In this Dec. 9, 2016 file photo, Madonna attends the 11th Annual Billboard Women in Music honors in New York. MGM Motion Picture Group president Jonathan Glickman says Tuesday that the pop music icon will direct a film based on ballet dancer Michaela DePrince memoir “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.” DePrince overcame a childhood in war-stricken Sierra Leone to become a world class ballerina. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Madonna is pirouetting back into the director's chair.
MGM Motion Picture Group president Jonathan Glickman says Tuesday that the pop music icon will direct a film based on ballet dancer Michaela DePrince's memoir "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina."
DePrince overcame a childhood in war-stricken Sierra Leone to become a world class ballerina. She made her debut at age 17 in South Africa's Joburg Ballet and also appeared in Beyonce's "Lemonade."
Madonna has directed two previous features: The 2008 comedy "Filth and Wisdom" and the Wallis Simpson drama "W.E." She is also working on a film adaptation of the novel "The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells."
No cast or release date is set for "Taking Flight," but "Fresh Off the Boat" writer Camilla Blackett will pen the screenplay.
Cynthia Erivo attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Cynthia Erivo, who is starring in the hit musical "Wicked," was named Tuesday as the 2025 Woman of the Year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
The theater group, which dates to 1844 and claims to be the world's third-oldest still operating, said Erivo will receive her Pudding Pot award at a celebratory roast Feb. 5. Afterward, she will attend a performance of Hasty Pudding Theatricals' 176th production, "101 Damnations." Actor Jon Hamm, who came to fame starring as ad executive Don Draper on the AMC series "Mad Men," is the 2025 Man of the Year. He will receive his Pudding Pot Jan. 31.
"We are holding space for Cynthia Erivo's arrival," Man and Woman of the Year Events Coordinator Hannah Frazer said in a statement. "We're sweeping out our broomstick closets and prepping some wicked smart humor as we eagerly await her in February. Before she flies off with her Pudding Pot, she'll have to work a little magic to earn it."
Along with starirng in the smash hit musical, the British entertainer is a two-time Oscar nominee and an Emmy Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award winner.
Erivo burst onto the scene with her brilliant performance in the Broadway revival of "The Color Purple." winning her the 2016 Tony for best actress in a musical. She performed songs from the play on the "Today" show, earning the Daytime Emmy for outstanding music performance in a daytime program. And the show's soundtrack won best musical theater album at the 2017 Grammys.
Last year, Erivo starred in and produced "Drift," which follows a young Liberian refugee who has escaped her war-torn country to a Greek island. In 2021, Erivo was nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic series "Genius:... Read More
