Cynthia Erivo will play Harriet Tubman

by Murtada Elfadl

Cynthia Erivo who made waves this week at TIFF as one quarter of Widows has announced her next project. She will play iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman in Harriet. The film will follow Tubman on her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free many slaves through the Underground Railroad in pre-Civil War America. More exciting is that Harriet will be directed by Kasi Lemmons of Eve’s Bayou (1997), a film we adore. This will be Lemmons' first film since Black Nativity (2013), in the past few years she’s been directing episodes of TV shows like Luke Cage and Shots Fired.

Joining Erivo in the cast are Leslie Odom Jr.,  Joe Alwyn ( who’s very busy this fall with parts in Boy Erased, The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots), Clarke Peters (Detective Freamon in The Wire) and surprisingly country music singer Jennifer Nettles.

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Reason No "355" to Love Jessica Chastain

by Nathaniel R

If the future really is female as protest signs and t-shirts so often prophesy, the movies are going to be getting sooo good. This just in: Jessica Chastain's production company Freckle Films is mounting a film called 355 which is a spy thriller based on an idea by and starring Chastain herself. Her co-stars will be Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, and Lupita Nyong'o. Excuse us while we faint...

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Carrie Coon Joins "Infinity War"

By Spencer Coile 

As if Carrie Coon couldn't impress us more, she recently confirmed (via Twitter) that she will play a villainous role in Avengers: Infinity War. Coon will play Proxima Midnight, a member of the Black Order, as she works with Thanos (Josh Brolin) to take down the Avengers. Her character was introduced to the comic book series in 2013 and is said to be the most treacherous member of the Order. 

If you're a Marvel buff, this must surely be exciting news. But if only half of those words make sense to you (same), fear not! Marvel's latest will be out on April 27, so that we can all soak up Carrie Coon's villainous motion capture performance in all its glory.  (Great, now it looks like I have to see Infinity War now.)

Film Bitch Awards: More Acting Honors!

by Nathaniel R

Twenty acting nominations (i.e. the traditional Oscar-like honors) just aren't enough at the Film Bitch Awards. Here where we also like to shout to rising stars, actors who make vivid impressions or give full characters with barely any screen time, cast chemistry, and the men and women who collect all the talent in these thrilling combinations. So click on through for our nominations in...

• Best Actress in a Limited Role or Cameo
• Best Actor in a Limited Role or Cameo
• Best Juvenile Performance (17 and under)
• Breakthrough Performer
• Best Ensemble
• Best Casting 

Films scoring multiple nominations on this page include Lady Bird, Get Out, Lady Macbeth, Wonder and The Big Sick.

Co-Star Chemistry - Please Bottle This!

Year in review / list mania each day. Here's Nathaniel...

This is our third year of highlighting that unpredictable spark between actors that can ignite greatness in a movie (see previously installments for 2015 and 2016 if you're so inclined). We had fun doing it before so we're going to keep on at it. If only we could bottle these formulas but the thing about great chemistry is that it can't ever be fully recreated even if old movies during the studio system teach us that the same pairing can generate similar energies again. Why Hollywood doesn't still try to repackage successful combos remains a missed opportunity both for pop culture impact and in-film loveliness. Just about the only films with recurring co-stars these days are franchises but that's a different kind of luck, since it would happen even if there was no actor-to-actor spark.

Okay here we go...

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