Producers Guild to Honor Rita Moreno with Stanley Kramer Award

Rita Moreno is earning yet another honor…

The Producers Guild will present the 90-year-old Puerto Rican actress, singer and dancer with the 2022 Stanley Kramer Award at the 33rd annual PGA Awards, set for March 19 at the Fairmont Century Plaza.

Rita MorenoThe honor goes to a production, producer or other individuals “whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.”

Moreno, an EGOT winner, will join previous recipients including Jane Fonda as well as Get Out, Loving, Fruitvale Station, The Normal Heart, Bombshell, The Hunting Ground, An Inconvenient Truth and Hotel Rwanda.

Kramer’s work included such iconic films as Inherit the Wind, On the Beach, The Defiant Ones and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

“With grace, intelligence, charisma, and kindness, Rita Moreno made her mark in history as a brilliant entertainer and leveraged that star power to shepherd stories that tap into the human experience and represent people and communities we rarely see celebrated in film and TV,” PGA presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher said Wednesday. “Beyond her on-screen contributions, she has used her unmistakable voice to hold a mirror to the prejudices and inequities that she so often experienced throughout her career. Her activism, strength, and artistic contributions set the precedent for how to be a changemaker in Hollywood, and it is our great honor to present Rita with the Stanley Kramer Award this year.”

Moreno most recently appeared and executive produced Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story after winning an Oscar for the original film, the latest in a seven-decade career that began with her Broadway debut at 13. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films and countless TV series including most recently Norman Lear’s remake of One Day at a Time. Her documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It had its world debut at Sundance Film Festival last year.

Moreno previously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama, the SAG Life Achievement Award, the Peabody Career Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honor.

“The last thing I ever dreamed of in my young life was being honored in any circumstance,” Moreno said. “That the Producers Guild of America has chosen to honor me not only for my work but for the principles I have tried to uphold and live by throughout my life is so gratifying. I am thrilled.”

Morena Baccarin to Star in CBS All Access’ Second Season of “The Twilight Zone”

Morena Baccarinis in the Zone

The 40-year-old Brazilian actress has been cast in CBS All Access’ anthology series The Twilight Zone’s second season.

Morena Baccarin

Baccarin joins a cast that includes Billy PorterJenna ElfmanGillian Jacobsand Chris Meloni.

Style blogger Tavi Gevinson also appears with Colman DomingoEthan Embry, Tony HaleAbbie HernSophia Macy, Joel McHaleJimmi Simpson and Daniel Sunjata.

Separately, Jordan Peele, who executive produces and narrates the show, will write an episode for the second season. 

The Get Out writer and director will write the episode Downtime, which features Baccarin, Domingo and Hale.

The CBS All Access series is a modern reimagining of Rod Serling’s original, which aired from 1959-64 on CBS. The first season featured actors including Ike BarinholtzJohn ChoGinnifer GoodwinGreg KinnearKumail NanjianiChris O’DowdSeth RogenAdam Scott and Alison Tolman.

The drama is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Kinberg’s Genre Films

Tessa Thompson Earns Rising Star Award Nomination from BAFTA

Tessa Thompson is a rising star… Literally…

The 34-year-old half-Afro-Panamanian, part-Mexican American actress has been nominated for the 2018 Rising Star Award, the only BAFTA film prize voted on by the public.

Tessa Thompson

Thompson is nominated for her breakout performance as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, a role she’ll reprise in this year’s Avengers: Infinity War.

Thompson is nominated alongside Call Me By Your Name’s Timothée Chalamet; Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya, God’s Own Country’s Josh O’Connor and Lady Macbeth’s Florence Pugh.

The nominations are intended to represent five actors and actresses who have shown outstanding talent on the big screen in the past year and have captured the attention of both the public and the film industry.

Thompson has won prizes for her previous work and in 2017 starred in the blockbuster third installment in Marvel’s Thor.

The winner will be announced on February 18 at the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony.

Guillermo del Toro Earns PGA Awards Nomination for “The Shape of Water”

The recognition for Guillermo del Toro’s latest monster-piece continues…

The Producers Guild of America has announced its film and television nominees for the 29th annual PGA Awards, with the 53-year Mexican filmmaker earning a nod for his critically acclaimed film The Shape of Water.

Guillermo del Toro,

For the first time, a tie in the voting means 11 films are vying for the marquee Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, rather than the usual 10.

In addition to del Toro’s The Shape of Water, the nominees include The Big Sick, Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, Get Out, I, Tonya, Lady Bird, Molly’s Game, The Post, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Wonder Woman.

The PGA Awards will be handed out on January 20 at the Beverly Hilton.

