley (Linette), Vince Vaughn (Carl Kowalski), Jack O’Connell (Jack Solomon), Stephen Root (Walt Breckman).

Story:   Seberg is inspired by true events about the French New Wave darling and Breathless star, Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart), who in the late 1960s was targeted by the FBI because of her support of the civil rights movement and romantic involvement with Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie), among others.  In Benedict Andrews’ noir-ish thriller, Seberg’s life and career are destroyed by Hoover’s overreaching surveillance and harassment in an effort to suppress and discredit Seberg’s activism.  Source:  The Playlist.  Photo Source:  Shadow & Act.

Trailer:

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Dolemite Is My Name

Release Date:  September 2019 – Toronto International Film Festival; 10/4/19 – Netflix
Genre:  Biography
Rating:  R
Director:  Craig Brewer
Studio(s):   Netflix
Running Time:  118 mins.

Cast:   Eddie Murphy (Rudy Ray Moore), Wesley Snipes (D’Urville Martin), Keegan-Michael Key (Jerry Jones), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nick), Chris Rock, Craig Robinson (Ben Taylor), Tituss Burgess (Theodore Toney), Mike Epps (Jimmy Lynch), Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Snoop Dogg.

Details:   In Dolemite Is My Name, Murphy plays the comedian and singer Rudy Ray Moore, who was inspired to branch out and develop an alter-ego he could use on stage, a foul-mouthed pimp named Dolemite. When the character’s direction couldn’t take off on stage or in a comedy album, he took Dolemite to the screen and made a series of Blaxploitation movies starring his alternate persona.

“Dolemite is my name and f—in up motherf—ers is my game,” Murphy says while donning a garish suit and a afro wig.  The Dolemite character ended up appearing in three films, Dolemite from 1975, followed by The Human Tornado and The Return of Dolemite.  But this new biography specifically follows the rise of Moore as he struggled to bring the Dolemite character to the screen and make something that black audiences specifically could get behind.  Source:  The Wrap.  Photo Source:  IMDB.

Trailer:

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The Marcus Garvey Story

Release Date:  9/13/19; In Theaters
Genre:   Biography
Rating:   Unknown
Director:  Steven Anderson
Studio(s):   A KB Toy Production, Kinowelt Entertainment
Running Time:  Unknown
Cast:  Kevin Navayne, Dennis Haysbert, Janet Hubert, Tobin Bell, Dan Gauthier, Lili Mirojnick, Christian Campbell, Rhashan Stone, Tobias Truvillion, Ross Partridge, Rick Pasqualone, Kristinia DeBarge, Scot Williams, Rolonda Watts, Atheana Ritchie, Rayven Symone Ferrell, Adrian Makala, Vincent Grass, Rico E. Anderson, James Lewis, Spencer Garret, Kyle Marasciulo.

Story:   Story based on the life and death of Marcus Garvey.  Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, which promoted the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands.  Source:  Dream13media.

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The Bobby DeBarge Story

Release Date:  6/29/19; TV One
Genre:  Drama/Biography
Rating:  NR
Director:  Russ Parr
Studio(s):   Swirl Films, TV One
Running Time:  Unknown

Story:   The movie explores the tumultuous life of the former lead singer of 70’s R&B/funk band Switch, also the eldest sibling of the world-famous pop group DeBarge. Despite his success in music, the iconic falsetto found his life in peril as he struggled with fame and fortune while coping with the memories of his dysfunctional childhood.  Bobby, born in 1956 Detroit to Etterlene and Army soldier Robert DeBarge, Sr., the latter whom he says was abusive, was introduced to heroin at the age of 15. Heroin would soon become his lifelong addiction. After his parents divorced and Etterlene and the children moved to Grand Rapids, Bobby, a talented musician and vocalist, began playing in local bands along with his younger brother Tommy. In 1976, Bobby DeBarge, along with Tommy DeBarge, Phillip Ingram, Jody Sims, Eddie Fluellen, MC Clark and Arnett Hayes, formed the group Switch and a year after signing to Motown, they dropped their debut album. In the late 80’s Bobby joined his younger siblings’ group, DeBarge but his personal problems, drug use and legal troubles caused major issues both internally and within the group. After contracting HIV in the 1980s Bobby died of AIDS complications in 1995.

The film’s stars include Roshon Fegan in the lead role as Bobby DeBarge, Tyra Ferrell as Etterlene DeBarge, and Adrian Marcel as James DeBarge.  Big Boi portrays legendary music mogul Berry Gordy, while Lloyd appears as Switch member Gregory Williams.  Sources:  Official Site, TV One.com; Global Grind; The Philadelphia Tribune.

Teaser:

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BlacKkKlansman

Release Date:  8/10/18; In Theaters
Genre:  Drama/Biography
Rating:  NR
Director:   Spike Lee
Studio(s):   Blumhouse Productions, Monkeypaw Productions, Perfect World Pictures, QC Entertainment, Focus Features
Running time:  128 mins.

Cast:  John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, Corey Hawkins, Harry Belafonte, Robert John Burke.

Story:   BlacKkKlansman tells the true story of Stallworth (Washington), who began as Colorado Springs’s first African-American police officer, then later rose to the rank of detective. In one of the most unlikely cases of undercover infiltration imaginable, Stallworth and his partner Flip Zimmerman (Driver) penetrated the ranks of the KKK at the highest levels in order to thwart the organization’s attempt to take over the city.  The movie will release on August 10th, which coincides with the one-year anniversary of the  Charlottesville incident, when a white supremacist protest against the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue erupted in violence, claiming the life of counter-protester Heather Heyer on August 11, 2017.  Lee and co-producer Jordan Peele adapted the film from Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir “Black Klansman.”  Sources:  Screenrant, Color Lines.

Trailer:

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