Tag Archives: Fat Ham

Colman Domingo In Talks to Co-Write Original Live-Action Feature Inspired by Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog”

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Colman Domingo may have a special date with a princess and a frog….

The 56-year-old Emmy-winning Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and activist, who recently earned two Emmy nominations, is reportedly considering co-writing an original live-action feature about Princess Tiana inspired by Disney’s animated 2009 feature The Princess and the Frog.

Colman DomingoThe two-time Oscar nominee will reportedly co-pen the feature with 2020 Tony Award-nominated Slave Play directorRobert O’Hara.

It’s still early days on the project, particularly as far as deals go.

Princess and the Frog was the last hand-drawn animated feature from Disney, released in 2009 and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements.

Set in New Orleans during the 1920s and based on E.D. Baker’s The Frog Princess, the film follows a waitress, Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), who dreams of opening her own restaurant. She’s set on turning a frog prince, Naveen, back into a human after he’s cursed by an evil voodoo witch doctor, Facilier. However, Tiana becomes a frog as well, and the couple must find a way to become human again.

Two-time Oscar winner Randy Newman wrote the score and songs, one of the most toe-tapping tunes from the film being Tiana’s “Almost There.”

Domingo and O’Hara’s take is being billed as a spinoff of the animated feature rather than a full-on adaptation, similar to the live-action Beauty and the Beast project that’s in the works, Gaston.

Princess and the Frog grossed $267 million at the worldwide box office when it was released and was nominated for three Oscars: Best Animated Feature and for two of Newman’s songs, “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.”

Other live-action adaptations of Disney animated films in the works are Tangled, currently shooting under the direction of Michael Gracey with Kathryn Hahn, Diego Luna, Milo Manheim and Teagan Croft attached to star.

There’s also Stepsisters, a Cinderella spinoff directed by Akiva Schaffer; Lilo & Stitch 2 from filmmaker Chris Sanders; and Impossible Creatures, based on the fantasy series by Katherine Rundell.

Domingo wrote the book for 2018’s Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and co-produced 2023’s Fat Ham, a modern take of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet that was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Other theatrical works by Domingo include the play The Brother(s), the libretto for Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, as well as the plays Dot, Wild With Happy, A Boy and His Soul and Up Jumped Springtime.

Domingo’s double Emmy nominations this year are for Comedy Series Supporting Actor for Netflix’s Four Seasons and Guest Actor Drama Series for HBO’s Euphoria. He’s already won a Guest Actor in a Drama Seriestrophy in 2022 for Euphoria.

He was nominated for two Best Actor Oscars back-to-back, for 2024’s Rustin and 2025’s Sing Sing.

Colman Domingo to Receive London Critics’ Circle’s Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation

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Colman Domingo is the critics’ choice for a special recognition…

The 54-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and social justice activist will receive the first-ever Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation from the United Kingdom’s leading film critics.

Colman DomingoThe award is named after the legendary critic and film historian who died in August at the age of 91. Named in his honor, the award will be part of the 44th London Critics’ Circle Awards that take place on February 4, 2024.

Domingo is being recognized for his work as an actor, producer, writer, and director in a career that spans film, television and theater.

He won an Emmy for his role in Euphoria and received a Tony nomination as a producer of Fat Ham, a retelling of Hamlet. In film, his recent credits include The Color Purple and Rustin and other work includes appearances in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Ava DuVernay’s Selma.

“It’s an honor to receive the inaugural Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation and to be recognized in this way by the London Film Critics’ Circle, a group of journalists I deeply respect,” Domingo said. “This has been an incredible year for film, and having the opportunity to play Bayard Rustin, a man who embodied the word ‘trailblazer’, has been a great privilege.”

Malcolm was a long-standing member of the Critics’ Circle, serving a term as its president. He was variously chief critic for British newspapers The Guardian and The Evening Standard and hosted The Film Club on the BBC, as well as publishing several books. He was also a former director of London Film Festival and governor of the British Film Institute.

Colman Domingo Co-Producing the Broadway Production of “Fat Ham”

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Colman Domingo is hamming it up…

The 53-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and social justice activist, an Emmy winner and Tony Award, has signed on as co-producer of the upcoming Broadway production of James Ijames’ Pultizer Prize winning play Fat Ham.

Colman DomingoBeginning performances on Tuesday, March 21, the production of Fat Ham at American Airlines Theatre  has an official opening night of Wednesday, April 12 for a strictly limited 14-week engagement through Sunday, June 25.

The play, which has been described as a “comic tragedy,” reinvents Shakespeare’s Hamlet by setting it at a backyard cookout where Juicy, a queer, Black Southern college kid grappling with questions of identity, is met by the ghost of his father who shows up demanding that Juicy avenge his murder, even as Juicy is trying to break the cycles of trauma and violence in service of his own liberation.

Fat Ham on Broadway is a Public Theater and National Black Theatre co-production.

“I am beyond thrilled to be a co-producer on The National Black Theater and Public Theater transfer of James Ijames thrilling Fat Ham directed by my dear friend and visionary director Saheem Ali,” Domingo said in a statement to Deadline. “This is the kind of theater that we need on Broadway – bold reimaginings of stories that fuel us all.”

The Broadway transfer of Fat Ham from the Off Broadway Public Theatre represents National Black Theatre’s first production on Broadway, and only the third play to be transferred by a Black theater in Broadway’s century-long history. The complete Off Broadway cast will make the move to Broadway.

Domingo currently stars in Fear of the Walking Dead and Euphoria, and has completed filming of The Color Purple. He is a 2011 Tony Award nominee for his performance in The Scottsboro Boys musical.