“The Harder They Fall” and “King Richard” topped the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Awards with four wins apiece. “The Harder They Fall” took honors for Best Picture, Ensemble, Director (Jeymes Samuel) and Music (Samuel, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z). "King Richard" won for Best Actor (Will Smith), Supporting Actress (Aunjanue Ellis), Breakout Actor (Saniyya Sidney) and Emerging Director (Reinaldo Marcus Green).
Other winners included Best Actress Jennifer Hudson (“Respect”), Best Supporting Actor Corey Hawkins (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Best Screenplay (“Don’t Look Up” written by Adam McKay), “Who We Are” for Best Independent Feature and “Summer of Soul” for Best Documentary. Winners will be celebrated at the 13th Annual AAFCA Awards on March 2nd at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles with a limited capacity audience and other health and safety protocols in place.
“It’s been a fantastic year for film,” said AAFCA president and co-founder Gil Robertson. “Just having passed the two-year mark of a global pandemic, great entertainment means more to all of us than ever before. This year’s AAFCA winners not only entertained us, but educated and inspired us and we’re looking forward to celebrating them at the AAFCA Awards.”
WINNERS | 13TH ANNUAL AAFCA AWARDS
Best Picture: “The Harder They Fall”
Best Director: Jeymes Samuel (“The Harder They Fall”)
Best Screenplay: “Don’t Look Up” (Adam McKay)
Best Actor: Will Smith (“King Richard”)
Best Actress: Jennifer Hudson (“Respect”)
Best Supporting Actor: Corey Hawkins (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”)
Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”)
Breakout Actor: Saniyya Sidney (“King Richard”)
Best Ensemble: “The Harder They Fall”
Emerging Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green (“King Richard”)
Best Music: “The Harder They Fall” (Jeymes Samuel, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z)
Best Independent Feature: “Who We Are”
Best Documentary: “Summer of Soul”
Winners are voted on by AAFCA’s 90+ members. Several special achievement awards will be announced in the coming weeks including the Cinema Vanguard Award, the ICON Award, AAFCA’s Stanley & Karen Kramer Award for Social Justice, the Building Change Award and the Innovator Award.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More