EXCLUSIVE: Birth of a Nation filmmaker Nate Parker has resurfaced and is attached to direct Black & Blue, a feature based on the life of decorated LAPD detective Ralph Waddy. Parker is rewriting a script originally penned by Jim McGrath. Waddy’s life rights was optioned by ForM.B Entertainment’s Steven Jensen who will…

Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together occasionally and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business. FLEMING: It seems like every month now, a Game Of Thrones episode breaks out at some Hollywood studio, with new kings…

The Directors Guild of America has unveiled nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for its 69th annual DGA Awards, with helmers Damien Chazelle for La La Land, Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea, Denis Villeneuve for  Arrival and Garth Davis for Lion…

As part of Fox Searchlight’s presentation at last month’s big awards season event, The Contenders Presented By Deadline,  The Birth Of A Nation composer Henry Jackman appeared to talk about the use of music in creating the right mood for the intensely dramatic film that chronicles the slave revolt  by Nat Turner.  He…

The nominees for the NAACP Image Awards were announced today, with Nate Parker of The Birth of a Nation and Atlanta star Donald Glover receiving three noms apiece (for writing, acting and directing). Beyonce led all nominees with nine including in the marquee Entertainer of the Year category, where her fellow nominees…

Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation is notable for its unflinchingly violent look at slavery in the antebellum American South and the Nat Turner-led slave revolt that inspired the film. However, according to composer Henry Jackman, who provided the film’s score, he and Parker set out deliberately to undermine any…

Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business. BART: Talk about a difficult birth; I can't recall one as troubled as that of The Birth Of A Nation. Nine months after the standing ov…

It's often said that there's no such thing as bad publicity, but in regards to The Birth of a Nation's estimated $7M opening this weekend, many are pegging the Nat Turner biopic's lackluster performance to the controversies that have besieged the film's director/producer/star Nate Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni…

Editor's Note: Nate Parker has been of two minds about the historical grounding of his film, The Birth Of A Nation, which tells a story based on the Nat Turner slave revolt of 1831. As recently as last Sunday, Parker reminded Anderson Cooper in a 60 Minutes interview that the movie is, in effect, a reality-based fictio…

BREAKING: More than 40 women and a few men held a candlelight vigil tonight outside the ArcLight theater in Hollywood to support the alleged rape victim at the center of the controversy surrounding The Birth of a Nation‘s director Nate Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin. The protesters, who sat in total…

Finally coming to theaters nine months after its Sundance triumph and subsequent controversy over the revelation of a 1999 campus rape case for its writer-director-producer-star Nate Parker, The Birth of a Nation is bringing a lot of baggage with it. In terms of reviewing a movie like this, do you take the…

Last night’s 60 Minutes segment on Nate Parker and The Birth of a Nation understandably was forced to lead with the filmmaker/star’s controversial 17-year old acquittal on rape charges and the suicide of his accuser 12 years later, but they really did leave some compelling historical stuff on the cutting-room floor…