More from Cori Murray
Pete Davidson’s ‘SNL’ Cold Open Addresses Israel-Hamas War: “Sometimes Comedy Is Really the Only Way Forward Through Tragedy”
For the premiere of its 49th season, Saturday Night Live skipped its regularly scheduled sketch parodying the week’s news. Instead, host Pete Davidson delivered, in a rare staid demeanor, a solemn cold open addressing the Israel-Hamas war. “This week we saw the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza. And I know what you’re thinking, who […]
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Don’t Call ‘Frasier’ a Reboot, Say Creators: “This Is His Third Act”
Thirty years ago, the series Frasier opened with elitist Dr. Frasier Crane recanting why he made his way from Boston to Seattle as a divorcé who had been duped by his equally snobbish brother into caring for their cantankerous father. The series would run for 11 seasons, win 37 Emmys and end as being recognized […]
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‘Abbott Elementary’ EP Randall Einhorn on Cast and Crew Camaraderie: “Feels Like We’ve Been Working Together For Ages”
On day one, we all felt it. We all felt something really special here,” says Abbott Elementary executive producer and director Randall Einhorn of the ABC sitcom. In its first year, the freshman series won two Emmys for creator-showrunner Quinta Brunson and supporting actress Sheryl Lee Ralph (respectively, they were the second Black women to […]
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Etsy Crafts, Teaching and Live Events: The Side Hustles of Striking Writers
Ask a writer how they paid the bills before the Writers Guild of America went on strike, a work stoppage that Wednesday passed the 100-day mark, and the answers might vary from “developing a television show” to “finishing a feature rewrite.” These days, however, as the writers strike halts film and TV productions for fairer […]
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Nikole Hannah-Jones on Bringing ‘The 1619 Project’ to Television: “We Have To Tell the Story That Needs To Be Told”
When Nikole Hannah-Jones heard that the TV adaptation of The 1619 Project earned three Emmy noms, she was especially pleased about this specific recognition: outstanding cinematography for a nonfiction program. “I was particularly happy Jerry Henry got the nomination for cinematography because he’s just so talented,” she says of the Hulu docuseries that also received […]
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With Tubi’s Black Noir Cinema, Pam Grier Sees a Throughline to Her Blaxploitation Era
As Pam Grier waxes over her groundbreaking career — touching on everything from Foxy Brown and Coffy to Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 love letter to Grier and the genre she built, Jackie Brown — she takes a moment to take stock of what it all represents. “I hope I’ve given you a slice of what it’s like […]
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‘Swagger’ Director on the Importance of DEI Officers and Festivals Like Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Fest
If there’s one thing married couple Floyd Rance and Stephanie Tavares-Rance know how to do, it’s keep a secret. Last year, on the eve of the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, its founders were tight-lipped about their 20th anniversary opening-night presenters. “I just told my mother,” says Tavares-Rance of the fact that Barack and […]
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Miss America CEO Responds to Doc Delving Into Bullying, Body Shaming and Misogyny of Beauty-Queen Culture
When Robin Fleming posted on her LinkedIn that “the first 90 days as CEO of Miss America Organization has been a whirlwind,” she wasn’t lying. Over the past six years, America’s oldest beauty pageant nearly crumbled under the weight of its former executive leaders. In 2017, CEO Sam Haskell, once exalted for reviving the program […]
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Misty Copeland on Her Short Film ‘Flower’ and Transitioning From the Ballet Stage to the Big Screen
When Misty Copeland filmed the last scenes of the short Flower, she was, in her words, “very pregnant.” Not only was she blooming into motherhood, she was entering a new beginning as a producer and actor. Flower is the first project from Copeland’s Life in Motion Productions, which she co-founded with fellow American Ballet Theatre […]
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‘The Blackening’ Star Dewayne Perkins on His Gay Horror Spoof Character and Mining His Coming-Out Story for Comedy
Unlike the character he wrote and plays in the horror spoof The Blackening, comedian Dewayne Perkins will not be staying at a cabin in the woods anytime soon. “I went camping once and it was one of those moments where I was like, ‘This is what this is? We’re really sleeping on the ground … […]
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“Let’s Swing Big”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With the Creative Team Behind ‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’
Singing and dancing auditions over Zoom, shoots in the rain in Vancouver and filming during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic — none of that stopped the cast and creators from bringing “big Grease energy” to the set of the Paramount+ series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. “Annabel [Oakes, showrunner] was the first to […]
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‘Dear Mama’ Director Allen Hughes on Tupac Shakur’s Legacy: “He Lived More in a Day Than Most in a Year”
By the time the fifth and final episode of FX/Hulu’s Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur ends, director Allen Hughes comes from behind the camera and embraces Afeni’s sister, Glo, with a generous hug. She can no longer hold back the flood of tears recalling the harrowing yet remarkable lives of her […]
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