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Casting Call: Spielberg’s Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic

By Christopher Campbell posted 5 months ago

Leonardo DiCaprio as Martin Luther King Jr.? Hey, as long as the Telegraph is reporting that Jamie Foxx is “in the running” to portray Frank Sinatra in the upcoming Scorsese-directed biopic about the singer/actor, why not also suggest Leo for the just-announced MLK bio from producer Steven Spielberg? Surely the actor is anxious to work again with his Catch Me if You Can director. And seeing as this is pure Oscar-fodder, and seeing as blackface can get people nominated these days, playing the civil rights leader may just be what the three-time Oscar nominee (and loser) needs to pull off in order to win the Academy Award.

Okay, we’re done with the jokes. Obviously this MLK biopic is super serious and needs to be cast as such. So, who will actually follow in the footsteps of former MLK portrayers Paul Winfield, LeVar Burton, James Earl Jones, Robert Guillaume and Jaleel “Urkel” White? Actually, Foxx might be a legitimate candidate for this one. But we’re going with an actor who has already played the civil rights leader. To find out who we pick for the lead role and the rest of the likely supporting characters, check out our completely serious casting suggestions after the jump.

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Dark Knight Disqualifies. Trade Roughage 11/13/08

By Christopher Campbell posted 12 months ago

The Dark Knight has been disqualified from the race for the Original Music Score Oscar. After four hours of discussing the matter, the executive committee of the Academy music branch non-unanimously deemed the score, which was technically only co-composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard yet which credited three others on sheet music for royalty purposes, ineligible on account of the inclusion of these partial collaborators.
Michael Moore claims his Fahrenheit 9/11 follow-up (once titled Fahrenheit 9/11 and a 1/2) has become less like a sequel to that film and more like “a bookend to Roger & Me.” The new doc will focus more on the financial crisis than on foreign policy and will feature an “end-of-the-empire tone.”
Meryl Streep may finally be upstaged. She’ll star opposite a cute little feline in a movie based on the non-fiction book Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.
The less feel-good true story of a 1987 prison riot will be the subject of an untitled film referred to as the “Delta Force prison project.” Unfortunately, that name isn’t necessarily a hint that Chuck Norris will star.
It was only a matter of time: a high school-set retelling of The Scarlet Letter involving a teenage girl who thinks it’s beneficial to have the reputation for being a slut. It’s called Easy A.
“Urkel” wrote a romantic comedy about a texting-based love affair.