Here are the nominees for the 29th annual PGA Awards, co-chaired Donald De Line and Amy Pascal:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Big Sick
 Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel
Call Me By Your Name
 Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Marco Morabito
Dunkirk Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
Get Out Producers: Sean McKittrick & Edward H. Hamm, Jr., Jason Blum, Jordan Peele
I, Tonya
 Producers: Bryan Unkeless, Steven Rogers, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley
Lady Bird Producers: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill
Molly’s Game Producers: Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Matt Jackson
The Post
 Producers: Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger
The Shape Of Water
 Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
 Producers: Graham Broadbent & Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
Wonder Woman
 Producers: Charles Roven & Richard Suckle, Zack Snyder & Deborah Snyder

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Boss Baby
 Producer: Ramsey Naito
Coco
 Producer: Darla K. Anderson
Despicable Me 3
 Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy
Ferdinand
 Producers: Lori Forte, Bruce Anderson
The Lego Batman Movie
 Producers: Dan Lin, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures:
Chasing Coral
 Producers: Jeff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes
City of Ghosts
 Producer: Matthew Heineman
Cries from Syria
 Producers: Evgeny Afineevsky, Den Tolmor, Aaron I. Butler
Earth: One Amazing Day
 Producer: Stephen McDonogh
Jane
(This film is still in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility this year.)
Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower 
(This film is still in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility this year.)
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee
 Producers: Teddy Kunhardt, George Kunhardt

The producers of the programs in the following six categories are in the process of being vetted for awards eligibility this year, and the winners will be recognized at the official ceremony on January 20. 

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

Big Little Lies (Season 1)
The Crown (Season 2)
Game of Thrones (Season 7)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Season 1)
Stranger Things (Season 2)

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 9)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season 1)
Master of None (Season 2)
Silicon Valley (Season 4)
Veep (Season 6)

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and limited series.

Black Mirror (Season 4)
Fargo (Season 3)
FEUD: Bette and Joan (Season 1)
Sherlock: The Lying Detective
The Wizard of Lies

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

30 for 30 (Season 8)
60 Minutes (Season 50)
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (Season 9, Season 10)
Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (Season 1, Season 2)
Spielberg

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (Season 2)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Season 15)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Season 4)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Season 3)
Saturday Night Live (Season 43)

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

The Amazing Race (Season 29)
American Ninja Warrior (Season 9)
Lip Sync Battle (Season 3)
Top Chef (Season 14)
The Voice (Season 12, Season 13)

The Award for Outstanding Short-Form Program:

Better Call Saul’s Los Pollos Hermanos Employee Training (Season 1)
Carpool Karaoke (Season 1)
Humans of New York: The Series (Season 1)
National Endowment for the Arts: United States of Arts (Season 3)
Viceland at the Women’s March (Season 1)

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

All or Nothing: A Season with the Los Angeles Rams (Season 2)
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Season 12)
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (Season 23)
SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt (Season 3)
VICE World of Sports (Season 2)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

Doc McStuffins (Season 4)
Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2017
School of Rock (Season 3)
Sesame Street (Season 47)
SpongeBob SquarePants (Season 10, Season 11)

Guillermo del Toro’s “Shape of Water” Named to Sight & Sound’s Annual Critics List of The Year’s Best Films

Guillermo del Toro’s latest film is earning more accolades…

The 53-year-old Mexican film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist’s latest film, The Shape of Water, has earned a spot on Sight & Sound’s annual critics list of the best films of 2017.

Guillermo del Toro

The BFI’s international magazine polled more than 180 critics, programmers and academics from around the world to secure the results which, for the first time, include a television series in the Top 10: David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return came in 2nd.

del Toro’s critically acclaimed fantasy drama, which was awarded the Golden Lion for best film at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, comes in a No. 14, in a tie with Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country.

Written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, the film stars Sally HawkinsMichael Shannon and Octavia Spencer, and follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who befriends a captured sea creature in 1962 Baltimore.

Get Out, from Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures, topped the list.

Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s Spanish-language film Zama made the Top 5.

Below are the Top 21 titles on the list.

1. Get Out, dir: Jordan Peele
2. Twin Peaks: The Return, dir: David Lynch
3. Call Me by Your Name, dir: Luca Guadagnino
4. Zama, dir: Lucrecia Martel
5. Western, dir: Valeska Grisebach
6. Faces Places, dir: Agnes Varda
7. Good Time, dirs: Ben and Josh Safdie
8. Loveless, dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev
9. Dunkirk, dir: Christopher Nolan
9. The Florida Project, dir: Sean Baker
11. A Ghost Story, dir: David Lowery
12. You Were Never Really Here, dir: Lynne Ramsay
12. BPM, dir: Robin Campillo
12. Lady Macbeth, dir: William Oldroyd
14. God’s Own Country, dir: Francis Lee
14. The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro
16. Let the Sunshine In, dir: Claire Denis
16. Mudbound, dir: Dee Rees
16. Strong Island, dir: Yance Ford
16. I Am Not Your Negro, dir: Raoul Peck
16. Personal Shopper, dir: Olivier Assayas